SAU professor Sean Moore steps outside of element, produces original work at conference

LAURINBURG — Out of hundreds of submissions, St. Andrews University Music Professor Sean Moore was one of six composers chosen to perform an original piece at the College Music Society Northwest Regional Conference.

The conference was held at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on March 15-16, 2024.

The composition he played was a piano solo entitled “Sonata for Piano No. 5 “GILT-EDGE.” Moore said, “The piece has three movements that are, predominantly, dissonant, dark and abstract. It’s actually kind of hard to listen to at first.”

Still, the composition was a success.

“It was well-received, and I got a lot of good feedback,” Moore said.

Moore said the conference was a “great” experience, where he had the opportunity to play a nine-foot Steinway Grand piano.

“Every musical opportunity is a chance to grow and learn from others,” Moore said. “I attended some very informative lectures and forums. The Composer’s Concert was the last event, and I heard some awesome new music.”

The location also made for a “great” experience.

“Vancouver is a gorgeous, vibrant city set in a beautiful natural landscape of snow-capped mountains,” Moore said.

Moore, who has been a music professor at SAU for 20 years, started playing piano at age 8. He began to dabble in composing and improvisation in high school by reworking pop songs off the radio. He then moved on to college at the University of Memphis where he studied composition and earned two degrees in Piano.

Since then, he has written seven sonatas and a tango for the piano plus some smaller compositions. Each piece takes months of work, but the timeframe is affected by many variables such as length, complexity, and experimentation.

Using Sonata for Piano No. 5 as an example, Moore explained, “This piece does not fit my personality, so it took longer to write. It’s experimental which added another layer. I really challenged myself and stepped out of my comfort zone for this composition. I revised it many times as I like my music to sound structured but improvised. So, it took me months, but I couldn’t say exactly how many.”