With a recollection of music played on the movie “The Pianist,” professor Christine Lopez will be hosting the music concert series, “Do You Hear What I Hear?” on Friday, Oct. 11.
“When you know the music and the story of what of what’s going on at the time, you can hear the pain,” Lopez said, “it’s very emotional music, very touching, very sad.”
The series is an event that she holds every semester with the intentions of exposing all students to the rich history repertoire for piano.
This semester, Lopez is showcasing Chopin, a piano composer’s, work.
“It’s best to present them with pieces that we think they should have in their repertoire too,” Lopez said.
“Before the concert, I do a power point presentation to give some biographical information about the composer, and then I talk about the pieces because pieces always have some history to them as well.”
Jason Arias, music major, said that the exciting part of the music series is that it’s not just students performing, it’s the professors who went to graduate school for music.
“They’re like masters of their craft,” Arias said.
Lopez connected the composer Chopin with the movie “The Pianist” because the main character played the part of a Polish Jewish musician, just like Chopin.
Based on the true story of Wladslaw Szpilman, this movie portrays the horrendous life that the Jewish people faced during the holocaust and the piano resonates the strong emotions.
In the movie, the musical prodigy found refuge in a small room during the holocaust, and the only time he felt safe was when he was playing the piano, Lopez said.
“The Notebook” is another movie that plays Chopin’s work.
In the scene where Allie and Noah went to an abandoned house, Allie played Chopin’s Prelude in E minor, Op.28/4 for Noah.
Being played in award-winning films, Lopez felt that Chopin was worthy of a concert-lecture series with his music.
Darryl Valdez, music major, said he never attended a music concert series, but he definitely wanted to attend all the concerts that the music department had to offer.
“I know (Lopez is) another great pianist among a bunch of other musicians in our faculty,” Valdez said, “so I’m excited because I haven’t seen her play.”
Lopez sometimes surprises the crowd with guest performers from other schools.
“I’ve been very fortunate that I have a number of friends who teach music at the four-year schools,” said Lopez.
“For music majors, this is a great time to meet professors from four-year universities, because they have the opportunity to network professors who they may be working with when they transfer,” she suggested.
Dr. Fang-Fang Shi Inouye, Dr. Sung Ae Lee and Dr. Christine S. Lopez, are among the performers who willplay at the piano concert.
Some of the pieces that will be played are ballade #1, OP. 23 and Ballade #4, Op. 47, mazurkas, etudes and nocturnes.
