© 2024 KUAF
NPR Affiliate since 1985
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
KUAF is hiring a general manager! This position will include overall management, leadership, and planning, as well as fundraising, content development and delivery, and technical system development. Click here to apply and to learn more!

Of Note: Chopin's Virtuousic Poetry Comes To Life In SoNA's Masterworks II Concert

Christian Steiner

Pianist Andrew Tyson brings to life the poetic impulses of Chopin with the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas (SoNA) this weekend on a piano he helped pick out in the showroom of the Steinway Factory.

"It was like being the kid in the candy store," describes Tyson of the buying trip with Maestro Paul Haas and Walton Arts Center CEO Peter Lane to pick the right piano.

"I guess this performance will be a moment of truth for me," he says regarding this weekend's guest performance of Chopin's 2nd piano concerto with SoNA. "I get to see if the pian I tested really suits me or not."

The three collectively determined the sound they were seeking.

"We were looking for a balance between an intimacy in the sound--a poetic sense of the sound--and also a piano that would project over an orchestra in a big hall," he says.

Perhaps it's fitting that his inaugural performance on the piano he chose for its poetic sense of sound is of Chopin.

"There's this kind of individuality and poetry and freedom that we don't hear too often these days," he says of Chopin's compositions. 

Listen to the on-demand streaming link for more of the conversation between Of Note's Katy Henriksen and Andrew Tyson. Visit SoNA's website to purchase to the Saturday, Jan. 26, performance at the Walton Arts Center.

Related Content