The Green Keys Tour

   Saturday April 2, 2011

      Jacobs Music

   (1718 Chestnut St.)
         7:00 PM

    Admission:FREE

 Frank Horvat

is an award-winning and critically acclaimed composer and pianist. His original music is influenced by the post-modern idea of eclecticism. His portfolio of compositions demonstrates a variety of musical styles, even combined within one work.

This is evident from his influences: From Bach to Beethoven to Bartók to Bjork, folk musics from around the world, jazz & blues, minimalism. His compositions have been based on real world themes such as social issues, family, athletic pursuits, September 11 and sometimes just a catchy little riff.

For Frank, creative new music does not have to be put on a pedestal and be art with a capital "A". Making an emotional and/or cerebral connection with an audience is paramount. That is why he feels strongly about performing his own works whenever possible. Solo piano recitals are intense, passionate, and engaging.

Frank has performed, directed, and arranged many styles of music including Classical, Blues, Rock, Jazz and Pop in both solo and ensemble/band efforts in Canada and abroad. He believes in presenting live music in any manner: from the conventional to the unconventional, from acoustic to electronic, etc. Released in June '07, his debut recording, “I'll Be Good”, features thirteen original compositions for solo piano performed by Frank himself. This was followed by a 28-stop concert tour including performances at NuitBlanche (Toronto) and The Works Art and Design Festival (Edmonton). Frank's followup CD, "A Little Dark Music", released on Earth Hour 2010 is inspired by environmental themes. A portion of the sale of this CD is being donated to WWF. From March 2010 to April 2011, Frank is presenting "The Green Keys Tour", a 60+ city concert tour across Canada and the US that showcases eco-friendly behaviour.

Interview March 22, 2011

PCM: You will be bringing your Green Keys Tour to the United States soon.

Frank: We are leaving on Friday (March 25, 2011) morning.

PCM: What will be your mode of transportation?

Frank: I drive a Toyoda Prius. We’re heading to the states for 2 ½ weeks, 11 different cities. We just finished a couple weeks ago the 52nd and final show of the Canadian portion of the tour. We did it by train and bus. It will be weird touring by driving.

PCM: Is the “we” your wife and is it difficult touring by bus and train?

Frank: Yes it will be my wife and I. In Canada it was not hard because the transportation system is set up differently than in the United States. The hardest stretch of the Canadian tour we did was from Vancouver to Northern Ontario. At one point we had one concert a night for twelve nights over five Canadian provinces by bus.

PCM: Do you set the tours up yourself?

Frank: Yes, I have organized the Green Keys Tour myself. It is hard to get booking agents when all the concerts are free. It’s a non-profit endeavor. It took a while to set-up.

PCM: The concerts are free but do you get paid?

Frank: No I don’t. The only thing we’re trying to do is break even. I do have CD’s for sale and I take sponsors from local groups that host me especially from eco friendly companies in the cities I travel to. All of that is to try to balance it out. Now of course a portion of the proceeds from the new CD is being donated to the World Wildlife Fund. So the goal of the release is also a means to raise funds for that.

PCM: The piece Working with the Sun really sticks out on the new CD. It’s a great piece.

Frank: You are not alone in that opinion. The beautiful thing about doing all these concerts in this tour is that people from different regions and walks of life, everybody loves that piece. I wrote it quickly on a whim. I was experimenting with African polyrhythm's and took it one step further and put cardboard on the strings. It took me about an hour to compose it. It was a filler piece to change the mood of the CD as a whole. It’s a piece everybody gravitates to. If it ends up when I am long gone that that people recognize me for that piece and it turns out to be my Fleur-de-lis there can be worse things to be remembered for.

PCM: A lot of the great hits have been written in a short time span.

Frank: Especially in contemporary music or in art music. For me I wanted a certain piece with a certain tone but I didn’t want it to be to long. I wanted it to be more direct. I never imagined people would gravitate to it.

PCM: I wouldn’t downplay the piece. The other side of it is that you have such mastery of your skill that you were able to tap into something that created a piece that many people relate to.

Frank: Compositionally it was straightforward. Playing it on the other hand is a bit more challenging because of the staccato technique. It's challenging because of the polyrhythm's. I’ve seen a video of me playing the piece and I’m surprised I look that way when I play and how difficult it is to maintain the staccato and my wrists. It looks hard to play.

                                                                            PART 2