Pete Mendoza
With beautiful compositions, a large repertoire, and months of preparation, the UTRGV School of Music hosted the Annual Piano Area Recital on Oct. 29 at the TSC Performing Arts Center in Brownsville.
School of Music lecturer and pianist Shoko Kinsella said this annual event is considered a showcase for students, faculty and community pianists to take part in. The theme for this year was modern composers of the 20th and 21st centuries.
She said the concert had a range of compositions.
“This past Sunday, we did Arvo Pärt, Khachaturian,” Kinsella said. “There are some Persichetti, there was some movie music, Prokofiev, Schoenberg, Tokuyama, Raotavaara. There are so many new names for the piano repertoire that we showcased.”
Kenneth Saxon, UTRGV School of Music associate professor, said there are many preparations that go into piano concerts. Saxon said in order to ensure the quality of their performance, the students practice for months once they receive the piece they will play.
Graduate student Jose Hernandez said that he felt prepared for the concert.
“The stuff that I played was the six pieces from Schoenberg,” Hernandez said. “When I played it out there, I felt like I had fun. I felt like I did enough.”
He mentioned he growed an emotional connection with his piece and some of the segments even though his piece was in atonality.
Kinsella said how the concert was mainly voluntary based for both students and faculty especially if they are interested in the theme.
“It’s basically [a] volunteer basis.” Kinsella said. “We faculty assign the pieces to our students, but really we see the progress of each student and if they’re really into it then they’ll pick up [the piece].”
Saxon said they played 100 years of music during their performance.
“It covers lots of styles and a long time period too.” Saxon said. “It’s over 100 years worth of music just in the pieces I’m playing.”
Kinsella encourages people to attend events such as this, where they can express their interests, not only in piano concerts but also in the many other concerts that the university offers.
For more information about music and concerts, visit https://www.utrgv.edu/music/.
This is Pete Mendoza for Vaquero Radio.
