Alexandre Dossin
By Margit Resch
How can one musician’s performance sweep you off your feet and carry you into a different world, a world so beautiful you do not want the experience to end? Alexandre Dossin is one of those magicians. No matter whose compositions he extracts from the piano’s key board, he endows the music with wings that carry you up and away into a space of wonder. Whose compositions, you ask? Well, famous piano composers span many musical eras, from the early keyboard innovations of the Baroque period to modern minimalist and contemporary styles. You name the composers, Dossin has mastered their work: Bach, Beethoven, Liszt, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Schubert, etc. Dossin has recorded and released all of Mozart’s piano sonatas and the complete piano works of Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer George Walker, which include the world premiere of his composition Bauble. Just to mention two of Dossin’s many recordings.
Dossin’s life story is amazing. He was seven years old when he performed in a university auditorium in his hometown of Porto Alegre in Brazil. Maybe it was the round of enthusiastic applause that inspired him to continue playing and to master the instrument to the point where he was invited to play and to teach all over the world. He spent nine years in Russia, immersed in the study of music and culture, and graduated from the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. He earned a doctorate from the University of Texas in Austin. And he is now Professor of Piano and Chair of Keyboard at the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance. Wait, that is not all. He is also the Artistic Director and Co-Founder of the Oregon Piano Institute, Vice President of the American Liszt Society, the President of the Oregon Chapter of the American Liszt Society, and he is one of the recipients of the prestigious Faculty Fund for Excellence at the University of Oregon.
While teaching and performing, both as a soloist and with famous symphony orchestras, Dossin has also been recording and participating in international piano competitions, such as the prestigious Van Cliburn competition. It is not surprising, is it, that he has won many prizes, in addition to the hand in marriage of his wife Maria, a fellow student at the Conservatory. He received the First Prize and the Special Prize at the 2003 Martha Argerich International Piano Competition in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Other international awards include the Silver Medal and second Honorable Mention in the Maria Callas Grand Prix (Greece), and Third Prize and Special Prize in the Mozart International Piano Competition (Salzburg, Germany), in addition to several prizes in Brazil. Needless to say, Dossin’s performances have been praised in many publications. You can imagine what they wrote.
When the University of Texas at Austin offered him a teaching assistantship, Dossin found himself drawn to pedagogy. Subsequently, as a professor, Dr. Dossin was surprised to find a harmonic relationship between teaching and performing: the profound understanding of piano-playing – required for teaching that art – led to richer performances, which charged his desire to share his learnings with his students, the next generation of musicians. It is also not surprising, is it, that his students’ evaluations of his teaching are nothing but accolades. Just one example: “Dr. Dossin is a passionate instructor, and his music enthusiasm is passed on during his lessons. The environment of his studio, among all his students is a musical world where people care for one another, and one helps the other to improve.”
Come on Sunday, November 8, 5:00 pm, to the Fripp Community Centre. Alexandre Dossin will play for us popular works by Mozart, Beethoven, Lachmund, Walker, Villa-Lobos and Gershwin.
It is not too late to become a member of Fripp Island Friends of Music (FIFOM), an organization that has been hosting internationally acclaimed musicians to perform on Fripp for 43 years. Membership gives you access to the next four season concerts, plus to the wonderful post-show reception, where you can chat with the musicians while enjoying delicious hors d’oeuvres prepared fresh by Harold’s Chef Services. We are grateful for the generous sponsorship of Bill’s Liquor and Fine Wines. Your sponsorship=membership helps fund both FIFOM’s great performances and its charitable Music-in-the-Schools mission. The basic FIFOM membership, only $100, has not changed. Tickets at the door are $30. Ready to join us? Text or call Rebecca Climer at (615) 594-1552 or email her at rebecca.climer@gmail.com; and go to frippfriendsofmusic.com for more information.
