SCAC Fellow to world premiere two-piano concerto on Feb. 28

The world premiere of Meira Warshauer’s complete Ocean Calling trilogy of works for two pianos will be presented live and streamed on Monday, Feb. 28 at 7:30 p.m. at Freeman Recital Hall of the University of South Carolina School of Music (813 Assembly St., Columbia).

Performers will be UofSC faculty member Phillip Bush and guest artist Elizabeth Loparits, presenting Ocean Calling I: Waves and Currents, Ocean Calling II: From the Depths and Ocean Calling III: The Giant Blue.

In an artist statement, Warshauer said,

“Nature has long been an inspiration for composers, and indeed for all artists. What’s different now, and my drive for composing the symphony Living Breathing Earth, Ocean Calling, Ahavah (Love) and other related works, is that we can no longer take this living planet for granted.”

“This series of compositions for two pianos is dedicated to the ocean. Called our ‘life-support’ system, the ocean covers 72% of the planet’s surface and provides half the oxygen we breathe and many other resources, while regulating our climate with currents traversing thousands of miles. As I learn of large-scale contaminations, over-fishing, acidification, death of coral reefs and rising temperatures linked to the urgent climate crisis, I fear we take the ocean’s gifts for granted, unaware that our survival is linked to the ocean’s health. I hope the Ocean Calling series will help us to renew our connection with this vital life source and its vast, mysterious realms, and that we will hear the call from the sea that we are part of one indivisible whole.”

Warshauer is a two-time SCAC Fellow in music composition, receiving awards in 1994 and 2006.