Pianist Robert Nakea will perform the Etudes of Frederic Chopin Sunday, July 17 at 7 p.m. in the Eccles Concert Hall in St. George. The recital is free and open to the public. It will be the first public performance on the new Model D Concert Grand Steinway donated to the school by Zions Bank.
“Robert Nakea is a sublime artist, and he always performs with brilliance, artistry, and grace,” said Nancy Allred, director of piano studies at DSU. “This recital is not to be missed!”
Chopin’s Etudes are commonly accepted as a monument to modern piano technique. “If you can play the Chopin Etudes … there is basically nothing in the modern repertoire you can’t play,” affirmed concert pianist Garrick Ohlsson.
Nakea was born and raised in the Islands of Hawaii. He started studying the piano at age 6 and by age 15 debuted as a soloist with the Honolulu Symphony. Over the span of his career, he has received recognition both in the United States and abroad for his playing. A two-time laureate of the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, Nakea placed first in the Joseph Fisch International Piano Competition in 1986 and third in the National Beethoven Sonata Competition. He has toured extensively throughout Europe, performing in such venues as the Bergen International Music Festival, Llangollen Festival of Wales, and Operafestival di Roma. Nakea graduated from Brigham Young University with his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano performance and currently teaches in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois.
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