Fr. Sean Duggan

State University of New York at Fredonia School of Music faculty member Fr. Sean Duggan will celebrate Beethoven’s 250th birthday with a streamed performance of three of the composer’s late sonatas, on Wednesday at 8 p.m.

The performance will be online through the School of Music website at https://www.fredonia.edu/academics/colleges-schools/school-music/music/live for this Beethoven celebration!

Fr. Duggan will be performing three of Beethoven’s late-period piano sonatas: No. 28 in A, Op. 101; No. 31 in A flat, Op. 110: and No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111.

He noted, “To me, Beethoven’s last five piano sonatas are among the greatest pieces ever written for the piano. In addition to their spiritual intensity and depth, what really attracts me to these sonatas (being an avid Bach player!) is Beethoven’s use of contrapuntal and fugal writing in them — a salient feature of all of his late compositions.”

Born in Jersey City N.J., Fr. Duggan earned his B.M. at Loyola University in New Orleans, M.F.A. at Carnegie Mellon University and M.A. Theo at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans. He entered the Benedictine order in 1982 and was ordained a priest in 1988. He was a member of piano faculty at the University of Michigan from 2001-2004 and has been on the Fredonia School of Music faculty since 2004, where he serves as Coordinator of the Piano Area. His teaching interests include Piano Literature and Pedagogy; Taubman approach to piano technique; Latin; and Theology.