Pianist Christopher Goodpasture returns to the Dallas Chamber Symphony

When Christopher Goodpasture returns to Moody Performance Hall to perform with the Dallas Chamber Symphony on Nov. 19, he will be doing one of his favorite things: playing with a chamber orchestra.

“For me, chamber music has been such a huge part of my life since I was a preteen. And just the nature of collaborating with others is so special, particularly as pianists where most of what we do is pretty isolated, so it is a really nice social aspect of performing. Performing a concerto with a chamber orchestra is awesome because you get to play big scale works in a more intimate context, so I really enjoy that,” Goodpasture said.

The award-winning pianist last played with the orchestra in 2019, and he was the second place prize winner in the 2017 Dallas International Piano Competition. The Los Angeles native studied piano, chamber music, theory, and composition at Pasadena Conservatory. He has also studied at the University of Southern California and the Glenn Gould School in Toronto and pursued graduate degrees at The Juilliard School and the Yale School of Music. Goodpasture is a doctoral candidate at the Peabody Institute.

The piano is a natural fit for Goodpasture’s musical curiosity.

“I think it’s easily one of the most versatile instruments. It’s capable of doing so many things, so many harmonic and textural possibilities. I think that’s kind of what made me fall in love. I guess it was a great outlet for me when I was young because I just loved to improvise and play things by ear and I just gained a predilection for the keyboard from a young age,” Goodpasture said.

Goodpasture has performed Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Koerner Hall in Toronto, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, and Weill Recital Hall in New York City, as well as the festivals of Ravinia, Aspen, Caramoor, Sarasota, and Port Townsend. In addition to the Dallas Chamber Symphony, he has performed with the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of New York, Sioux City Symphony, Acadiana Symphony Orchestra, Oakville Symphony in Toronto, and the Joven Orquesta Leonesa in Léon, Spain. This fall, he became full time piano faculty at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, coaching chamber music and maintaining a studio of young pianists. 

He is also interested in commissioning contemporary music.

“In order to carry the art on and have it live beyond our time, I think it is important to work with and support music being written today. And there’s quite a lot of it. There’s a staggering amount of it being written and active composers,” Goodpasture said.

Goodpasture has been involved in original compositions by Jules Matton and jazz pianist Benoît Delbecq and he recently gave the world premiere of George E. Lewis’ Drumming and Dancing for solo piano. He is working with composer Douglas Knehans on a new commission for piano and string orchestra.

“When I look at a new piece of music , I mainly look for what is it trying to say, what is it trying capture and therefore how is it trying to speak to us as people and as audience members and performers,” Goodpasture said.

With the Dallas Chamber Symphony, he will perform Franz Liszt’s “Malédiction”, one of the composer’s earlier works that is rarely performed.

“He’s experimenting and he’s trying to find his grounding as a composer. It’s a fascinating work in the sense that you can hear inklings of Liszt’s maturity and first and second concertos that people know, but it’s kind of an experimental work. Actually, the first few pages or so or the first few lines, it sounds way ahead of its time. So, he was experimenting with harmony in such a way that one might say, ‘Oh, that sounds very contemporary. That sounds very futuristic for the 19^th century,’” Goodpasture said. “I think it's a testimony to Liszt’s curiosity and his willingness to explore different sounds as a composer.”

He will also play Joaquín Turina’s “Rapsodia sinfónica” with the orchestra. The Spanish composer’s work reflects the cultural interplay between France and Spain.

“With Turina, you get a lot of the Spanish idiom in terms of the sort of harmonies and the rhythms you hear, but also the orchestration and the sound world that surrounding those ideas is much more French and nuanced,” Goodpasture said.

The second half of the program will feature Franz Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden”, arranged by Mahler with Dallas Chamber Symphony’s Music Director Richard McKay conducting.

Besides grabbing some good Dallas food in between rehearsals and performances, Goodpasture wishes he could experience another Dallas favorite.

“I would, if I had more time, probably want to see a Mavericks game because I am a basketball fan,” Goodpasture said.

Learn more: Dallas Chamber Symphony