Pictured: URI music students performing their pieces at the 20th annual Piano Extravaganza. PHOTO CREDIT: Kelly Mackay | Contributing Reporter
The University of Rhode Island Music department welcomed community members to the Fine Arts Center this past weekend for their annual Piano Extravaganza.
This annual, all weekend event combines student performances with community piano players. Friday night, a Community Piano-a-thon was held, which showcased five players from the community and URI.
The festival continued on Saturday with an Adult Piano Showcase, and in the evening there was a URI student concert. Sunday was the last day of the event, and there was a Young Pianists Showcase.
Manabu Takasawa, a music professor at URI and lifelong pianist, is the director and original creator of this festival. The event started in 2003 when URI approved the funds to purchase a second piano for the music department, and Takasawa thought he should do something to display the pianos.
“I thought we have these incredible, and very expensive instruments, we should show them off,” Takasawa said.
He invited community members to join so he could share the instruments with others outside of the university. The festival has been running for the past twenty years because of continuing interest by students and the community.
“Piano is an instrument that is everywhere, so I knew that there would be interest in piano music or piano playing, and I wanted to involve the people in the community,” Takasawa said.
In addition to being an outlet for recreational piano players, the festival is also an opportunity for URI music students to display their hard work and piano playing skills.
The Friday night Piano-a-thon featured guest performances from two URI music department students. Lisa Nguyen, a second-year Music Performance major, has been playing piano for 19 years. She performed Mozart’s “Sonata in Bb Major” as well as “Etude in Eb Major, Op.10, No.11” by Chopin. Armando Mirabel, a third-year music education major, performed “Deep River” by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, which was a deep, soulful piece that captured the attention of the room.
The audience even got to hear from a URI Chemical Engineering Graduate Research Assistant, Keven Rivera, showing how a love for piano music spreads far beyond the music department.
“All of the pianists on campus get together and have fun with the instrument,” said Taksawa when talking about all the different people who come to play at the festival.
Many community members attended the event, as well as URI students who share an appreciation for music. Third-year music education and music performance major Wyatt Crosby shared what he thought of the Piano-a-thon.
“Everyone had many different pieces, different playing styles, and it was nice to see some of those who were outside of school come here,” Crosby said.
Other students in the audience also enjoyed the show, and commented on the pieces they enjoyed most.
“I really liked ‘The First Meeting,’” said first-year biological sciences major Ana Chelidze. This song was played by Misako Abeywardane, who works for Toray Plastics Inc.
Laura Weick, from Trinity Repertory Company also performed that night, and Chelidze enjoyed her performance as well.
“I think I might go home and watch ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’ now,’” Chelidze said after hearing Weick perform “Merry Go-Round of Life” from that movie.
This event is held annually, and open for anyone to perform. Music pieces can be up to ten minutes, and any genre is welcome. To find more information, and sign up next year, check out their website pianoextravaganza.org.