Yesterday over the noon hour, an perfectly normal-looking young man (dressed in jeans and a simple shirt) strode into Siebert Chapel, sat down at one of our Steinways, and lit the place on fire with some absolutely dazzling piano playing that . . . frankly, I can’t even put into words how exciting his performance was.
Let me say a word about my attitude and expectations as I walked into Siebert yesterday morning. I knew that an organization called PianoArts was bringing Sejoon Park, the winner of its 2008 North American Piano Competition, to southeastern Wisconsin, so I figured that he was going to be good. And I was glad that Carthage had seized the opportunity to put this young virtuoso before our students, even though it meant having to reschedule a visit from someone at Skylight Opera which was already on the books, which made the other voice teachers and I go “grrrr” just a little bit. But this was just one of those things that just had to be done, and as I settled into my seat, I just hoped that this pianist really would be worth the calendar shuffling— and that he would offer something that would mean something to our students, including the many voice students and other non-pianists who would be in the audience. (I know that sometimes when we bring fine virtuosos to campus to perform for our students, it feels to some of them like the musical equivalent of making them eat their asparagus.)
Our department chair, Dr. Peter Dennee, introduced him – and as this young man walked out, I realized that I had spotted him a few minutes earlier in the chapel office- and never in a million years would have thought that he was our guest concert pianist. He looked so NORMAL, just like another Carthage student. And as he took the microphone from Dr. Dennee and began speaking to us, he seemed like a perfectly ordinary young man. But the longer he spoke, the more clearly his intelligence and insight was evident… as well as his exceptional gift for talking about music is very accessible, down-to-earth terms. At one point he said that he wanted to say a few words about the pieces he was going to play because to play music without any introduction would be a little bit like going to the cafeteria and having someone spoon a big glop of something on your plate without a single word of explanation of what it was or what it was in it. What a great picture- and what he went on to say is that it’s especially important because if you hear something and enjoy it, you might not have any way of knowing what you had heard, who had written it, or how to find it and other pieces like it. Such a simple point but very much worth spelling out.
He proceeded to say that he was going to start with a piece by a Russian composer named Alexander Scriabin – who was a teenager when he wrote this particular music. It was a poignant, austere piece – and the sort of music you would never imagine being written by someone so young – and it was not a spectacular opener in the common sense of the word, but hauntingly beautiful. He proceeded to play something by Scarlatti and it was fun to hear the ease with which he dispatched these pieces. Then he played three etudes by Chopin (whose 200th birthday is this year) and he played these with wonderful grace and artistry, and made that Steinway – a battered and bruised instrument – SING.! But the piece which blew the roof off of the place was one of the Hungarian Rhapsodies of Franz Liszt, which Sejoon described as a huge celebrity of his day – like Brittany Spears. (That got quite a laugh, but it was a somewhat apt comparison in terms of how hugely popular he was at his prime.) Liszt showpieces are the kind of pieces designed to get audiences on their feet, cheering . . .if they are played well . . . and Sejoon played this piece like it had been written for him. His fingers absolutely flew over the keys, and the big climaxes were played with thundering power and intensity. . . and the sound had not even died away before all of us were on our feet, cheering. It was one of the most exciting performances I’d seen in a long time- and the fact that it came from this sweet, unassuming young man made it all the more impressive.
That afternoon at Carthage Choir rehearsal, Dr. Garcia- Novelli actually interrupted practice at one point to mention the pianist’s performance and asked those students who had been there to explain why it was such a wonderful performance. I was thrilled that four or five hands shot up in the air from students who proceeded to talk about what they had most enjoyed- and you could tell that they weren’t blowing smoke. This performance had impacted them very deeply and it was thrilling to see that.
But I want to say something else about yesterday that may not make a whole lot of sense unless you were there. As I walked out of Siebert Chapel and into the bright sunlight, I saw literally hundreds of students out and about, on their way to or from class- but completely oblivious to the magic which had just been wrought in Siebert. I was sad for them and thrilled for me – and thrilled for my faculty colleagues and especially our students who were privileged to be in the presence of such astonishing greatness.
pictured above: Sejoon Park in Siebert in mid-performance. He was also my morning show guest on Friday, and I found him every bit as likable and impressive as I had on Tuesday. In fact, this may sound a bit over-the-top. . . but I mean it very sincerely. Meeting Sejoon made me wish that I was a millionaire who would have the financial means to sponsor him or assist him in his efforts to build a concert career. He’s that good – and that fine a person. I wish him well. By the way, if you go to wgtd.org and click on Talk, you will be brought to the morning show page. Click on listen to past programs, and you’ll be taken to the morning show archive. Click on Friday, Sept. 24th, and you will hear my interview with Sejoon Park as well as a couple of excerpts from the performance he gave on Tuesday.