Music professor Dr. Shannon Sadler is sharing her talent in performing and in academics this fall with performances and presentations happening both internationally and locally.
Sadler was a featured presenter at the 43rd International European Piano Teachers Association International Conference this September in Madrid and performing a selection of Guatemalan piano music.
Guatemalan classical music is rarely heard outside of Central America and scores and recordings of Guatemalan piano music are scarce. Sadler traveled in Central America where she researched Guatemalan classical music in libraries and interviewed Guatemalan pianist-composer Xavier Beteta. She presented on both the music and advocated for students and professional pianists to learn and play Latin American music instead of the imitation Latin American music that is more commonly found in the piano teaching literature, despite a 300-year tradition of classical music in Latin America. Guatemalan piano music includes indigenous elements along with European influences.
In addition to presenting on Guatemalan music, Sadler performed a selection of Guatemalan piano music by Jesús and Ricardo Castillo and Beteta at the conference. Her performance showcased how musical elements from Guatemala’s indigenous music and elements from musical practices of Spain, France and Germany create the distinctive style of Guatemalan piano music.
Sadler’s performance and presentation are an example of the It’s Time framework’s commitment to being a university of teacher-scholars. St. Cloud State supports faculty who integrate research, scholarship and creative work with instruction, and Sadler’s research into Latin American piano music is bringing a new appreciation of the genre to her students as well.
St. Cloud audiences will have a chance to hear Sadler when she performs on piano at the St. Cloud Symphony Orchestra’s “Symphonic Fanfares” concert at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 6 at Ritsche Auditorium in Stewart Hall.
She will perform Beethoven’s 5th Piano Concerto, known as the “Emperor” Concerto. The work celebrates the return of Beethoven’s friend, patron and student, Archduke Rudolf of Austria, after his return to the city after a siege by Napoleon’s army.
“This concerto was a groundbreaking work when it premiered in 1811, opening up never-before-explored expressive and virtuoso possibilities for the soloist and creating a more intricate relationship between the soloist and the orchestra,” Sadler said.
Tickets for students are $5 for the symphony concert.
Sadler has more than 400 premieres as a soloist and chamber musician. She has performed solo and chamber concerts at Lincoln Center, Boston’s Garden Museum and at the Fort Worth Modern Art Museum. She continued performing during the pandemic with monthly Facebook performances that engaged audiences from 16 states and four continents. She is a professor of Piano at St. Cloud State and regularly performs contemporary chamber music as half of the Calliope flute and piano duo.
