'An Evening with Debussy' Performed by Pianist Joe Chapman

The Cultural Arts Council presents pianist Joe Chapman as the second performing artists for 2013 Kinna Chamber Concert series. Dr. Chapman will be performing at the Cultural Arts Center today at 7 p.m. Tickets for the Kinna Chamber Concert are available for $15 a person, $12 for CAC members and $5 for students and music teachers.

The always popular classical pianist and music educator Joe Chapman returns to Douglasville to offer an all-Debussy program for the second Kinna concert this year. Beneath Dr. Chapman's skillful fingers the piano keyboard becomes a lush palette of musical colors that challenges the limits of harmony, melody and form. In addition to Clair de lune (Moonlight) and Feux d'artifice (Fireworks), the program includes a number of other pieces with evocative titles, such as Ce qu'a vu le vent d'Ouest (What the West Wind Saw), La fille aux cheveux de lin (The Girl with the Flaxen Hair) and Reflets dans l'eau (Reflections in the Water). The mood of the concert ranges from the haunting chimes of La Cathédrale engloutie (The Sunken Cathedral) to the humorous overtones of Golliwogg's Cakewalk, a dance depicting the shenanigans of a boisterous rag-doll, where Debussy pokes fun at his contemporary Richard Wagner with a parody of Wagner's famous prelude to Tristan und Isolde. The finale, L'Isle joyeuse (The Joyful Island), rounds out the program with a brilliant coda of virtuosic proportions.

Dr. Joe Chapman is the Director of Keyboard Studies at the University of North Georgia where he also serves as conductor of the university orchestra. He holds degrees in piano performance from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and the University of South Carolina. Dr. Chapman has served the music profession in a number of capacities including a term as president of the Georgia Music Teachers Association. Dr. Chapman has presented numerous solo piano recitals in Georgia and throughout the Southeast including performances for public radio and television. He has toured the United States and eight foreign countries as conductor, accompanist (piano and organ) and soloist. Beyond his expertise at the keyboard, Dr. Chapman is active as an arranger and composer. His musical arrangements have been performed by southeastern elementary, middle, high school and college choirs and bands.  He is also gaining recognition as a composer of sacred choral music. As a music theorist, he is completing a comprehensive college music theory text, which includes computer-generated aural exercises.

The Cultural Arts Council of Douglasville/Douglas County is located at 8652 Campbellton Street in historic downtown Douglasville, Georgia. Hours of operation are Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For directions and more information, please visit our web site, www.artsdouglas.org or contact the Cultural Arts Council at 770/949-2787.