Contact: Michele Abba

805-756-2406; mabba@calpoly.edu

Emeritus professor’s eighth recital completes a cycle begun in 2016

SAN LUIS OBISPO — Pianist and music Professor Emeritus W. Terrence Spiller will give his final Beethoven sonata cycle recital at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 10, in the Pavilion of the Performing Arts Center.

Two large sonatas will bookend he program: the massive Sonata No. 4 in E-flat Major, Op. 7, and the joyously majestic “Waldstein” sonata, No. 21 in C Major, Op. 53. Between these titans will be two smaller works: the compact and joyous Sonata No. 22 in F Major, Op. 54, and the lyrical No. 13 in E-flat Major, Op. 27, No. 1.

Spiller’s first recital in the cycle was in 2016, and he’s performed one annually apart from 2020 due to the pandemic. In 2021 he gave a virtual performance of the fifth recital.

“Immersing myself in the Beethoven sonata cycle has been a joyous and moving process,” Spiller said. “My sense of wonder about the range and depth of Beethoven’s accomplishments still grows on a daily basis.”

Spiller stepped down from full-time teaching in the Music Department in March 2021 and fully retired from Cal Poly last spring.

Tickets are $20 for the public and $10 for students and are sold at the Cal Poly Ticket Office between noon and 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. To order by phone, call 805-SLO-4TIX (805-756-4849). Event parking is sponsored by the PAC.

The recital is sponsored by Cal Poly’s Music Department. For more information, call the Music Department at 805-756-2406 or visit the department’s calendar website.