Sean Duggan's keyboard genius covers Bach

Fredonia School of Music pianist Sean Brett Duggan is in the midst of performing 16 piano concerts this year that encompass the entire keyboard cycle of J.S. Bach. All concerts are free and open to the public, and start at 8 p.m. in Rosch Recital Hall. 

At left is Fr. Sean Duggan at the Steinway in Rosch Recital Hall. A reception in his honor will be hosted by the Fredonia School of Music following his final Bach series concert on April 22.

• The final concert is Saturday, April 29, and will be devoted to Bach's "The Art of Fugue," BWV 1080.

The series marks 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 in his second full year as a member of the 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.”