Nicholas Ross Piano Concert

Join pianist Nicholas Ross, Professor of Music at Otterbein University, for an extraordinary guest recital dedicated exclusively to piano repertoire for the left hand only. Inspired by the resilience of legendary left-handed pianist Paul Wittgenstein, Dr. Ross turned to this rich genre after sustaining a right-arm nerve injury. He brings brilliant expression and technical mastery to a program featuring diverse works, including pieces by current and former Virginia Tech music faculty.
The recital opens with Russian Romantic composer Alexander Scriabin’s timeless Prelude and Nocturne, Op. 9, followed by contemporary pieces of VT composition faculty member Charles Nichols and Icelandic composer Þorðúr Magnússon. The first half closes with VT Professor Emeritus Kent Holliday’s dramatic Piano Sonata No. 6, subtitled "Black Elk." Following intermission, Dr. Ross plays Gregory Mertl’s evocative In Time of Trees and then closes with pieces by Leopold Godowsky, an early 20th-century virtuoso pianist who was known alternately as "the Buddha of the Piano" and "the Apostle of the Left Hand."

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All campus parking, including along Alumni Mall, requires a parking permit from 7 a.m.-10 p.m., unless otherwise noted by signage.

If you are an individual with a disability and desire an accommodation, please contact performingarts@vt.edu at least 10 business days prior to the event.

You can access various concert programs by the School of Performing Arts here.