David Keep ’11 has the amazing opportunity to play with the Green Bay Symphony Feb. 6, 2009 at the Meyer Theater in Green Bay, Wis. Keep, an accomplished pianist who has played for twelve years, won the Green Bay Civic Symphony Concerto competition. Although he will be playing the piano at the concert, he also plays percussion and sings. However, he did not seem as confident in this last skill.
The orchestra will perform the Brahms piano concerto in D minor and David will perform one movement of the piece. His face lit up when he described what playing this thirteen-minute movement meant to him. He explained that Brahms happens to be one of his favorite composers and that this was his first chance to play with an orchestra. He has done solo work before, such as accompanying singers in studio class, but has never had the occasion to play with a full orchestra. He also said that being able to perform this piece is exciting because it is not often that he gets to play a piece he is very fond of. Said Keep, “You have to study for a very long time before you get to perform pieces you really enjoy.”
While walking around the conservatory last year David found out about the competition when he happened to see a poster advertising it. To prepare, David spent most of his summer at various music festivals, seeking advice on his playing. The advice he received over the summer helped him to hone in on what he needed to focus on — and he seems very grateful for it.
For the competition he performed a self-edited, 10-minute version of the movement he will be performing in February. He performed the piece for the competition in late October and found out that he won the same day. Until the big day, David said he was “trying to keep himself busy” with the Brahms piece. David is also preparing for the LSO competition that will take place later this year.
Playing Brahms with the Green Bay Symphony
