Notice Board

October 14th's programme features music by two composers each linked deeply to literature and to each other. Liszt's Après une lecture de Dante was completed in 1849, soon after the completion of his longest Italian concert tour, and draws on two literary sources: the Inferno canto of Dante Alighieri's Divina Commedia and a poem by Victor Hugo whence comes Liszt's title. Most of the Debussy Préludes in the second book take their impressions from works of literature, most notably J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué's Undine, and Charles Dickens' The Pickwick Papers.

In 1884 Debussy was awarded the Prix de Rome, one of the most coveted prizes in music composition at the time. Debussy's prize included four years of study at the Villa Medici, a French academy in Rome. During his residency at the Villa, Debussy became depressed and composed very little as he found his classmates, Italian food, Italian music, and Italian weather altogether not to his liking. His depression took an about-face when he was afforded an opportunity to meet Franz Liszt, who was now in the last years of his life. Debussy admired dearly Liszt's command of the keyboard and love of literature, and the encounter would shape his music-making for the rest of his life. 

Pianist and composer Jesse Plessis obtained a Master of Music degree (Performance and Literature) in 2013 from Brandon University where he studied piano with Megumi Masaki and composition with Patrick Carrabre. His Bachelor of Music degree is from the University of Lethbridge where he studied piano with Deanna Oye and composition with Arlan Schultz and Rolf Boon. Additional studies followed with Hardy Rittner at the Banff Centre and Norma Fisher at the London Masterclasses.

Plessis is a founding member of the Centric Festival - a (mostly) classical music festival held in Lethbridge, Alberta. He has been awarded prizes both in piano and composition, and has performed as a guest artist with several ensembles including the Musaeus String Quartet, members of the Land’s End Chamber Ensemble, and the International Piano Ensemble. He has had the opportunity to give the Canadian premieres of works by Marcel Bergmann, Kaija Saariaho, John Corigliano, Nico Muhly, and Kjartan Olafsson. He has performed across Canada and Europe - recent performances include those with New West Theatre, at the Casalmaggiore Festival in Italy, the Dark Music Days Festival in Iceland, and at the Banff Centre. In addition to his activities as a performer, Plessis is a committed educator: he has been on faculty at the University of Lethbridge and gives masterclasses and private lessons regularly. A sometime conductor, Plessis has directed performances with the Brandon University New Music Ensemble, the Brandon University Orchestra, and several musical theatre productions.