I'm Andre Peck, I'm a pianist from La Crosse, and I'll be playing Percoffi of Piano Concerto
No. 1, Opus 10, and Deflot Major.
My middle name is Preven, so my full name is Andre Prevenpeck, and I am a descendant of the Preven family.
Andre Preven, of course, was the extremely famous conductor and pianist.
I'm more directly related to Charles Preven.
He was a film composer, one in Oscar, and was nominated for a lot of awards.
Percoffi of was different, and there's a lot more dissonance, and there's new ideas that sparked because of his music.
He wanted the music to reflect the ideas that he was seen in society, and I thought that was really fitting right now because, you know, we live in a time where there's a lot of strife everywhere, and it's kind of important to have your own voice.
We started taking lessons in St. Paul, Minnesota.
My teacher is Dr. Joseph Zins.
That's right, that's right. Very good.
He's great. I think he's one of the most down-to-earth people that I know.
He has this old school tendencies that are part of his charm, but also, for me, they kind of reflect the pinnacle of music.
It's really important to have a teacher that both understands you and can communicate with you, but also has the musical values that I have as well.
Jazz band has always been kind of a fun thing for me because the world of solo piano is oftentimes very lonely.
When I get to enjoy my music with other people, it's more of an exciting experience for me.
When you look at some structures that are in jazz, and then you compare them to the structures in classical, and they actually build on each other.
Every single note in Prokofiev has a purpose, and that's kind of been the most important thing for me to try to discover when I'm playing.
And I really think that it's incredibly important to find music's connection with one's self.
When I accomplish something on the piano, it helps me in other parts of my life.
You have to put all of your heart and soul into being a musician.
Thank you very much.