■ ;v f. By Wendy Weinbbrq »% Special to

By Wendy Weinbbrq »% Special to the Rappahannock News ■ i t ; Music of the late eighteenth, the nineteenth, and the first part of the twentieth centuries forms the program of a classical piano recital to be held at the Theatre at Washington, Virginia on Saturday, April 9 at 8 p.m. ■ / |p The program opens with music of Beethoven, the ; ,Sonata in E-flat Major, Op. 31, which was composed at the end of the eighteenth century. It is followed by Rachmaninoff’s Corelli . Variations, Op. 42, composed in 1931 — over two hundred years after Corelli’s death. After the intermission comes Ravel’s Sonatina, composed in 1905. The concert ends with Chopin’s Sonata in B minor, Op. 58, composed in 1844. !>;f; The pianist, Naoko Takao, a native of Japan, will give her first recital at the Theatre in Little Washington. f She will be playing the new Kawai RX grand piano, which the Theatre acquired last fall. Kenneth ; Slowik, artistic director of the Smithsonian Chamber Players, says that “Naoko Takao is a true musician, with real intellectual and emotional understanding ' of the music, not just a fine pianist, and I’m certain | that her program will make your new piano sing ^beautifully.” Naoko Takao has been active as recitalist, orchestral soloist, and chamber musician in the United States as well as in France, Taiwan, and Japan. - ^ Since coming to the United States in 1984, she has been a recipient of several awards and scholarships. 0 ' She has studied with Nathan Schwartz at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, with Raymond Hanson at the Hartt School of Music, and with Anne Koscielny and Santiago Rodriguez for her doctorate degree at the University of Maryland. (Her dissertation project of the world premiere recording of the complete piano sonatas by Vincent Persichetti will soon be released by Elan Recordings.) She has received extensive coaching in chamber music freon members of the Guameri Quartet.