MARGARET FOX -- Piano Recital -- St. John's Church -- Sunday, January 9.

There was an impressive performance from Canadian pianist Maragaret Fox in her debut recital at St. John's Church on Sunday evening. Since her marriage to fellow musician Bruce Fox, she has been teaching at the Dunbarton School of Music, the sponsors of her first concert in Bermuda. With a masters degree from the University of Western Ontario, Mrs. Fox was also awarded the Tate Award for Outstanding Pianist at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick.

The programme, reflecting her love of the Romantic composers, included some heart-stoppingly difficult music by Beethoven, Chopin, Ravel, Samuel Barber and Rachmaninoff. As she launched into the familiar, grand opening chords of Beethoven's Sonata in C Minor (also named by the composer as the Grande Sonate Pathetique), it was clear that Margaret Fox brings a new, major talent to Bermuda's already strong music scene. The first movement, handled with confident authority, contrasted with the altogether quieter and wondrous melody of the adagio section, climaxed by the wistful tenderness of the final Allegro. Epitomising the romantic era is Chopin's Fantasy in F Minor, another murderously taxing piece, which starts off sedately enough, and gathering momentum as the chordal figurations vie with a veritable whirligig of right-hand melody. Although American composer Samuel Barber died only in 1981, his work often echoes the post-Romantics; his Nocturne and Ballade fall into this category and allowed Mrs. Fox ample opportunity to explore their almost languid lyricism. Her meticulous fingerwork, combined with a fine sense of phrasing made these pieces perhaps the best in her programme. Ravel, one of music's 19th century `impressionists', was represented by his evocative, three-movement Sonatine -- another work that highlighted Margaret Fox's fluency and quiet elegance of execution. She then chose two Preludes by Rachmaninoff, the G Major and G Sharp Minor, both of which reveal a brooding, yet still rhapsodic aspect of the Russian composer. Again, Mrs. Fox's finely honed technique was enhanced by an always lyrical interpretation. For her last piece, this young pianist reached, as in the Beethoven, to the very limits of her technical range. The Ballade in G Minor by Chopin is not for the faint-hearted: after a deceptively subdued opening, the dazzling virtuosity of Chopin's roaring cascades take over in a flurry of stirring, Slavic passion.

Despite some initial technical insecurity, Margaret Fox came through on the anime finale with flying colours. In an impish change of mood, she chose Scott Joplin's The Entertainer for her encore. A large and appreciative audience confirmed that Margaret Fox's arrival in Bermuda is indeed cause for celebration.

PATRICIA CALNAN IMPRESSIVE DEBUT -- Canadian pianist Mrs. Margaret Fox performed her first Bermuda recital on Sunday.