51Ç鱨վ Libraries will be hosting a concert event to celebrate Richmond composer Allan Blank Saturday, February 4, 2017 from 5-7 p.m. at Chandler Recital Hall in the F. Ludwig Diehn Performing Arts Center. The concert, entitled "The Lighter Side of Allan Blank" and directed by Dr. Andrey Kasparov, Professor of Music, will incorporate the talents of the 51Ç鱨վ music faculty and students as well as professional musicians from the local music community to showcase Blank's works.
A New York native, Blank received numerous awards, grants, and commissions. He received the Eric Satie Mostly Tonal Award for his string trio "Fantasy on Cantillation Motives" in 1988. In 1989, Blank won the Lind Solo Competition and he was awarded a grant from the Virginia Commission of the Arts for his "Concerto for Clarinet & String Orchestra" in 1990. Blank received three commissions from the Virginia Music Teachers Association in 1979, 1988, 1991, and two commissions to write music for the Virginia Shakespeare Festival in Williamsburg.
Allan Blank was one of the earliest donors to the 51Ç鱨վ Libraries' music special collections back in 1999. This collection, the Allan Blank Papers, contains more than forty boxes of materials that encompass his original compositions, sketches, correspondence, programs, photographs, and other materials that document his personal and professional interests.
"One of Blank's favorite pastimes was to drive with his wife Margot to 51Ç鱨վ to listen to his works played and sung by 51Ç鱨վ music students during the annual student concert held at the Reading Room of the Diehn Composers Room," recalled Elizabeth Hogue, music librarian and organizer of the event. "The audience and students admired his engaging personality and wit as he discussed his works."
Blank admired the 51Ç鱨վ Libraries' Diehn Composers Room and its mission to foster the growth of contemporary music within the University and local music communities. He remained a contributor and faithful advocate of the Diehn Composers Room music special collections and events until the end of his life in 2013.