From Music Director Adam Kent: What I did on my summer vacation.

I write this summary full of excitement about the new church year, happy to be reunited with many long-time friends, and looking forward to making music in this nurturing community. Rev. Meredith suggested that some of you would be interested in reading about my musical activities over the past summer.

Fast on the heels of our final service last June, I recorded the complete piano works of Tania Leon at the American Academy of Arts and Letters in NYC. Some of you may recall that Tania was a guest at a Music at CUUC event in 2016, when she was interviewed and I performed several of her piano works. This project has been a labor of love, but I have also never felt more challenged pianistically or musically. I hope to be able to share this project with you in the not-too-distant future. Also on the recording front, I completed filming a documentary on the Catalan composer Federico Mompou, whose music I program frequently at CUUC.

In July, I performed and taught at two music festivals in Spain, one in Burgos, the other in Oviedo. For a number of years, these small cities have captivated me and my partner Joel every summer. While in Spain, I gave a recital in Madrid for the American Fulbright Organization, which was entitled “Spain Abroad/Espana en el extranjero”—music by Spanish composers living abroad, or Spanish-style music by non-Hispanic composers.

For the first half of August, I was in the Philippines for the 2018 Manila International Piano Masterclasses Festival, 11 days of performing, masterclasses, and public lessons. This was my first trip to the Philippines, and I was touched by the kindness and generosity of everyone I met. My valise was half empty when I left; I had to pay a fee for excess baggage weight (good thing they don’t weigh passengers!) on departing, because of all the gifts students had shared with me.

If anyone’s interested in hearing some of my performances from the summer, I have provided a few Youtube videos above.




As much as I love to travel, there are few places I enjoy being more than on the piano bench in the Sanctuary at CUUC. I am looking forward to being there with you very soon,

Adam