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ESO maestro to tickle the ivories
William Eddins, best known as the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra's
energetic and affable conductor, trades his baton in for a grand piano as
part of The Edmonton Recital Society's 2009/2010 Main Series.
Currently in his fifth season as the orchestra's music director and
conductor, Eddins has been credited with popularizing classic music in this
city, courtesy of his colourful personality, the vibrancy he brings to the podium and his initiatives in new media as a communication tool. He
regularly posts personal accounts on his personal website, his Sticks and
Drones blog, and creates podcasts that explore the history of classical
music as well has his involvement in chamber ensembles.
A native of Buffalo, NY, Eddins started playing piano at the age of five,
after his parents purchased a Wurlitzer grand piano at a garage sale.
Further studies led him to the Eastman School of Music, where he graduated
with a bachelor's degree at 18 (one of the school's youngest grads in its
history) in 1983 and where he received his master's degree three years
later.
It was also at Eastman, where Eddins took up conducting and decided to
pursue that career direction at the University of Southern California in
1989. Stints with the Chicago Symphony and the Minneapolis Orchestra soon
followed, where he started to garner a reputation as one of America's most
promising conductors. He was also a recipient of the Seavers Conducting
Award from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2000, and recently
completed a five-year guest conductorship with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland.
But he hadn't totally abandoned piano, having produced and releasing a solo
piano CD called Bad Boys Volume One in 2003, which included music by
Beethoven and Albright. His ERS program will include the complete suite of
Goyescas by Enrique Granados and a salute to "America in the Roaring '20s!" featuring the music of Copland, Carpenter, Seeger, and Gershwin.
