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music
Lawrence's best kept secret
Nationally renown pianist Artur Pizarro has been touring since he began to walk — and he calls Lawrence "home."
By Delin Cormeny Kansan staff writer
ianist Artur Pizarro, Lawrence's best kept secret, is in town just long enough to give a performance tonight. The concert starts at 5 the Crew Room.
The concert starts at 8 at the Crafton-Preyer Theatre in Murphy Hall.
"it's fairly normal," he said in a phone interview. "I just kind of live hour to hour."
Two days ago, Pizarro returned from his second round-the-world trip this month and plans to leave again next week for performances in Europe.
The 24-year-old has been traveling the world playing piano since the age of nine, when he came to Lawrence to live.
He moved here from Lisbon, Portugal
He moved here from Lisbon, Portugal with his mother and sister in order to continue studies with his instructor, Sequeira Costa. Costa took a faculty position with the University of Kansas and is now a KU distinguished professor of piano.
"I would have gone wherever he choose to work." Pizarro said. "I started working with him when I was five."
And by that time, he was already a veteran performer. He said he started playing piano before he was old enough to walk and started playing concerts not long after.
"There are photographs of me playing at the keyboard in diapers," he said. "For me it was very natural; it was something I wanted to do. I was never forced to go the instrument. I was never forced to practice."
But he did, and now he at it five or six hours a day.
"I used to do more," he said. "Physically I can go on 10 to 12 hours if I have to, but I've noticed that it is about all my brain can handle."
"I either could dedicate myself
He said giving up time with the piano is one of the things he wasn't able to order to earn a degree from KU.
entirely to the instrument, or I wasn't going to make it," he said. "The university system and the performance are very much incompatible."
Besides, for the past 10 years, he's been playing and performing the same music others study in order to earn a bachelor's degree.
"It would mean taking time off from my career and going back and doing things I've already done," he said. "I'd be walking backwards."
The Lawrence High School graduate earned a degree from the National Conservatory of Music in Lisbon by taking only the required examinations. He studies for them at KU with Costa, under a "special student" status.
He enrolled in Piano 121 several times because that was the only course offered for non-degree students. But, he said, preparing for international performances took priority and left little time for school work
He won the 1987 International Vienna da Motta Competition in Lisbon, the 1988 Greater Palm Beach Piano Competition in Florida and in 1990, England's prestigious Harveys Leeds International Pianoforte Competition, which makes him one of two Lawrence piano players internationally. Costa, who now doubles as Pizaro's stepfather, has won a few, too.
"It just kind of happened that way, Pizarro said of the romance between his mother and Costa. "I had nothing to do with it," he joked.
Pizarro also has played with the London Symphony Orchestra, the London Mozart Players, English Chamber Orchestra, Halle Orchestra, the BBC Symphony, RAI-Torino Orchestra, the Moscow Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He also has performed at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall.
But he said he still enjoys playing in Lawrence — the town he considers to be his hometown.
"After my studies were done, I decided to stay here," he said. "I feel like I'm from here. Lawrence is calm, peaceful and fairly isolated, which is what I like about it. It fits in really well with the lifestyle I need now."
Although he has played at Liberty and Murphy halls several times, tonight's performance will be Pizaro's first in conjunction with the KU Concert Series.
He will perform Haydn's Variations in F minor.
Hoboken XVI:6 Beethoven's Sonata No. 15 in
D major, p. 370
Knitt N. H., bebehnovsson No.18.
D major, on 28; Debussy's "Suite"
Bergamasque,
which includes
"Clair de Lune," and
Prokofiev's Sonata
No. 6 in A major, op.
82.
The Concert Series is funded partially by the KU Student Senate activity fee, the Swarthout Society and the KU Endowment Association.
Photo by Suzle E. Maeder
Tickets are $8 and
7 for students and
$16 and $14 for the
seats are reserved.
music
KU jazz groups release first compact disc
Bv Tracl Carl
Special to the Kansan
"Guarabe," the KU Jazz Ensemble I and KU Jazz Singers' first compact disc, may make Kansas known for more than farming, Paul Haar, Fremont, Nebr., senior and lead saxophone player, said.
"People are going to realize that we don't just grow wheat in Kansas, that there is jazz in Kansas," Haar said.
The CD, which was funded by the department of music, was released Nov. 6. It is for sale at the Jayhawk Bookstore and at the music and dance office in 452 Murphy, Dan Gauley, director of jazz studies, said. The CD is looking for other distributors, he said.
The recording features live performances from the KU Jazz Ensemble I and studio performances of the KU Jazz Singers. The CD is $12, the cassette is $8.
The recording is an example of the band and singers have made, Haar said.
"I believe the CD is not a culmination of our abilities, but a departure point," he
Gloria Cheng, Wichita junior and also for the KU Jazz Singer, said she enjoyed the music.
"We spent a lot of time and work in making it, so it's fulfilling to see the end result and to see where all our energies went to," she said.
Haar said many other college jazz groups have been producing CDs, so he felt it was time KU showcased its talents.
All the other groups in America are doing it, and we thought it was our turn," he said.
Cheng said the studio recording was a new experience.
"We were able to concentrate our focus on the music and not the audience," Cheng said.
The recording process for the jazz singers used no overdubbing, and the mixing was done during the singing. Galley Sound and recording was all live, with no mixing.
He said he hoped that the jazz ensemble and singers would produce a CD every year. The recording was a good educational tool for students to learn about the recording process and a promotional tool for the jazz department, he said.
"He showed us how much higher we could go," Haar said. "I for one am ten times the musician I was last year, and last ten times the musician I was the year before."
"We wanted to do something that captured the spirit of live music." Gaille said.
Galey challenges the students to work harder and they meet his challenge. Huar
"It's just going to increase the noirity of what we're doing here." Galley said.
Haar said that Gailey, who came to the department three years ago, had been responsible for the success of the jazz program.
"When I got here four years ago as a freshman I never believed the band would be this good," Haar said.
Galley said he had encouraged the groups to try more contemporary and innovative designs.
"The talent has always been there, I just
took the program in a different direction," Gaik
shu.
Galley said that if the jazz recording was successful the whole department may try to do more in the area of recording.
The KU Jazz Ensemble I and Jazz Singers' first compact disc, "Guarabe," is on sale for $12 at the Jayhawk Bookstore and the music and dance department, 452 Murphy.
KU Campus
People and places at the University of Kansas.
calendar
Exhibitions
Spencer Museum of Art
BC4 4710
Hours: Closed Monday
8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Tuesday - Saturday
noon - 5 p.m. Sunday.
"A Noble Collection: Old Master Prints from the Spencer Albums."
Ends Jan. 3.
"Heritage of the Brush: The Roy and Marilyn Papp Collection." Ends Dec. 27
Harpisch display in the Central Court, Ends Saturday.
KU Museum of Anthropology
864-4245
Hours: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday · Saturday
1 - 5 p.m. Sunday
KU Museum of Natural History
864-4540
8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday - Saturday
1 - 5 p.m. Sunday
An exhibit of "Milestones; The University of
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