Noted Pianist Closes Concert Season at St. Mary of the Hills

Noted pianist Bair Shagdaron will bring a romantic flourish to the final concert of the season at St. Mary of the Hills with the music of Chopin and Rachmaninoff. The concert, sponsored by the Friends of Music at St. Mary’s, will be in the nave of the church on Main Street in Blowing Rock on Sunday, October 29 ^th at 3 pm. 

Dr. Shagdaron was born in Moscow, Russia and began studying music at age of four. In 1964 he entered the prestigious Moscow Gnesins Music School for Gifted Children, graduating in 1976, He received his doctorate from the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, where he later became an Assistant Professor. In 1990, Dr. Shagdaron graduated from the Conservatory with his second degree, in composition. He came to the United States in 1996 and taught at Ottawa University in Kansas before joining the faculty at Appalachian State University in 2000.

As an accomplished soloist, Dr. Shagdaron took fourth prize at the 1980 International J.S.Bach Competition in Leipzig, Germany and third prize at the 1992 International Competition for Piano and Orchestra in Mazara del Vallo, Italy. Also in 1992 he was awarded the Honorary Title of “The People’s Artist of Buryat Republic” (Russia). Dr. Shagdaron has given master classes in Japan and performed throughout the USA, Russia, Japan, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Belgium and Mongolia. 

St. Mary of the Hills’ Friends of Music presents a variety of local and AppState artists once a month on Sunday afternoons from May through October. All concerts are free and everyone is welcome. The church is located on Main Street in Blowing Rock. For more information, please call the church office at 828.295.7323, or follow us on Facebook @ MusicfromStMaryoftheHills .

Courtesy of St. Mary of the Hills’ Friends of Music.