It isn’t every day that legendary musical performers grace the DU campus with their presence. Yet unfortunately when they do, the undergraduate population seems to be almost completely unaware of it.
Last Thursday night in the June Swaner Gates Concert Hall, located in the Newman Center for the Performing Arts, two prolific and award-winning musical artists, Chick Corea and Belá Fleck, performed a memorable two-and-a-half-hour set for their eager audience. Fleck also took part in The Master Class with students from the Lamont School of Music supported by the Newman Center Endowed Fund for Experimental and Cultural Learning prior to the event.
Corea and Fleck, two legendary songwriters, musicians and band leaders, joined together in an impressive duet of their respective instruments: piano and banjo. Corea, originating from Mass., has been a prolific composer and keyboard player with a musical history that has spanned over four decades and 20 Grammys.
Fleck, who was born in New York City, has won 14 Grammys and is considered one of the premier banjo players in the world. Together they played music off their collaborative album, entitled “The Enchantment,” along with other recognizable tunes the two are known for.
The duo’s striking performance was one where you could simply sit back and become lost in the sound.
There were no flashy lights or stage props, just two masters and their tools. Fleck’s fluttering banjo strings would at times layer with Corea’s resounding piano scales, or at other times the two instruments would sound independently, yet in complement. Their fingers flew across their instruments with a creative ease that only years and years of experience could render. Corea and Fleck’s unique performance covered a wide range of genres stretching from jazz to classical, bluegrass, a waltz and even a Stevie Wonder cover.
Marcio Garcia, a MFA jazz performance graduate of the Lamont School of Music who now works in the Newman Center box office, considered the performance in high regard.
“As a musician, it was just inspiring and motivating. Achieving that level of musicianship is every musician’s dream. Each time they perform it’s different and magical,” said Garcia.
Vocal Jazz professor Donna Wickham believes that music students in particular can gain a lot from attending performances like this one at the Newman Center, as well as master classes of the sort that Fleck gave on Thursday afternoon.
According to Wickham, a fair amount of students attended, however most were music students that are deeply entrenched in DU’s music scene and particularly in happenings at the Newman Center.
“Fifteen bucks for a concert of that quality is too good to pass up,” said Wickham. “I think the things [music students] gain from master classes are inspiration and validation. It’s great to hear that the road to success for these great musicians was paved with the same hard work that the students are putting in right now.”
The shortage of non-music major DU students in attendance was noticeable. Corea and Fleck are possibly two of the most noteworthy artists our campus has drawn this school year, yet aside from a small handful of young faces, the audience was mostly one or two generations older than your average DU student.
Andy Henderson, fourth year senior Biology student from Chicago, expressed his disappointment about missing the event.
“Why did no one tell me that Fleck and Corea were coming to DU until after it happened?” said Henderson
“It’s always a struggle to get the student’s attention,” said Natalie Raborn, marketing director at the Newman Center, acknowledging the sometimes weak student interest in Newman Center performances.
Fortunately for students that missed this performance, the Newman Center has a full calendar of upcoming events throughout the remainder of this quarter.
See their full calendar of performances on the Newman Center Website.
