Jon Liechty
From Philosopedia
Jon Liechty (20th Century )
An American composer and pianist, Liechty was born in Goshen, Indiana. At age fourteen he wrote a number of short piano pieces that were performed at the Goshen College Piano Teachers Workshop, where he gave a lecture-demonstration on aleatory compositional techniques. Soon afterwards, the string orchestra at a local junior high school premiered one of his pieces.
Liechty holds B. M. and M. M. degrees from the Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana, where his teachers included Donald Erb, Eugene O'Brien, Claude Baker, and Don Freund.
Liechty's compositions have been performed in New York’s Weill Hall; at An Die Musik Live! in Baltimore; at the Midwest Composer's Symposium in Oberlin, Ohio; at the Indiana Contemporary Music Festival in Terre Haute, Indiana; at the Sound in the Land festival in Waterloo, Ontario; and at the Escuela Nacional de Música in Mexico City. He is the recipient of grants from Meet the Composer and from the Indiana University Honors Division.
He first became interested in Azerbaijani music while studying music at Indiana University. With several students at the school (Shahyar Daneshgar and Nasrin Hekmat-Farrokh), he founded the Sabá Ensemble in order to perform folk music from the Middle East and Central Asia. The group included a number of Azerbaijani songs in its repertoire. Music by Azerbaijani composers and traditional Azerbaijani pieces are frequent elements of his concert programs.
At a concert which took place at the Nicholas Roerich Museum in New York City, a place that is dedicated to the work of Roerich - an early 20th century Russian painter who was interested in the East - he included selections by Azerbaijani composers Arif Malikov and Sevda Ibrahimova along with Beethoven, Chopin, and his own compositions.
"I was attracted to the emotional quality of the music and the words," Liechty has been quoted. "When I played Azerbaijani music, I felt the freedom to express myself in ways that I couldn't in other music. There's something wonderful there that connects me to Azerbaijan, and I think it's amazing that it connects so effectively, in spite of our differences. I'm grateful to my friends for helping that happen."
In 1999, at the invitation of Rector Husein Baghirov (now Minister of Environment and Resources), Liechty moved to Baku to teach English at Western University. "I was eager to see where this incredible music came from," he recalls. "It was a thrill for me to be several thousand miles from home, in an unfamiliar place, but to be listening to songs that were so familiar." During his stay in Baku, he met several prominent Azerbaijani musicians, including composer Arif Malikov, famous for his ballet "Legend of Love" (1961).
Liechty has appeared as a pianist in London; Brussels; New York; Chicago; Miami; Seattle; Vancouver; Atlanta; and Baku, Azerbaijan. A founding member of the Sabá Ensemble, he is heard on the CD, Sabá, Breeze of the East. He has performed at the Summer Keys festival in Maine, at the Lotus World Music and Dance Festival in Indiana, at the American Composers Alliance festival in New York City, and at the New York Society for Ethical Culture, where he is Assistant Music Director. Recently he gave the world premiere performance of Andrew Nishikawa's "Piano Concerto No. 1," written especially for him, at the Boston Conservatory. He has been interviewed by the Voice of America and by WFIU radio in Indiana. An article describing his work has appeared in Azerbaijan International.
Liechty is single, a member of Mensa, and lives in New York City. He has been chosen by Gerald Ranck to assist him as a pianist for the New York Society for Ethical Culture.
