Valley Concert Chorale: Daniel Glover

Concert pianist Daniel Glover will perform selections by Russian American composer Sergei Rachmaninoff during a benefit for the nonprofit Valley Concert Chorale at the First Presbyterian Church in Livermore.

Born in Russia in 1873, Rachmaninoff and his family left following the Russian Revolution and eventually settled in New York in 1918. He moved to California in 1942 because of ill health and died a year later, just weeks after becoming an American citizen. In honor of his 150th anniversary, Glover will play his most famous composition, “Prelude in C-sharp Minor,” also known as “The Bells of Moscow,” which was written when the composer was just 19.

Glover, who has appeared as a soloist with many Bay Area orchestras, will also play four additional Rachmaninoff compositions, originally published with “The Bells of Moscow” and known collectively as “Morceaux de Fantasie,” or “Fantasy Pieces.”

The second half of Glover’s performance will include tribute to Austria’s Franz Schubert by 19th-century Hungarian composer Franz Liszt. Schubert composed more than 600 songs and 400 dances during his short lifetime, and Liszt was instrumental in exposing Schubert’s works to a larger audience.

The concert will conclude with Bach’s “Fantasie in C minor,” Haydn’s “Sonata No. 48,” and Debussy’s “L’isle Joyeuse,” or “Isle of Joy.”

Glover is an internationally known pianist, having performed across the U.S. and in Europe, Asia, and South America. He holds a master’s degree from The Juilliard School in New York, where he was a scholarship student. Among his numerous awards was first prize in the Liederkranz Competition in 1990.

Glover has also recorded eight CDs, including “Franz Liszt, The Profound and The Profane,” “Spanish Impressions,” “Romantic Russian Encores,” and a live-performance recording of works for piano and orchestra by Mozart, Strauss, and Prokofiev. He has been the Valley Concert Chorale’s accompanist since 1998.