Most area concert-goers know Peter Wilson as the talented and dynamic conductor of the Waynesboro Symphony Orchestra (WSO), but he is also a superb violinist, who has served as a White House musician for more than two decades. Local audiences will soon have the opportunity to see him wear this other “musical hat,” as he partners with pianist Lise Keiter to perform the next Sunday Recital at 3 p.m. on March 17 at Francis Auditorium on the Mary Baldwin University campus.
“I’m really excited to be performing with Lise Keiter,” said Wilson. “While we worked together several times before when she soloed with the WSO, this will be our first collaboration in a chamber music setting, exploring the great works for piano and violin.”
Their appealing program includes something for everyone, from Beethoven’s delightful “Spring” sonata to the passionate C Minor sonata of Edvard Grieg. They will also play the Suite from Much Ado About Nothing, a charming work by Erich Korngold, an Austrian composer known for his Oscar-winning film music. Rounding out the program is Fritz Kreisler’s Tempo di Minuetto.
Wilson serves as string section commander for “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band, in addition to his work as music director of the Waynesboro Symphony. He also has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra and the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, and he appeared on HBO as a member of the orchestra that supported the “We Are One” concert, which began the 2009 inaugural week of President Barack Obama. An extremely versatile musicians, he has been a violin soloist with such legendary artists as Rosemary Clooney, Michael Feinstein, Renée Fleming, Bernadette Peters, and Randy Travis, and The Washington Post praised his “pristine melodic lines,” “showering virtuosity,” and “impassioned” playing.
Keiter has performed throughout the United States and in Europe, maintaining a very active schedule as both a soloist and chamber musician. Her most recent appearance with the Waynesboro Symphony was in October of 2011, as the soloist for Mozart’s Piano Concerto in D Minor, and she will join the WSO again in February of 2014. Her latest concert engagements have taken her to Illinois, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Idaho, West Virginia, Maryland, and throughout Virginia. She is on the faculty at Mary Baldwin University in Staunton, where she currently serves as music department chair. She is also in demand as a guest lecturer and masterclass clinician and maintains a studio of high school students, which has included many competition winners.
All Sunday Recitals are at 3 p.m. in Francis Auditorium on the third floor of Pearce Science Center on the Mary Baldwin University campus. Tickets may be purchased at the door: $5 for the general public and $4 for seniors and non-Mary Baldwin students. (Mary Baldwin students attend free of charge.)