Arts @ the FHI

Part of the Immersed in Every Sense Series supported by the Duke University Council for the Arts Visiting Artist Fund and the Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies Visiting Artist Fund - co-sponsored by the FHI GreaterThanGames Lab and Information Science + Information Studies

Reflections on 9/11 is a piano work in seven movements. The composition "disturbingly transposes the catastrophe into... cataclysmic sound and artistically suggests the aftermath’s lingering sense of numbing devastation" (Fanfare). A "tone poem full of dark textures and a compelling somber atmosphere," Reflections moves from shock to calmness (if not acceptance) and provides a "commentary on loss of trust and a need to reconstruct ourselves in a post-9/11 world" (American Record Guide). Karen Walwyn is a concert pianist and Associate Professor of Music at Howard University. For the 2011-12 academic year, she is a Mellon HBCU Fellow at the FHI. A classical concert pianist, Prof. Walwyn, successfully made her New York recital debut at Merkin Hall, in New York City which was quickly followed by her debut performance on National Public Radio, (NPR). Her most noted performances included works from her compact discs entitled Dark Fires: 20th Century Music for Piano, Vol. I and Dark Fires: Walwyn and Friends, Vol. II (Albany Records). Articles and reviews have appeared in the Washington Post, Fanfare, American Record Guide, Records International Catalogue, and the Detroit Free Press in response to the recording, and as a result she has become in high demand across the United States and in Europe. Of her performance for the Musart Series at the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes that "Walwyn was fearless throughout, managing every challenge with precise fingers and heroic command of textures. Other halls and institutions where Walwyn has given masterclasses and performances of her repertoire of African American 20th Century and European 19th Century Works include L'Auditorio and The Palau, Barcelona Spain, The Casino Hall in Tenerife, Canary Islands, The Salzburg College in Salzburg, Austria, the University of Michigan, the University of Indiana, the University of Miami, Clark Atlanta University, and the University of Hawaii.

John Hope Franklin Center

John Hope Franklin Center

Franklin Humanities Institute