KU pianist to perform Tuesday

The Fort Scott Community College Music Department will present a concert featuring Nathanael May, University of Kansas pianist, at 7 p.m. Tuesday night at the First Presbyterian Church, 308 S. Crawford. A reception will follow.

Nathanael May is a pianist with a penchant for new music, whose performances composers have heralded as "first-rate, dynamic, and refreshing". To date, he has given the premiere of over two dozen works featuring the piano in solo and various chamber settings by established and emerging composers.

May has performed concerts abroad, presenting programs of the 20th century music for the piano in Europe and the Near East. Appearances in 2009 include recitals in San Francisco at University of California-Berkeley's Center for New Music and Audio Technologies, Mansfield University's Keyed up for Winter series in Pennsylvania, and Bisbee Arizona's For the Love of Music program, including more than a dozen performances at universities and colleges throughout the state of Kansas. His performances have been broadcast on National Public Radio affiliates around the United States, from Buffalo to Hawaii. May is also in frequent demand as a recording artist, and his recent collaboration with composer Brian Hulse can be found on CD with Albany Records.

In 2005, May founded the Cortona Contemporary Music Festival (in Tuscany, Italy) with the intent of providing international exposure and training for young artists. Now known as soundSCAPE, the festival unites composers and musicians from around the world in the performance of new music. Each summer, the festival hosts 40 participants for two weeks in Northern Italy, featuring workshops, master classes, and private lessons with an internationally renowned faculty.

May will complete the DMA in piano performance at the University of Kansas in May of 2009, where he has studied with professor Jack Winerock. He holds additional degrees from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and the University of Wisconsin--Whitewater. May will be joining the faculty of Missouri Western State University in August 2009, as an Assistant Professor of Piano and Pedagogy.

May's appearance is made possible in part by the Department of Music and Dance, and the School of Fine Arts at the University of Kansas.