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Joel Hastings
was born in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario. With his father's
purchase of a Hammond B3 organ, he began music lessons with a local
church organist in North Bay, Ontario, at the age of seven. Eight years
later he commenced piano lessons with David Palmer at the University of
Windsor, himself a student of the French pianist, Yvonne Loriod. From
the Royal Conservatory of Music, Mr. Hastings earned his ARCT diploma
in both piano and organ, receiving the gold medal for the highest score
in the county.
His studies continued
at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, USA, where he graduated with
degrees in organ and piano. Among his teachers were Nina Lelchuk and
Sergei Babayan, both outstanding pianists of the Russian school;
Dickran Atamian, a piano phenomenon who had studied with Claudio Arrau
and Jorge Bolet; and internationally renowned organist, Robert Glasgow.
Mr. Hastings has
received grants from the Canadian Council for the Performing Arts and
was the winner of the International Bach Competition at the Kennedy
Center in Washington, D.C. Reviewers have described his playing as
passionate, mesmerizing, hypnotizing, and transcendental. In a Newsweek
review, he "pulled the audience to their feet after a wild performance
of Franz Liszt's Totentanz." After delivering a stunning performance at
the Tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth,
Texas, one reporter designated Mr. Hastings as the "audience favorite"
while another declared, "the kinetic fingers of this young Canadian
reminded me strongly of his late countryman, Glenn Gould."
You can hear Joel's musical gifts each week in the service at First Baptist Church, Sundays at 10.00 a.m.
His CD "Sessions" is a
collection of piano music from Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Mendelssohn,
Scriabin, and Liszt. Now available at Borders on Liberty and
King's Keyboards, or you can buy your copy directly from the artist.
You are invited to visit www.joelhastings.com for more information.
Joel can be e-mailed at: joeljoelhastings.com Review from E-Current, April 2003
Joel Hastings, Sessions (Prestant, 2002)
I
don't often wax rhapsodic over new releases, but this offering by
superb native Canadian and local classical pianist Joel Hastings is one
worth burbling over. Generally our musicians put together well-done,
enjoyable recordings. Hastings, however, presents the work of a true
artist on this new album, Sessions.
Upon
my first listening of the Rachmaninoff compositions, which comprise the
first five tracks, I was set back on my heels by the impeccable
virtuosity and musical inspiration underlying Hastings's
interpretation. His astonishing evenness of tone brings out the shimmer
of Lilacs and the contrasting virility of the Etude-Tableau, Op. 39 No.
1.
The
disc has 10 tracks of Prokofiev works (you can never have too much
Prokofiev), which illustrates not just his mastery over the most
difficult piano technique, but also his stature as an artist. His
control and depth of expression go from the introspective beauty of
Legend to the aggressive, primitive stomping of the Allemande. This
latter piece brought to mind an illustration in one of my childhood
books of the hut of Baba-Yar dancing about on huge chicken legs.
Hastings
magnificently polishes off Mendelssohn's Variations Sérieuses in D
Minor, Op. 54; Scriabin's Sonata No. 9, Op. 68; and Liszt's fiendishly
difficult Totentanz.
Were
I listening to this without knowing the artist, I would have guessed it
to be the work of a top-tier pianist such as Evgeny Kissen or
Sviatoslav Richter. Hastings definitely falls into the category of
world-class performer.
---Jeannette Luton-Faber
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