Current Programs – Grandfather’s Tale

“Of Old and New: A Grandfather’s Tale” explores arguably the most turbulent and creative ten years in music history: from 1904 to 1914. The Romantic style still reigned, but revolutionary approaches to composition shocked the music world. Frederick Moyer performs music of such composers as Saint-Saens, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Scriabin, Stravinsky, Debussy and Bartok.

Throughout, he describes the incredible story of his grandfather, David Moyer, a young American pianist, who at age seven, performed in vaudeville, at nine played for Teddy Roosevelt at the White House, and at eleven moved to Berlin to study with some of the illustrious pianists of the age including Ernst von Dohnanyi and Ferruccio Busoni. During his years in Berlin (1906 – 1914) young David befriended Kaiser Wilhelm. The start of World War I abruptly ended this idyllic life. David returned to America, but ironically, immediately returned to Europe, now as part of the US Army.