Renowned Pianist Hobson to Perform at Clarke

Clarke University and the Iowa Music Teachers Association will present pianist Ian Hobson in a recital on Monday, June 6, at 8:15 p.m. in Jansen Hall on the Clarke campus. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students, and are available at the door. 

Hobson will perform Etudes Op. 25 and Variations on “Swiss Boy” by Chopin, Variations on a Theme by Corelli and 3 Preludes Op. 23 by Rachmaninoff, and 2 Transcriptions of Kreisler’s Liebesleid and Liebesfreud by Rachmaninoff.

Hobson is recognized internationally for his command of an extraordinarily comprehensive repertoire, his consummate performances of the Romantic masters, his deft and idiomatic readings of neglected piano music old and new, and his assured conducting from both the piano and the podium.

One of the youngest ever graduates of the Royal Academy of Music, Hobson began his international career in 1981 when he won first prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition. Born in Wolverhampton, England, he studied at Cambridge University and at Yale University, in addition to his earlier studies at the Royal Academy of Music. A professor in the Center for Advanced Study at the University of Illinois, Hobson received the endowed chair of Swanlund Professor of Music in 2000. He is also a professor at the National University of Seoul in South Korea.

As guest soloist, Hobson has appeared with many of the world’s major orchestras including the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Florida, Houston, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and the American Symphony Orchestra and Orquesta Sinfónica de Puerto Rico. Abroad, he has been heard with Great Britain’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The London Philharmonic Orchestra, Scottish National Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Hallé Orchestra, ORF-Vienna, Orchester der Beethovenhalle, Moscow Chopin Orchestra, Israeli Sinfonietta and New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.