Emma Taggart is 13 and already a veteran concert pianist.
She was 6 when she faced her first audience. At 7, she was collecting her first competition wins — the performance award at the Varallo, Italy, International Piano Festival in 2010.
By 2011, the awards were coming fast and furious, including at competitions in Italy and her native Minnesota. She also made her orchestra debut with the Minnetonka Orchestra outside Minneapolis, where she played Mozart’s Concerto No. 23 in A major.
On Sunday, Feb. 7, she makes her Tucson debut, performing Beethoven’s Sonata No. 22 in F major as part of Dove of Peace Lutheran Church’s ambitious multiyear Beethoven Project.
This is the sixth installment of the project, which the church launched in 2011 as a cornerstone of its popular free classical music series. The project will present all 32 Beethoven sonatas, done in sets of three, with each sonata representing a phase in Beethoven’s composing life. The idea is to show the composer’s progression by presenting works in each concert that represent his early, middle and late composing periods and then featuring pianists whose experience level matches those periods: a college student — or in Sunday’s case middle school student — for the early career; a recent college grad or graduate student for middle period; and a tenured professional for the late period.
Arizona State University graduate student Joshua Hillmann will perform Sonata No. 17 in D minor for the middle period, while Pima Community College piano prof Alexander Tentser will perform the late period Sonata No. 28 in A major.
Sunday’s concert begins at 2 p.m. at Dove of Peace Lutheran Church, 665 W. Roller Coaster Road. Admission is free, but donations are accepted to benefit local charities. Details: 887-5127.
