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© St. Petersburg Times, published April 18, 2002
Piano philanthropy
Pianist Franz Josef Mantini celebrates a couple of landmarks with his recital on Friday. It's his 25th performance at Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, and it's his sixth annual concert to benefit a pair of scholarship programs he has set up at his alma mater, the University of South Florida: the Franz Mantini Scholarship Fund in the College of Engineering and the Jacques Abram Memorial Scholarship in the school of music.
Mantini, an electrical engineer, studied piano with Abram, who died in 1998. His program includes works of Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and Liszt. Last year, the concert raised more than $6,000 for the scholarship funds.
Mantini is also gearing up for another performance, his third appearance in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs, held in June in Fort Worth, Texas. The competition is for pianists who are older than 30 and make their living in something other than music.
The recital is at 7:30 p.m. Friday in TBPAC's Ferguson Hall. Tickets: $10 and $25. (813) 229-7827.
Shostakovich's music was deeply influenced by his relationship with the Soviet authorities, and Scott Kluksdahl finds evidence of the composer's troubled career under a dictatorship in his second cello concerto. "It's not nice Shostakovich, it's not pretty," Kluksdahl said. "It seems to be poking fun, in my opinion, at military might. It's an angry, bitter work."
Kluksdahl is the soloist in Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 2 with the University of South Florida Symphony Orchestra, William Wiedrich conducting. Also on the program are Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain and Barber's First Essay. The concert is at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Ferguson Hall of Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. Tickets: $5 and $7. (813) 229-7827.