Gabriel Weber
Staff Writer
Camaraderie and joy make up the backbone of this weekend’s School of Music Faculty Spotlight Series, in addition to the excellence Chautauquans have come to expect from the esteemed faculty of the Piano Program.
At 4:15 p.m. Saturday in Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall, Piano Program Chair Nikki Melville, Heintzelman Family Artistic Advisor Alexander Kobrin, Artist-in-Residence Jon Nakamatsu and faculty member J.Y. Song present the Piano Faculty Extravaganza — and what an extravaganza it will be.
With both “fun” and “serious” works, Melville said, the program presents a combination of different piano duets on two pianos — some involving two people at each piano and one with three at one piano. In chronological order, the musicians will play Wolfgang Mozart’s “Overture to The Marriage of Figaro,” Frédéric Chopin’s Rondo in C major, Arnold Schoenberg’s “Six Little Pieces for Piano,” Dmitri Shostakovich’s Concertino in A minor for Two Pianos Op. 94; Gioachino Rossini’s “Overture to The Barber of Seville Six-Hands;” and Johannes Brahms’ “Hungarian Dances.”
The pieces by Rossini and Brahms are particularly “familiar and upbeat,” Melville said, while the ones by Chopin and Shostakovich are the most “straight up serious pieces.” With a solid variety and an hour runtime, it’s the “perfect afternoon concert,” Melville said.
The two bookend pieces include all four pianists playing in pairs on two separate pianos.
“Most of what we do is such a solo pursuit,” Melville said, “(so) it’s really a lovely opportunity to share these memories with dear friends who come and teach together.”
“Playing together is a rare treat — hopefully for the audience, as well as for us,” said Melville. “No matter how well prepared or accomplished you are, there’s a nervousness about being out on a stage by yourself playing. With all four of us, I think that changes your focus to enjoyment.”
When Nakamatsu and Kobrin got a cold call asking if they would like to join the faculty around 12 years ago, they, said “yes” and have come back every year since.
Having returned to Chautauqua for so many years, “there are so many people in the audience who are friends at this point, as well,” Melville said. This performance provides “a nice way to give back,” she said.
While the concert is designed for anyone who is interested, Melville finds it important to have their students “hear us play and for them to see us enjoying each other’s company — both as colleagues and musicians.” Melville teaches 20 students and “makes sure each of those students aren’t overloaded, so they’re able to attend.”
“We’re performers who teach,” Kobrin said. “That’s very important for students to see someone who actually does what they do and go through the same struggles that they do.”
At 18, a professor, pianist and composer named Lev Naumov at Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory changed Kobrin’s outlook on music from “mildly engaged” to “a true fan.” This led Kobrin to teach while in Russia a few years later as Naumov “would really invest all himself in every single lesson, which was quite inspiring.”
“Teaching how to play the piano is teaching the world and life around the arts,” Kobrin said. “This collision of all possible things that inspire one another and depend on one another — this broadness of the world is teaching music — that really inspired me in playing and sharing it with other students.”
