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6A / NEWS / MONDAY, APRIL 11, 2011 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
CAMPUS
Pianist entices audience with various styles, stories
BY MIKE MONTANO editor@kansan.com
The stage at pianist Alpin Hong's performance at the Lied Center on Friday included nothing but a baby grand piano named "Ethel," a bench, a microphone and Hong himself, but the pieces Hong played and the stories he told filled the entire stage.
And even though Hong is trained as a classical pianist, his music taste is anything but old-fashioned.
"The thing is that even though I've been playing music my entire life, I didn't start playing classical music until I went to Juilliard when I was 22," Hong said. "I grew up listening to Nirvana and more ethereal kinds of things."
The pieces Hong played at the Lied Center incorporated a range of styles and composers from around the world, including Russian, Polish, American, Spanish and Hungarian.
"It's not like a foreign language where something gets lost in translation," Hong said. "It can be understood by everybody and the thing that brings a common ground to music is evoking emotion. Maybe a certain sound brings up a childhood memory or a more sad time in your life. Music is powerful and it's universal."
about his trip to Europe. Hong told about how, on his way to Brussels, he had an interesting layover in an airport in Paris.
"I didn't bring anything to occupy my time; not a book, a magazine or a Game Boy," Hong said
"Music is powerful and it's universal."
ALPIN HONG
. Pianist
The universality of Hong's music has allowed him to travel and play across the country. He recently completed a tour that took him through all 50 states and ended in Alaska. And he has also traveled overseas; one of the stories Hong told during his performance was
onstage. He said he passed by very few people in the terminal at 6:30 a.m. before he spotted a piano, right outside of McDonald's. He thought it
would be a good time to get some practice in, and before he knew it, there were at least 100 people gathered around him. "I heard all types of beautiful languages being spoken, but I'll never forget this American couple I heard," Hong said. "I heard a man say to his
girlfriend, 'Honey, these French airports are awesome.' It just made me laugh."
Hong's personality and the presence he brought to the stage encouraged the audience to give him a standing ovation. Their enthusiasm then prompted him to add a song to his program, and he finished the night with Ludwig van Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata."
With stops around the world. Hong says he tries to connect to each group as if they are his family.
"By the end, I show them I'm an ordinary dude but I have an extraordinary job." Hong said. "People inspired me to keep doing it and find value in it myself. I feel it is an artist's job to identify with their audience."
- Edited by Amanda Sorell
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Alpin Hong, internationally known pianist, performs Sergi Rachmaninoff's "Preludes in C# Minor, G# Minor, and G Minor," Friday night at the Lied Center. Hong performed music from other composers such as Liszt, Chopin, Albeniz, Gershwin, and many others.
J.A. VICKERS, SR. AND ROBERT F.
VICKERS, SR. MEMORIAL LECTURE SERIES
THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS PRESENTS
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TUESDAY, APRIL 12, 2011 - 7:00 P.M.
THE LIED CENTER OF KANSAS
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