PianoForte LIVE Series: Shi-An Costello – The Bach Cello Suites, Recomposed for Piano

Shi-An Costello plays his own recomposed arrangements of J.S. Bach’s monumental Suites for Solo Cello. A project begun during the months of quarantine, Costello gives the first performance of the first set of suites.

PianoForte LIVE brings our recital series into your home, virtually, through Facebook and Youtube. Limited in-person tickets are available for select concerts, but please check for availability. These dates feature a wide variety of music from classical, jazz, tango and more. Our series aims to provide you with high quality concerts without having to leave your couch! All concerts will also be posted on PianoForte Foundation’s Youtube and Facebook pages afterwards.

Program:

“…a tour de force…a thoughtful and adventurous artist.” -Brian Schuth, Boston Musical Intelligencer)

Shi-An Costello (世安) is a composer, pianist, and a proud second generation mixed race Asian American, born and raised in Chicago.

Costello has released two solo albums under Blue Griffin Records: Rounded Binary: Preludes and Fugues of J.S. Bach and Dmitri Shostakovitch (2018), and Posthumous: Preludes, Nocturnes and Mazurkas of Frederic Chopin (2020). Future projects include Development, contemporary reimaginings of the keyboard sonatas of Franz Joseph Haydn; Working Echoes, abstract sound art for piano and recorded voice; and the J.S. Bach Cello Suites, recomposed for solo piano. His solo repertoire includes music new and old, from J.S. Bach to Brian Ferneyhough, from Chopin to Morton Feldman.

Shi-An has previously held the posts of staff accompanist for the percussion area of the Schulich School of Music at McGill University, staff accompanist at the Interlochen Center for the Arts, and visiting artist to the composition department of Boston Conservatory. Costello is currently on the piano faculty of New Music School in Chicago. Shi-An holds a bachelor’s from Columbia College (magna cum laude) in piano and composition, under Sebastian Huydts, and a master’s in piano performance from McGill University in Montreal, under Dr. Sara Laimon. (shiancostello.com)

Facebook: @shiancostello
Instagram: @shiancostello