Piano Duet Recital at St. Michael’s
St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church presents a four-hand piano recital 6 p.m., Wednesday, April 24, at the church. The recital, part of the St. Michael’s “Nourishment for Body, Mind and Spirit” series, features pianists Roxane Olevsky and Jan Holly in their fourth appearance at the church.
They will play a sonata by Mozart, selections from Gabriel Fauré’s Dolly Suite, the Waltz from Aram Khachaturian’s Masquerade, and selections from My Fair Lady. They perform on a Steinway Model O grand piano furnished by Prospero’s Acoustic Art, Naples. “Steinways are known for their bright, shimmering sound,” Holly says. “This characteristic enhances four-hand music, which distributes themes and figurative passages equally in both high and low registers.”
Born into a family of concertizing musicians, Roxane Olevsky was surrounded by music from an early age. She began teaching guitar and piano in high school, after which she earned degrees in Piano and Vocal Music Education at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, studying with Swiss pianist Fernande Kaeser. She also studied at Les Écoles d’Art Américaines in Fontainebleau, France, with world-famous music theorist Nadia Boulanger and pianist Jean Casadesus, and sang in choirs with such renowned directors as Robert Shaw. Her first love remains teaching individual and class piano—she operated a successful piano studio in Massachusetts for over 30 years. She maintains a piano teaching studio on the Island.
Jan Holly holds a bachelor’s degree, in piano performance, and a master’s degree and Ph.D., in musicology. She has devoted her professional life to the training of musicians in both college and university settings. For 25 years, she was a collaborative pianist and accompanist for college and community choirs. She currently teaches online music courses in music appreciation, world music and American popular music. A specialist in piano pedagogy, she operated a piano studio for 30 years, applying the Taubman/Golandsky method to technical challenges facing adult learners.
Holly writes for the Santiva Chronicle and Times of the Islands, and is a public relations consultant. Vice President of the Committee of the Islands’ Board of Directors, she also serves on the Big Arts Classical Music Committee and Classical Music Scholarship Committee. Holly is Saturday and summer organist at St. Michael’s. She also lectures occasionally on musical topics.
The recital, which is free and open to the public, is followed by a meet-the-artists reception in the Church’s Parish Hall.
For more information on services and special events at St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church, contact the Church Office, 2304 Periwinkle Way, 239-472- 2173 / saintmichaels-sanibel.org.
