At three o'clock on July 20, Mary Ann Shoemaker will present a piano recital at the Onofrio Piano Company at 1332 South Broadway. Included on the program will be the Schumann Fantasia, Opus 17, the Beethoven Sonata in D Major, Opus 28, Suite Bergamasque by Debussy, a Bach Prelude and Fugue, and a Liszt Transcendental Etude. The public is invited to attend this performance free of charge.

Mary Ann Shoemaker recently graduated from Ponderosa High School with honors where she was an active member of the National Honor Society and the Spanish National Honor Society. In addition she also participated in varsity track through her junior year. Mary Ann was a member of the Ponderosa Chamber Orchestra, and she was given the Leonard Bernstein Award for outstanding musicianship in piano. Throughout her high school years, she received awards for academics and athletics. She also volunteered at the Ave Maria Catholic Church where she was part of the leadership team and accompanied the choir at mass.

She began her study of piano at the age of four in Baltimore, Maryland, taking lessons with Dr. Bella Oster and Dr. Ernest Barretta of the Juilliard School faculty. She has given performances at the White House, the Pentagon, and the United Nations. In addition, she has performed at several embassies including the French, German, Austrian, Polish, Hungarian, Indian, and the embassy of Bolivia. She has been awarded first place in several statewide competitions in Maryland. At the age of 15 she moved to Colorado and continued her studies with Mr. Robin McNeil. In 2007, she was awarded first place in the Colorado State Music Teachers Association competition. She has been accepted at four universities, and this fall she will study with Dr. Paul Barnes at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. Dr. Barnes also teaches at IndianaUniversity during the summer months when not teaching at the BosendorferAcademy in Austria.

The Fantasy in C Major, Op. 17, is one of Schuman's most powerful pieces. It has three substantial movements which, essentially, describe Schumann's love for Clara Wieck, and the anxious state of his emotions when her father would not allow him to see her. The first movement revolves around Schumann's passion for Clara, the second movement is in the form of an forceful march, and the third movement expresses his undying love for his wife to be. It is typical Schuman in that the mood changes abruptly and almost constantly, particularly in the first movement. The technical demands on the pianist are extreme, as are the demands on one's concentration. The second movement, the March, contains one of the most notoriously difficult spots in piano literature in the last two pages with huge leaps required of the pianist. The third movement has some of piano literature's most beautiful moments using deceptive harmonic resolutions that have been established in a mood of total repose.

Dedicated to the Count Joseph von Sonnenfels, the Beethoven Sonata in D Major was nicknamed "Pastorale" by his publisher (Beethoven's publishers often nicknamed his compositions without consulting him at all). This sonata was written at the time when Beethoven was just beginning to realize that he was going deaf. The term pastorale refers to the sense of countryside and serenity, and indeed, the first and last movements of this sonata reflect that mood, however, the two middle movements are anything but serene.

Suite Bergamasque by Debussy is one of his most famous suites, and its title most likely comes from the poem, Claire de lune, by the great Symbolist poet, Paul Verlaine. Indeed, the third and most famous movement of this suite is called Clair de lune. The other three movements are the Prelude, Menuet, and Passepied.

Miss Shoemaker will perform Liszt's Transcendental Etude Number 11, entitled "Harmonies of The Evening." These etudes have an interesting history. They were originally composed in 1826 when Liszt was fifteen years of age. During the time that he was touring Europe as a virtuoso - let us remember that he was the finest pianist that has ever lived - he rewrote them so they were more mature compositions. That was in 1837, and it was then that Robert Schumann said that there were only about ten people in the world that could play them (his wife, Clara Schumann, a startlingly fine pianist, was surely among the ten). In 1851, Liszt rewrote them again, this time so that pianists who are mere mortals can play them. They are still among the most difficult - and beautiful - works in all of piano literature.

What concert would be complete without Bach? Miss Shoemaker will play the E Flat Major Prelude and Fugue from Book One of the Well Tempered Clavier. The prelude, itself, contains a double fugue.

Mary Ann Shoemaker is receiving the generous support of Mr. Joe Onofrio and the Onofrio Piano company. Without this support, this recital would not be possible. Miss Shoemaker will perform on a 225cm Bosendorfer piano.