Ohio Wesleyan Music Faculty to Present Free Concert
Pianist Mariko Kaneda, Violinist David Niwa to Perform Oct. 11
The Rodin Duo, featuring David Niwa and Mariko Kaneda, will perform Oct. 11 at Ohio Wesleyan University.
DELAWARE, Ohio – Ohio Wesleyan University music faculty Mariko Kaneda, piano, and David Niwa, violin, who form The Rodin Duo, will perform a free concert at 3:15 p.m. Oct. 11 in Jemison Auditorium inside OWU’s Sanborn Hall, 23 Elizabeth St., Delaware.
The husband-and-wife duo will perform Mozart’s “Adagio in E Major,” K. 261; Beethoven’s “Kreutzer Sonata,” Opus 47; Phillipe Gaubert’s “Fantasie,” and selections from Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” arranged by Jascha Heifetz.
“This program is a combination of pieces from my youth, some that I’ve always wanted to play, and another that we’ve recently and happily discovered,” said Niwa, a part-time music instructor at Ohio Wesleyan. “We hope that it highlights our musicianship both as individuals and as a duo, but more importantly that it enraptures the audience with the brilliance of these composers.”
Niwa also serves as assistant concertmaster for the Columbus Symphony Orchestra and as artistic director for Sunday at Central, a nonprofit chamber music recital series. Niwa has appeared with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, and the Symphony Orchestra of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He has been featured in recitals with the Sunday at Central series and at the Corcoran Gallery and the Terrace Theater of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, both in Washington, D.C.
Kaneda, a part-time assistant professor at Ohio Wesleyan, has won prizes at the Montreal International Piano Competition, the Maria Canals International Piano Competition, and the European Piano Competition in Luxembourg. She was admitted to study at the prestigious Conservatoire National Superieur de Paris when she was 15. The couple formed The Rodin Duo in Banff, Alberta, in 1989, and have performed together in Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Japan, and the Netherlands. Niwa and Kaneda are known for their creative programming, superb technical artistry, and unique ensemble playing.
Learn more about Kaneda and Niwa and more about Ohio Wesleyan’s Department of Music, including its upcoming concert schedule, at https://www.owu.edu/academics/departments-programs/department-of-music/.
Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier liberal arts universities. Located in Delaware, Ohio, the private university offers 86 undergraduate majors and competes in 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. Ohio Wesleyan combines a challenging, internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities to connect classroom theory with real-world experience. OWU’s 1,675 students represent 43 U.S. states and territories and 33 countries. Ohio Wesleyan is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the latest President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included in the U.S. News & World Report and Princeton Review “best colleges” lists. Learn more at www.owu.edu.