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Life & Arts

Piano tunes enthrall small, loyal crowd

Despite only filling half the seats, Impulse Artist Series delivered more than enough enjoyment 

by NADA ELSAYED 
The Daily Cougar 

Although only a small crowd attended the All-Stars Benefit Concert part of the Impulse Artist Series Tuesday, leaving more than half of the hall empty, the series hosted numerous prominent pianists that mesmerized the crowd. 

International concert artist and faculty member at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music, Jon Kimura Parker dazzled the audience with his performance of William Hirtz's Wizard of Oz fantasy, a piece he mentioned was created for a duet. Parker mastered the piece as a solo with its energetic sound. The piece was created from numerous and recognizable sounds from the film, but was altered by adding more animation. 

The animated piece made the audience revel in child-like fantasy, pure happiness and excitement. Parker was one of the most sensational performers of the night. 

For more traditional pieces, such as Chopin's Ballade No.4 in F Minor, Op.52 and Beethoven's Sonata, Op.81a, "Les Adieux" played by professor of music Timothy Hester and Clive Swansbourne, respectively, were both kept in their dramatic tone. A calming atmosphere then settled the built-up suspense of the pieces immediately afterwards, giving an unnerving tension to the audience. 

The concert ended with the duet of Houston Symphony's Scott Holshouser and chair of the Moores School of Music, Nancy Weems by playing "Adagio" and "Tarantella," overtures of John Corigliano's "Gazebo Dances." 

  Adagio was a more soothing piece compared to what else had been performed and then continued to play Tarantella, a faster paced, energetic sound.

Jade Simmons, a graduate of Rice University's Shepherd School of Music and former Miss Illinois and first-runner, founded the Impulse Artist Series up at the 2000 Miss America Pageant.

"The series was designed to provide an audience for talented pianists who are coming to the end of their academic endeavors and are preparing to embark on their professional journeys," Simmons said. 

"More specifically, I wanted to create a space for deserving young artists who know how to respond to those wonderful, but slightly dangerous instincts … temperament and impulse."

This performance in particular was a benefit concert to support The Impulse Artist Series. 

For those who attended the concert, it was more then what they expected, for the pieces, old and new, were enough to transform a deprived individual into a pianist admirer. 

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