IN MEMORIAM:WENDY MARANISS – for Solo Piano

Once out of nature I shall never take
My bodily form from any natural thing,
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
Of hammered gold and gold enameling
To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;
Or set upon a golden bough to sing
To lords and ladies of Byzantium
Of what is past, or passing, or to come.
– W.B.Yeats – from Sailing to Byzantium

That is the best definition of an artist that I have come across — And such was Wendy Maraniss – one of those singing birds… singing the music of composers young and old, living and gone.

A dedicated teacher of young people, Wendy was driving on a Sunday morning – on a cold winter day in November – to teach make up lessons. On a patch of black ice just outside Ithaca, NY she met a tragic end.

She was a friend and one of the finest pianists I’ve ever known… too shy to dance at parties, yet not too shy to perform Ligeti for Ligeti – and to his satisfaction! For her memorial concert in 1997 I performed the premier of this piece – IN MEMORIAM: WENDY MARANISS… This work uses the letters of her name in the music and celebrates aspects of her personality… perhaps those that we shared.

LISTEN: Music Player in Side Bar!

IN MEMORIAM:WENDY MARANISS was performed a few years ago by Taka Kigawa
at Douglas Townsend’s 4th Annual Social Networking Concert – AND is a featured work for CHIRON 3/1/2020 at The National Opera Center, NY: HERE: