FSU Faculty Artist Series Opens With Pianist Jay DeWire’s “Before and After” Recital

FSU Faculty Artist Series Opens With Pianist Jay DeWire's "Before and After" Recital

Aug 13, 2026 8:00 AM

Frostburg State University's Department of Music, Theatre and Dance will open its fall Faculty Artist Series with a piano recital by Dr. Jay DeWire, "Before and After", on Friday, Aug. 28, at 7:30 p.m. in the Pealer Recital Hall of FSU's Woodward D. Pealer Performing Arts Center.

The recital is free and open to the public. It will also be livestreamed at https://www.frostburg.edu/concerts.

As the world approaches the bicentennial of Ludwig van Beethoven's death, DeWire's program explores the evolution of the piano sonata by pairing works that influenced Beethoven with compositions inspired by his lasting legacy.

The program features Johann Sebastian Bach's Italian Concerto, BWV 971 and Joseph Haydn's Sonata in E-flat Major, Hob. XVI:52, which illustrate the musical traditions that helped shape Beethoven's style. The second half of the recital highlights works by composers who built upon or responded to his influence, including Alexander Scriabin's Sonata No. 5, Op. 53, Maurice Ravel's Sonatine, M. 40, and Franz Liszt's Après une lecture du Dante - Fantasia quasi sonata, S.161/7.

DeWire has performed throughout the United States as a soloist, collaborator and member of the West Shore Piano Trio. Career highlights include two solo appearances with the Prince George's Philharmonic and performances in Chautauqua, Los Angeles and New Mexico with the trio. He has earned recognition in several competitions, including an honorable mention in the Washington, D.C., Beethoven Competition and finalist honors in the American Musicological Society Mid-Atlantic Chapter Writing Competition.

His additional honors include the Brander Wyatt Morrison Prize and a Dean of Faculty Fellowship from the University of Virginia. DeWire is an assistant professor of music at Frostburg State University, where he teaches piano, piano pedagogy and music history.

For more information about this and other performances, visit https://www.frostburg.edu/concerts.