Spirit Lake pianist to present Preludes

Spirit Lake pianist Melody Puller will present the complete set of Debussy’s Preludes at 7 p.m. tonight at the Midge and Pepper Smock Family Theatre at the Kroc Center’s performance hall, 1765 W Golf Course Road, Coeur d’Alene.

Puller, chair of piano at the Music Conservatory of Sandpoint, graduated from North Idaho College and University of Idaho in piano performance. She has been sharing her gifts and passion with North Idaho audiences for the past eight years. 

"It's my way of time traveling," she said in a press release from the Sandpoint Conservatory. 

The DeBussy Preludes “are a kaleidoscope of impressions and expressions,” she said. “The pieces contain worlds of poetry, painting, humor, horror, and natural phenomena. Debussy was certainly seeking to create a kind of synesthesia, a blending of the senses.”

In the years leading up to World War I, French composer Claude Debussy composed two sets of twelve preludes for the piano. Each of the 24 miniatures — remarkable innovations in harmony, sound, and texture — displays a descriptive title that gives clues to Debussy’s inspiration, from Shakespeare to water sprites or underwater cathedrals.

Tickets are $20 and available online at www.kroccda.org/kroc-cda/events/ or by calling 208-696-4228.