This is Scott Kirby's first recording of all original compositions, and contains syncopated waltzes, habaneras, fantasies and New Ragtime. All these forms are used in a narrative and romantic context which highlights the introspective nature of this brand of Terra Verde music.
"...you will find here some of the most beautiful and intriguing music written today..."
-- Jack Rummel, The Top Liner Rag.
About The Company:
The recordings of Viridiana Productions, L.L.C. represent a grass roots movement designed to promote the new music Terra Verde, as well as various traditions from which it draws. Terra Verde, a contemporary and distinctly American musical art form, fuses elements of European romanticism with New World ethnic styles, such as ragtime, jazz, Latin-American and country.The result is a rich and vital language for our time, and a new stage in the evolution of piano-based composition. Viridiana exists to champion the composers and performers of Terra Verde, and to pay tribute to the innovative and sometimes unheralded forerunners to this exciting new realm of American music.
About The Artist:
Pianist/composer Scott Kirby specializes in distinctly American musical styles which include Classic Ragtime, New Ragtime, Creole Music and Terra Verde. As a performer, he is also an educator, providing historical context and musical insight into the program as it unfolds. Whether on the concert stage or in the classroom, Kirby offers a musical experience which is both informative and intimate, educational yet highly personal. Each presentation is unique and may include examples from North America, South America and the Caribbean, illuminating how a rich musical heritage evolved from a melange of ethnic music and "art music", from the aural and the composed traditions. Various composers include Louis Moreau Cottschalk, Scott Joplin, Brazilian composer Ernesto Nazareth, Jazz pioneer Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton and Ernesto Lecuona of Cuba. Concerts may also contain short pieces from Latin America and the French Caribbean such as the Haitian merengue, the biguine from Martinique, the Puerto Rican danza, the cumbia or the Cuban habanera. In addition, Kirby champions writers of New Ragtime and Terra Verde, contemporary counterparts to the more traditional styles. As a composer, Kirby combines the influence of nineteenth century romanticism with these New World idioms into his own individual, syncopated language. A native of Ohio, Scott Kirby began his study of music at the age of six, and continued formal piano instruction for seventeen years. He worked under Robert Howat of Wittenburg University of Ohio, and Sylvia Zaremba at the Ohio State University. After obtaining an English degree from Ohio State University, Kirby moved to New Orleans and began his professional music career. In the following four years, he recorded the complete rags of Scott Joplin, and made his debut at all of the major ragtime festivals in the United States, as well as festivals in Belgium, France, Norway and Hungary. Kirby now divides his time between performance and composition, and is available for concert appearances, workshops, residencies and festivals.
Discography:
SOLO PROJECTS:
Scott Joplin's Ragtime
The Complete Scott Joplin, Vol.1
The Complete Scott Joplin, Vol.2
The Complete Scott Joplin, Vol.3
The Complete Scott Joplin, Vol.4
More Damn Good Ragtime
The Complete Rags of Scott Joplin, vol. I (New series in 3 volumes)
Grace & Beauty
On Lincoln Place
Ravenna
COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS:
Terra Verde
Creole Music
Bucktown in the Nineties
Ragtime Primer
57 Kinds of Blues
Augie Jr. and the Big Mess Blues Band
Some Assembly Required
Frontiers
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