San Antonio composer and pianist Thomas Fedorchik believes in writing modern music that reaches the audience and pleases it... but not without a little bit of surprise! Large sprawling works like his "Nocturne" contain moments of joy, reverie, and darkness, all using musical sounds that we would call "traditional." Maybe most traditional of all is a thing that has fallen out of practice a bit among classical players: improvising. That is, playing something that's literally never been played before, making it up as you go.
"It's kind of like a fun tight-rope-walking act," says Fedorchik. "You can think of it like an adventure story, a fantasia from beginning to end."
Fedorchik is performing an entirely improvised show, free to the public, this coming Saturday at Fort Bend Music Center (1603 N. Loop 1604 W), 2 p.m. Saturday August 19th. He says, "I've always admired those kinds of performers; and this is my desire to share this with San Antonio."
In the interview, you'll hear a couple of pieces from his actually-written-down "Nocturne": "Moon" and "Père-Lachaise," named for the cemetery that holds the grave of one of the great piano improvisers, Frédéric Chopin.
