Pianist Anton Nel covers classical music for 200 at Staples Family Concert Hall

• Tweet
• 

World-renowned classical pianist Anton Nel played for about 200 concertgoers Tuesday in the Music Building’s Staples Family Concert Hall.

The South Africa-born winner of the 1987 Naumberg International Piano Competition at Carnegie Hall performed five pieces, including music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven and Frederic Chopin.

Krystyna Nowak-Fabrykowski, a Polish-born associate professor of teacher education, beamed in regard to Nel’s interpretation of the Polish composer Chopin.

“He plays Chopin so well,” Nowak-Fabrykowski said. “His interpretation of Chopin is incredible. He is thinking through the music — that, really, is his language.”

The barren light-brown stage was contrasted only by Nel, wearing all black, and the black piano and bench. Nel performed all five pieces from memory, without using sheet music.

His body contorted and reacted as he played, his head, shoulders and arms rising and falling with the music. When playing particularly punctuated notes, Nel attacked the keys of his piano with a concentrated intensity. Loretta Lanning, a Mount Pleasant graduate student studying piano, praised Nel for his expertise and ability to bring out the nuances of each composer’s music.

“To me, he really makes you appreciate the composer,” Lanning said. “He took huge advantage of the sound onstage, and just left you ringing with sound.”

After completing his final piece, Nel received a standing ovation from the audience, which prompted him to perform “Romance in D Flat” by Jean Sibelius as an encore.

“(It was) amazing, mesmerizing, and I didn’t want it to end,” said Marguerite Terrill, a professor of teacher education.

John Jacobson, director of music events for the School of Music, was responsible for organizing the performance. He was very pleased with how the night went.

“He is a world-renowned artist, and you saw that tonight,” Jacobson said of Nel. “The audience reaction was terrific. I’m not surprised they jumped to their feet.”

Nel is a piano professor at the University of Texas at Austin, and splits his time between performing and teaching.

He said he spends several days a week teaching, then will travel for several days to give a performance.

“It’s an even split, I would say,” Nel said of his teaching and performing. “I think one compliments the other. I would not give up either.”