Boepple tickles the ivories
By Denise Doerschel
This Friday, the Department of Music presents a faculty recital by pianist, Hans Boepple.
Not only is Professor Boepple a passionate musician, but he is a remarkable educator as well. He balances both facets of his career with amazing skill, precision, and care. The Rocky Mountain News claims Boepple is "in the upper echelon of concert pianists." In addition to numerous performances in world-renowned orchestras, Boepple has been Professor of Music at Santa Clara University since 1978 and Chair of the Music Department since 1995.
Even with appearances as guest soloist in orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Long Beach Symphony, Denver Symphony, Santa Rosa Symphony, Oakland Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra and the Metropolitan Opera House Orchestra under his belt, Boepple believes his greatest career accomplishments are becoming a professor at Santa Clara University and when his students are playing their best.
Boepple began piano lessons at age four some time after his 6-year-old brother had started.
"Apparently I showed a fairly abnormal interest in what he was doing, so my parents decided to get me started as well. Ever since, it has been the love of my life," Boepple said.
What started as an unusual interest has blossomed into a magnificent career, as Boepple has been the featured artist for state music conventions in California, Nevada, and Washington. In addition to First Prize in the J.S. Bach International Competition in Washington, D.C., Boepple has also received awards from the Coleman Chamber Music in Los Angeles, the Kosciuszko Chopin Competition in New York and the MTNA National Collegiate Competition.
"The core of being a performer is the daily practice, which is a constant challenge for most musicians," Boepple said, "I am inside the music and fully involved in expressing it. It is entirely consuming."
For his upcoming performance this Friday, Sept. 28 at 8 p.m. at the Center of Performing Arts, Boepple will be playing works from two composers in an 80-minute show.
"I paired the two composers, Chopin and Prokofiev, because those two geniuses created new and enormously influential schools of piano music and playing," Boepple said. "Chopin (and others) created the rich and passionate Romantic style, Prokofiev (and Bartok) developed a more modern, percussive (but still expressive) approach to the instrument."
For those students who are unfamiliar with Chopin's style of performing, not to worry! "The music is sublime, and the variety of sounds and feelings that can be coaxed out of a piano can be pretty amazing," Boepple said.
A musical recital may be as enjoyable for those who are not music students.
Santa Clara sophomore, Alexis Stimpfle attended Boepple's performance last year at the Center of Performing Arts. Having never attended a musical concert at Santa Clara, she was curious as to what Santa Clara had to offer in the musical community. Alexis felt the performance was technically executed well and was able to capture the complex style of Baroque music at the same time.
"It made me appreciate Bach and Baroque music more than ever before," she said. "It gave me a nice first impression of the musical community at Santa Clara."