Michael Ventura In January 2011, Brian Ganz gave his first performance of his Chopin series at The Music Center to a sold out crowd. He hopes to complete all 250-plus works by the composer in 10 years.

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Michael Ventura Annapolis pianist Brian Ganz will continue his quest to perform all of the works of Chopin in his second recital of the project at The Music Center at Strathmore on Saturday.
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Michael Ventura In January 2011, Brian Ganz gave his first performance of his Chopin series at The Music Center to a sold out crowd. He hopes to complete all 250-plus works by the composer in 10 years.

Michael Ventura In January 2011, Brian Ganz gave his first performance of his Chopin series at The Music Center to a sold out crowd. He hopes to complete all 250-plus works by the composer in 10 years.

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Imitation is the highest form of flattery.

In music, such flattery can take the form of gyrating Elvis impersonators or artistically liberal renditions of radio hits. But rarely after a lifetime of devotion does a classical musician make it their goal to give live performances of the entire music catalogue of a prolific and complex composer — and that is just what pianist Brian Ganz will try and do with the works of Frédéric Chopin.

“He has always been one of the dominant forces of my life,” says Ganz.

The second installment of Ganz’s decade-long quest to perform Chopin’s 250-plus compositions continues Saturday during a solo piano recital at the Music Center at Strathmore. Ganz’s first installment of the Chopin series in January 2011 sold out the near-2,000 seat venue.

Chopin was a 19th-century Polish composer of the Romantic Movement who primarily composed for solo piano. He left his native Poland in 1830 due to political conflict with Russia and settled in Paris, where he composed extensively throughout the remainder of his 39 years of life.

In 2010, after Ganz had decided to tackle the 10-year project, he embarked on a “pilgrimage” to Chopin’s homeland for research before his first recital at Strathmore.

“I could see just want a national treasure he was and is,” Ganz says.

Although Ganz will perform many of his works in solo recitals, he will seek the help of the National Philharmonic later in his quest as he tackle’s Chopin’s few concertos written for piano and orchestra.

“Chopin has been my favorite composer my entire musical life and I’ve always had the dream of completing his complete works,” Ganz says.

Ganz grew up in Columbia and had just begun piano lessons at the age of 9 when Chopin’s dance music first captured his heart.

“I remember the day my teacher assigned me my very first piece by Chopin — the ‘Minute Waltz,’” he says. “Those we’re thrilling days and I remember them fondly.”

Captivated by what he heard, Ganz was inspired to continue his musical education at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, and later to perform recitals and with orchestras around the world. He now lives in Annapolis and teaches at both the Peabody Conservatory and St. Mary’s College of Maryland.

“I was just madly in love with it all and I knew that is what I wanted to do with my life and that Chopin would always be my musical first love,” Ganz says.

Saturday’s installment, “Dances and Fantasies,” will include several of Chopin’s works that evoke fantasy in name as well as feel, such as “Fantaisie in F minor, Op. 49” and “Polonaise-Fantaisie, Op. 61” — one of Chopin’s great masterworks that Ganz has centered the concert around. The dance portion of the billing includes “Waltz in A-flat Major, Op.42,” and the four “Mazurkas, Op. 6.”

Ganz anticipates his January 2013 recital at Strathmore to be titled “Small Worlds,” focusing on Chopin’s many preludes. As he continues to put together future programs, Ganz says he will continue to pull from various stages in the composer’s life, while tailoring his choices to provide the audience with a range and depth of insight.

Chopin’s work does not always come easy, says Ganz. Although some compositions chosen for Saturday’s performance will be effortless to the audience’s ear, like the popular “Polonaise in A major,” others will require more effort and attention that he hopes will blossom into reward.

“I love the sense of mystery and soulfulness in his work,” Ganz says. “Very often there are harmonic progressions that are a little bit puzzling at first. As you mediate on theme and ponder and listen to them they get very deep into your skin and into your soul and work a kind of magic on it.”

ccalamaio@gazette.net

Brian Ganz

When: 8 p.m. Saturday

Where: The Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda

Tickets: $24-$46, Free for children 7-17 if purchased in person or by phone

For information: 301-581-5100 www.strathmore.org www.nationalphilharmonic.org