Jost Van Dyke, piano
UNDER CONSTRUTION - Please check back!
CHOPIN: Prelude in C# minor, Op. 45J.S. BACH: English Suite No. 5, in E minor, BWV 810
- Prelude - Allemande - Courante - Sarabande -
Passepied I (en Rondeau)/Passepied II - Gigue
ALBÉNIZ: El Albaicin (Iberia, Bk. 3)
BRAHMS: Intermezzi & Capriccios
(from Klavierstücke, Opp. 76 & 118, and 7 Fantasien, Op. 116)
- Intermezzo in A minor, Op. 118, no. 1
- Capriccio in F# minor, Op. 76, no. 1
- Intermezzo in E Major, Op. 116, no. 4
- Capriccio in C# minor, Op. 76, no. 5
- Intermezzo in B-flat Major, Op. 76, no. 4
- Capriccio in D minor, Op. 116, no. 7
ARTIST PROFILE and PROGRAM NOTES, by Ed Lein, Music Librarian
Musician and photographer Jost Van Dyke is actively involved in local and national arts communities. At the same time he is one of the Panhandle's most popular fitness gurus, as a certified Pilates instructor at multiple fitness centers in Tallahassee. A concert pianist by training, Mr. Van Dyke's path to -- and back to -- the recital hall has not been an easy one, but it has led him through many varied and rewarding endeavors.
Jost was born with Poland's Syndrome, manifested as an underdeveloped arm and the absence of chest muscles on his right side. Piano lessons were suggested as therapy, and not only did the lessons help with the continuing development of his arm, they unlocked an abiding talent that otherwise might have gone undiscovered. Brought to the attention of legendary pianist Edward Kilenyi (1910-2000), the prodigious youth was invited to join Kilenyi's studio at Florida State University while Jost was still in high school.
While completing his Piano Performance degree under Kilenyi, Mr. Van Dyke (then billed as Joseph Dykes) served as music director for a number of high-profile productions in the FSU School of Theatre. In 1984, this led him to New York City as Artist in Residence and Musical Director in the Musical Theatre Department at Marymount Manhattan College. He continued his own studies as well, working with concert pianists Thaddeus Sadlowski and Regina Shamvilli, and he garnered a following as a solo recitalist, beginning with his 1985 Manhattan debut at Marymount. Upon completing his residency in 1990, Mr. Van Dyke accepted a position with the National Dance Institute. During his time in New York, he concurrently became active in the music publishing industry, with consecutive positions at Carl Fischer Music, International Music Co. & Bourne Music, and MCA/Universal Music.
In the early 1990s, he faced a new challenge with the onset of focal dystonia of the right hand. The condition causes uncontrollable muscle spasms, and it has hindered or ended the careers of many distinguished musicians, including Leon Fleisher and Keith Emerson, and it may have contributed to Glenn Gould's retreat from the concert stage into the recording studio. Undefeated, Mr. Van Dyke accepted the challenge as an opportunity to explore fine art photography, leading to solo and group exhibitions in Tallahassee, Jacksonville, New York City, Washington, D.C., and Savannah. His photographic work is represented in the permanent collection of the Bergen Gallery at Savannah College of Art and Design, and in private collections around the nation.
Mr. Van Dyke's path led back to Tallahassee and into the culinary arts, and in the late 1990s he wrote a monthly newspaper column on gourmet food and wine. He began practicing yoga and Pilates, which unexpectedly opened a new career avenue when he was approached to become a fitness instructor. Applying the same dedication as to his earlier pursuits, he trained for certification with Master Pilates Teacher June Kahn. He now also writes ENDORphiNATION, a column featured in the online publication, The Alchemical Heart, and he is a member of COCA (Council on Culture & Arts), in Tallahassee.
Attributed in part to his disciplined physical training, the effects of Mr. Van Dyke's focal dystonia have dissipated. This Intermezzo Series performance marks not only the Jacksonville concert debut of Jost Van Dyke, but his first public recital in nearly two decades.
Program Notes UNDER CONSTRUCTION! More to follow ...
The Polish-born pianist Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) was the first composer to make full use of the expressive qualities and coloristic potential of the piano when it was a still-developing keyboard instrument, and he rightly has been called the "Poet of the Piano." Much of all piano music by subsequent composers shows his influence, and his revolutionary use of chromatic harmonies and unusual key relationships profoundly influenced composers of symphonic music and operas as well, such as Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner--thus Chopin's importance in the development of the "Romantic" style in general can not be overestimated.
Once dismissed by many of his contemporaries as being too old-fashioned, the works of the great German Baroque master Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) probably have been studied more than those of any other composer, making him perhaps the most influential musician of all time.
Iberia, by Isaac Albéniz (1860-1909) ranks with Goyescas, by Enrique Granados (1867-1916), as the finest piano works from Spain.
At a time when it was fashionable to write programmatic music that illustrated specific scenes, poems, or stories, the great German composer Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) was recognized by his admirers as “Beethoven’s true heir” (Grove Concise Dictionary of Music) by demonstrating that established abstract formal procedures could be used to organize musical discourse without sacrificing the passion and deeply individualistic expression that defines 19th-Century Romantic music. Thus, Brahms joined Bach and Beethoven as one of the great “Three B’s” of classical music.
