On Wednesday, Oct. 16, from 12:10 p.m. to 12:40 p.m. the Free Admission Glendale Noon Concerts will feature Brendan White performing solo piano works by Los Angeles composers Todd Mason, Mark Robson, George N. Gianopoulos and Stephen Cohn at the Sanctuary of Glendale City Church.

Pianist Brendan White has appeared as soloist with the Jackson Symphony Orchestra, Musica Nova (Eastman School of Music), Delta Symphony Orchestra, Crown City Symphony, and the Vicente Chamber Orchestra. White’s collaborations in Southern California have included the Mühlfeld Trio, which won the prestigious Beverly Hills Auditions, the Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, the Speakeasy Society, and Eighteen Squared. He is also a founding member of the Sunset ChamberFest in Los Angeles. www.sunsetchamberfest.com

Local recital appearances include Glendale Noon Concerts, Pasadena Presbyterian Music at Noon, Music@Mimoda, Mason Concerts, Emerging Artist Series Recital at Boston Court.

White was born and raised in Tennessee before attending Eastman to study with Thomas Schumacher and then the University of Southern California with Kevin Fitz-Gerald where he was awarded Outstanding Master’s Graduate of the Thornton School of Music. As a devoted performer of new music, he has worked with notable composers and conductors including Thomas Adès, Donald Crockett, Alan Pierson, Steven Stucky and Jeffrey Milarsky.

Among the works that White will perform will be that of Juilliard graduate Todd Mason, who studied with Elliott Carter, received the Rodgers & Hammerstein Juilliard Scholarship, Juilliard’s Marion Freschl Award for a composition for voice and orchestra and first place in the National Federation of Music Clubs composition contest.

The compositions of Mark Robson will also be featured. Robson has been lauded by the Los Angeles Times on numerous occasions, singled out as a pianist with “one of the great techniques” and “an inquiring mind.” His career included performance as a keyboard soloist, chamber artist, composer, conductor and vocal coach. He was a regular member of the music staff of the Los Angeles Opera from 1991 to 2013 as an assistant conductor and has worked as a musical assistant at the Salzburg and Spoleto (Italy) festivals.  Robson has been on the faculties of USC, Cal State Fullerton, Chapman University and Cal Arts in the capacity of vocal coach and piano teacher. His music has been performed widely, including orchestral works premiered by the Brentwood-Westwood Symphony Orchestra and the Idyllwild Orchestra. 

White will also perform the works of George N. Gianopoulos, known colloquially as Nick. Gianopoulos began his musical study at age 18 upon entering college. Enraptured by his first course, an Introduction to the World of Music, he immersed himself in the studies of classical music; the theory, the repertoire, the performance and the history. He immediately began taking group piano lessons and within a semester advanced to private lessons with Dr. Robert M. Auler. Throughout his tutelage he also undertook the art of pedagogy, developing a private piano studio of 12 students as well as working as a church pianist and organist. After four years of intense study, Gianopoulos gave a senior recital that included performances of works by Mozart, Schumann, Rachmaninoff and Chopin as well as faculty performances of original compositions.

A native of Syracuse, New York and now a resident of Los Angeles, Gianopoulos’ music has been performed throughout Europe and America, including performances in China, Israel, Spain, England and Greece and regular performances in Southern California.

Stephen Cohn’s concert works will also be featured. His works have been performed and recorded by orchestras, chamber ensembles and soloists in the United States and Europe such as the Arditti Quartet, Kansas City Symphony, Prague Philharmonic, Chroma String Quartet, Eclipse Quartet, and many more. His concert works have been favorably reviewed and he received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music and a Parents’ Choice Gold Award. His classical and commercial recordings have been released by Warner Bros., Motown, A&M Records, Columbia Records, Albany Records and At Peace Media.

White will be performing at Glendale City Church, 610 E. California Ave. (at Isabel Street) in Glendale. For more information, email glendalesda@gmail.com or call (818) 244-7241.