Fredonia School of Music pianist Sean Brett Duggan will perform the first in a series of 16 piano concerts slated for the 2005-2006 academic year that will encompass the entire keyboard cycle of J.S. Bach on Friday, Sept. 9 at 8 p.m. in Juliet J. Rosch Recital Hall. Admission is free and open to the public.
The upcoming series of concerts at SUNY Fredonia will mark the ninth time that Fr. Duggan –a practicing Benedictine monk – has performed the complete catalog of Bach’s works for the keyboard. The first eight projects, entitled “Bach on the Threshold of Hope,” were concluded in 2000 as part of an individual acknowledgement of the Roman Catholic Church’s yearlong Jubilee celebration and the 250th anniversary of the great composer’s death. Fr. Duggan performed 120 critically acclaimed concerts in eight cities appearing in such diverse venues as Wesley Church in Bethlehem, Penn. to the home of the Benedictine brotherhood at Sant’Anselmo in Rome.
“It was a tremendous experience,” Fr. Duggan said. “I felt that I had been able to walk through the entire life of Bach. It was a very meaningful personal experience, but it was also a very important and very gratifying to share this experience with so many other people in so many places.”
Now entering his second full year as a member of the SUNY Fredonia School of Music piano faculty following a stint at the University of Michigan, Fr. Duggan chose to reprise his compendium of Bach’s works as a gift to his new community.
“Since I have this new faculty position here at Fredonia, I felt that like this would be something worthwhile, because I don’t think anything like this has been done here,” Fr. Duggan said. “Also, the thought of doing it again…was a very attractive thing for me. Instead of doing it eight times in a year, I’ll only do the cycle once, (and) I’ll be able to put even more concentration into each concert. I feel as though I’ve grown as a pianist, and (that) I’m better equipped to do this than I was in 2000.”
Fr. Duggan is a graduate of Loyola University in New Orleans and received his Master of Fine Arts degree from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. In 1982, he entered the Benedictine order at St. Joseph Abbey near Covington, La. He graduated summa cum laude with a Master of Arts degree in Theology from Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans and was ordained to the priesthood on April 16, 1988.
Fr. Duggan is a two-time winner of the Johann Sebastian Each International Competition for Pianists and has appeared with various orchestras, including the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic and the American Chamber Orchestra, among others. He has made guest performances at prestigious summer festivals in the United States and abroad. Fr. Duggan is also the former host of a two-hour radio entitled “Bach on Sunday” that aired for five years on WWNO-FM in New Orleans, and his liturgical compositions have appeared in hymnals published by The Liturgical Press and G.I.A.
Upcoming Bach recitals with Fr. Duggan will be held on Friday, Sept. 16; Saturday, Sept. 24; and Friday, Oct. 21. All performances will begin at 8 p.m. in Juliet J. Rosch Recital Hall.
To learn more about events at SUNY Fredonia, visit the university online at www.fredonia.edu.
