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Haydn and the English Lady
Franz Joseph Haydn composer
Maria Hester Park composer
Patrick Hawkins 1831 William Geib square piano
When listening to keyboardist Patrick Hawkins playing an 1831 William Geib square piano on his debut Navona Records release, HAYDN AND THE ENGLISH LADY, one can imagine men and women in elegant silk gowns and suits gathered in an opulently decorated drawing room of an 18th-century English estate. This collection of piano works by Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) and Maria Hester Park (1760-1813) illustrate the diversity and refinement of Classical repertoire.
Park, who received notable recognition as a pianist and harpsichordist in her teenage years, composed pieces which use skilled keyboard techniques, from the virtuosic 32nd-note passages and three-against-two patterns in Sonata in E-flat Major to the double-dotted rhythms and sighing gestures in A Waltz in E-flat Major. Haydn’s Sonata in D Major and Adagio in G Major were written during his second visit to London in 1794-95, the former thought to be written as a gift for Maria Hester Park. Throughout his performances, Hawkins exhibits control and stateliness, presenting these works in a renewed display of sophistication and delicacy.
Patrick Hawkins is an early keyboard specialist who holds degrees in performance from the Peabody Conservatory, East Carolina University, and Arizona State University. He has performed throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe, including in France and Germany as well as at the Cambridge Summer Recitals in the United Kingdom.
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Artist Information
Patrick Hawkins
Patrick Hawkins holds degrees in performance from the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University, East Carolina University, and Arizona State University. Post-graduate studies in music education were taken at California State University, Los Angeles, and at the University of Washington, Seattle. His major teachers have included Janette Fishell, Peggy Haas Howell, Kimberly Marshall, and Carole Terry (organ); Shirley Mathews, and Webb Wiggins (harpsichord); and Shuko Watanabe and Joseph Rackers (piano).
