Resounding Resistance: Folk-Infused Classical Music, 1937-1945

Appalachian State University’s High Country Humanities—with support from North Carolina Humanities and the Watauga Arts Council —is pleased to present a public listening workshop, followed by a free concert. These events will form a two-part program titled “Resounding Resistance: Folk-Infused Classical Music, 1937-1945,” which will take place on Sunday, May 4, 2025, from 3:30-5:30 p.m. at the Rosen Concert Hall in Appalachian’s Broyhill Music Center at 813 Rivers Street in Boone. Doors will open at 3:00 p.m.

The listening workshop, sponsored by a Small Project Grant from North Carolina Humanities, celebrates the eightieth anniversary of the “Asheville Concerto” (“Piano Concerto No. 3”) by Béla Bartók (1881-1945), a Hungarian composer who fled Europe during World War II and spent his final summer in Western North Carolina. It will open with two brief TED-style talks by Dr. Darci Gardner and Dr. Jacob Kopcienski, who will explain the history of the piece and its composition. Then, guest collaborative pianists from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Department of Music, Mr. Teddy Robie and Mrs. Mimi Solomon, will use two pianos to demonstrate their interpretations of the piece before answering audience questions.