Pieces by beloved classical composers such as Beethoven and Schubert will mix with the premiere of Dan Román’s “SyncopaXiones” (2012) at music professor and current pianist in residence Sally Pinkas’ piano concert tonight.
Pinkas will begin the night with Schubert’s “Fantasy in C Minor” (1811), which was written when the composer was only 14 and lay undiscovered from 1811 until the 1960s.
Music professor Gregory Hayes described the Schubert piece as “one of the real tour-de-force pieces of the Romantic repertoire.”
Pinkas will then move onto Beethoven’s “Rondo in G Major” (1798) and Shostakovich “Sonata No. 2 in B Minor” (1943). The Shostakovich piece, which was written after he was evacuated from Leningrad during World War II, is dedicated to the composer’s former mentor, Leonid Nikolaev.
Pinkas said that she discovered the Shostakovich piece while she was in London for the music foreign study program last spring and wanted to play the piece. She said that she chose the Beethoven piece as a filler.
“It’s a very small and sweet piece,” she said. “It’s not central.”
Pinkas said that Román, the composer of the last piece, “SyncopaXiones,” sent her the piece a year ago. She said that she wanted to premiere it, thanks to her close relationship with Roman. She said that while she would usually meet with the composer before premiering an original work, her schedule did not allow for it this time.
“He knows me,” she said. “He’s very trusting and has a lot of faith in me. I’m curious to hear what he has to say.”
Román, a Puerto-Rican composer and music professor at Trinity College, said that the piece was inspired by composer Frederic Rzewski’s piece, “The People United Will Never Be Defeated!” (1975) and is made up of seven sections and over 40 variations around a central piece of music.
The piece includes various Caribbean piano styles, including the salsa, mambo, rumba and guaracha.
Hopkins Center for the Arts publicity coordinator Rebecca Bailey described “SyncopaXiones” as “Latin-Caribbean minimalism.”
“You can hear mathematical qualities in the way patterns are used,” she said. “He also uses rhythmic and melodic patterns throughout it as well.”
Pinkas described playing the Román piece as “very interesting.” She said that she enjoys getting to create her own version of it.
“The beauty of music is interpretation,” she said. “Each performer plays each piece with a different interpretation.”
Bailey said that while Pinkas has rich musical friendships with many composers around the world and especially in New England, the relationship she shares with Román is particularly strong. The two met when Pinkas performed at Trinity, and her group Trio Tremonti has performed pieces of his in the past.
Bailey said that she is excited to see how Pinkas combines the eclectic sounds of Román with the more traditional pieces by Schubert and Beethoven.
“We’ll have to wait and see,” she said. “Her programming is always so rich and exciting. You can’t anticipate what the pieces will be like until you hear them.”
Pinkas’ students emphasized her strength as a player and the emotion she can bring to the pieces she plays.
Sarah Wang ’14, who took lessons with Pinkas for all four years she was a student at the College, said that Pinkas has a unique style and technique.
“She’s a multi-dimensional pianist,” Wang said. “She’s involved in a number of activities, not just her own solo work.
Emily Kong ’16, who has taken classes from Pinkas since her freshman fall and was on her music foreign study program in London, described Pinkas as “extremely insightful.”
“She’s very musical and knows how to express something in music that you try to express through words,” she said. “She’s very good at interpreting what the musician is trying to convey with whatever piece that they are working on.”
Hayes said that Pinkas is the type of performer who is able to get to the heart of the music she plays. He emphasized the difficult nature of her repertoire for Tuesday’s performance.
Kong said that she believes that Pinkas will be able to make the pieces she plays accessible to all audience members.
“She conveys emotion that you don’t often feel or don’t associate with some composers if you’re not really familiar with them,” Kong said. “She provides a very accessible way to understand the music that she’s performing, whether it be Beethoven or Schumann or Shostakovich.”
Wang said that Pinkas’ love of music is apparent in her playing.
“She’s detailed-oriented, incredibly musical, and you see that through everything that she plays as well as the way the she teaches,” she said. “You can tell how much she cares about the music she plays, and that’s the heart of a true musician.”
Bailey said that Pinkas is able to effectively capture the emotions of the pieces that she is playing.
“Her playing is the journey of moods,” Bailey said. “She can go from turmoil to joy, since she has such an expressive style of playing.”
The concert will be held at 7 p.m. in Spaulding Auditorium. Tickets will be between $10 and $27 for students and $17 to $27 for community members.
