by Samuel Anderson

Nyack, July 10 — The Nyack Library celebrates Chopin’s 200th birthday on eight consecutive Saturday nights in July and August. National Chopin Piano Competition winner Mei-Ting Sun will perform at 7:30p each Saturday in the Carnegie Room of the Nyack Library beginning tonight.

29 year-old Mei-Ting Sun is a critically acclaimed pianist who has played at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. At a young age Sun was torn between a career in music and one in science. The deciding factor was when he realized, ‘€œI couldn’t live if I didn’t play.’€ At the age of 15 Sun was named one of the Village Voice’s Musicians of the Year for 1996 for his performance of a Chopin’s Op 25, which he will be performing in Nyack on August 28th. For Sun, Chopin was always a composer that he idolized and thought, ‘€œas a pianist it’s very important to play him and play him well.’€

Frederic Francois Chopin is widely considered to be one of the greatest masters of romantic music who ever lived. He wrote primarily solo music for the piano and those works that were not solos featured the piano in a prominent way. Despite the longevity of his music of which over 230 works have survived (most widely known of these is most likely the Sonata No. 2 in B Flat, the third movement of which we now refer to as the ‘€œFuneral March’€), Chopin himself died at the young age of 39.

The Saturday Chopin tribute performances at the Carnegie Room of the Nyack Library on July 10, 17, 24 and 31 and August 7, 14, 21 and 28 are sponsored by The Soiree Society of the Arts. Admission is $20 for adults, $17 for seniors, $12 for young adults and $15 for members.

Source: NorthJersey.com
Photo Credit: Yamaha
See Also: The Soiree Society of the Arts for ticket information.