Award-Winning Pianist/Stetson Alum to perform

Stetson University School of Music will present pianist Brent Pafford on Saturday evening, Nov. 8. The program will feature J.S. Bach’s 10 Chorale Preludes (BV B27) composed for organ and transcribed for piano by Ferruccio Busoni. Pafford will also speak on the significance of these sacred works in the pianist’s repertoire. The 7:30 p.m. lecture-recital will take place in Lee Chapel inside Elizabeth Hall, 421 N. Woodland Blvd., DeLand. The performance is free and open to the public.

An alumnus of Stetson University (Class of 2013), Pafford enjoyed a successful undergraduate career in the School of Music as a piano performance major, appearing in over 50 solo, chamber, and large ensemble concerts at Stetson. A 2011 winner in the annual Stetson University School of Music Concerto Competition, he performed Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto no. 1 in D-flat major with the Stetson Symphony Orchestra conducted by Maestro Anthony Hose. Other notable performances include degree-required junior and senior recitals and collaborations with the Symphony Orchestra for Stetson’s Opera Theatre productions, including The Marriage of Figaro (harpsichord), Les mamelles de Tirésias (piano), and Angelique (piano).

As an award recipient of a 2014 Apgar Foundation Sacred Music Grant, Brent attended the prestigious Orfeo Music Festival in Vipiteno, Italy this past summer. He researched Ferruccio Busoni’s transcriptions of the 10 Chorale Preludes (B BV 27) by Bach and worked closely with Steinway Artist and Stetson professor of music Michael Rickman, who is an expert in musicology and in the performance of J.S. Bach’s sacred music. The Nov. 8 performance at Stetson represents the culmination of his findings.

Currently in his final year in Stetson University’s Master of Business Administration (MBA) program, Pafford remains actively involved in the community as a studio piano teacher, accompanist for the DeLand High School choral program, and president of Stetson University’s Music Teacher’s Association collegiate chapter. Upon graduation, he plans to attend graduate school to pursue a master of music degree in piano performance.

For more information on the Nov. 8 performance, please call the Stetson University School of Music at (386) 822-8950.

The Apgar Foundation at Stetson University is possible because of the success of Somerset Tire Service (STS), an automotive service and tire company based in New Jersey. John “Jack” N. Apgar, Jr., founded STS in 1958 and led it until his death in 1987. After Jack’s passing, his widow created the Apgar Foundation to support and encourage those aspects of the American cultural, religious, political, and economic heritage that made her family’s financial success possible.