Pianist, baritone to perform Schubert work

February 7, 2019 | Arts, Events, UToday, Arts and Letters
By Angela Riddel



The University of Toledo Dorothy MacKenzie Price Piano Series will feature guest pianist Dr. Gabriel Dobner and baritone Kevin McMillan to perform Franz Schubert’s “Die Schöne Müllerin” (“The Miller’s Daughter”).

The free concert will be held Sunday, Feb. 10, at 3 p.m. in the Center for Performing Arts Recital Hall.

Dobner and McMillan also will present a free master class Saturday, Feb. 9, at 10 a.m. in the Center for Performing Arts Recital Hall.

The recital program will be “Die Schöne Müllerin op. 25, D. 795” by Franz Schubert. Also known as “The Miller’s Daughter,” the work is based on poems by Wilhelm Müller that tell the story of a young man who pursues to the bitter end his love for a miller’s daughter.

Both Dobner and McMillan are on faculty members in the School of Music at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va.

A professor of piano, Dobner joined the faculty at James Madison University in 2001. Previously, he taught at Indiana University and the Nürnberg/Augsburg Hochschule für Musik in Germany. He received his bachelor’s degree in piano performance from Chicago Musical College of Roosevelt University. Dobner then went on to Indiana University in Bloomington and earned master’s and doctoral degrees.

Dobner has recorded and performed nationally and internationally. He performs regularly with pianist Lori Piitz as part of a piano duo. These musical collaborations have led to concerts in many major venues throughout the United States — including an appearance at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. — as well as in Europe and Japan.

After preliminary schooling at the Universities of Guelph and Western Ontario in Canada, McMillan studied at the Britten-Pears School in England and earned a master’s degree at the Juilliard School in New York. His primary focus has always been the oratorio and orchestral repertoire, and his vocal flexibility and scholarly musicianship have afforded him a broad range of styles and periods — from Monteverdi and Bach to Britten and Penderecki. McMillan joined the faculty of James Madison University in 2009.

Critics have praised McMillan’s “elegant lyric baritone voice” and “singularly remarkable interpretive skills” in appearances with virtually every major North American orchestra, including the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony.

He also has established a presence in Europe, with appearances in London, Berlin, Barcelona, Paris and Prague.

For more information, contact Dr. Michael Boyd, UT professor of music, at michael.boyd@utoledo.edu or 419.530.2183.

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