Henry Kramer Piano Virtuoso Oh So Dazzling at the 222

I was fortunate enough to have heard award winning pianist, Henry Kramer, perform at the 222 in Healdsburg last year. While returning artists are rare, Kramer's performance demanded an encore which came last night for the fortunate crowd on hand. Kramer gained int'l acclaim after winning 2nd honor at the 2016 Queen Elisabeth Competition and has since gone on to earn top honors at the prestigious Honens Competition. Kramer gave an informal talk about his career performing, recording and currently teaching university students in Montreal which is near where he grew up in ME. His home state is where Kramer developed a lifelong love of being near water. The program for the evening was themed along musical compositions that evoked the rippling energy of large bodies of water. No surprise the program including works by Debussy (b. France 1862-1918) and Ravel (b. France 1875- 1937). As a special treat, Kramer (b.1987 Amer.) played his own composition "Dirge: Maine Triptych for Piano" (2025). The 2nd movement in his piece, "The Spurwink Graveyard" had a haunting aesthetic he alluded to which was interesting and brought a little variety to his program, which was too homogenous. Other classic composers whose works were performed were by Franz Schubert (b. Hungary 1811-1886), Johan Sebastian Bach (b. Germany 1685- 1750) and Franz Liszt (b. Austria 1811-1886).  Kramer said he was a Pisces and shared his birthday with Chopin. The close friendship between Chopin and Liszt is well known, in part because there were few pianists at the time who were accomplished enough to play their compositions outside from each other. As Kramer pointed out, "the razzle dazzle of the program were Liszt and Ravel's works. These pieces highlighted Kramer piano skills. And, in the intimate setting of the 222, the audience (on the left side) were able to watch closely his adroit hands flying over the keys and his keen ability to play both forte and pianissimo. Other than Kramer's composition the only piece I was unfamiliar with was William Grant Still (b. Amer. 1895-1936), an Afr-Amer. composer of more than 200 works and the first African-Amer. to have their opera performed at the Metropolitan Opera House (though posthumously.) Since Grant's inclusion in the program I have read up on his proliferate body of work and fascinating life. The 222 in Healdsburg is an art gallery by day and multi-media entertainment venue at night. The detritus from the current production of RED (about painter Mark Rothko) was the canvas on which Kramer elaborated and entertained with his "Reflections of the Natural World." I hope Mr. Kramer does a 3-Peat at the 222.