Pianist Schub's Concert to Provide Special Opportunity for Students

Andre-Michel Schub will be in residence at Skidmore from Nov. 14 to 16 for the second of three visits he'll make this academic year as a Filene Artist-in-Residence. Last month Schub spent several days on campus giving private lessons to piano students and "reading through" musical works with mostly string students in chamber music ensembles. 

During his upcoming visit, he will coach and rehearse two pieces of music with those same ensembles, and perform single movements from Schubert's "Trout" Quintet and the Brahms Piano Quartet in C Minor with the students in a public concert at 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 16, in Filene Recital Hall. The event also will feature Schub's own solo recital performance. General admission to the public performance is $5, or $2 for seniors and students.

"I've done other residencies at colleges, but I haven't before performed with the students I've worked with," Schub recently remarked, acknowledging that it was his own suggestion that he perform publicly with the students.

Schub may be a top-tier pianist and recording artist, but he hasn't forgotten what it's like to be a student with a thirst for musical knowledge and experience.

"When I was a student, one of the high points was when a member of the Guarneri Quartet played Chopin's Cello Sonata with me. I was just 20 at the time, and it meant so much to me," recalled the renowned pianist, who went on to become the 1981 grand prize winner of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, the 1977 recipient of the Avery Fisher Recital Award, and the 1974 winner of the Naumberg International Piano Competition.

"I want to share my great passion and love for music in this way," he said. "Perhaps I can say things in a different way than their own teachers, or maybe give the piano students a different view, but really, moving one person in an audience is more important than helping someone with a passage in music," he added.

"The first time I met with each of the groups, by the second reading each piece was shaping up, and that was thrilling to me. Whatever I hope to impart to the students, they are giving me much more."

After his recent visit, Schub generously decided to add an extra "leg" to his Filene residency at Skidmore: he invited the student musicians from the two Skidmore chamber music ensembles to visit and rehearse with him on Nov. 4 at Lincoln Center. Accompanying the students on the trip is Michael Emery, violinist and a senior artist-in-residence at Skidmore.

Schub has performed with the world's greatest orchestras, including the Boston Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Los Angeles and New York philharmonics, the Detroit Symphony, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the Bournemouth Symphony. Since 1997, he has been artistic director of the Virginia Waterfront International Arts Festival.

Skidmore has a personal significance for Schub. His mother, the late Louise Rypko, taught languages at the college during the 1940s, before her marriage and Andre's birth.

"I think it was her first job, and she had very fond memories of Saratoga," said the prize-winning son. "She taught French (her native language) and all the other languages that were offered there at that time--Spanish and Russian and maybe others," he added.

His mother introduced her son to the piano when he was 4 years old. Born in France, Schub came to the U.S. as an infant. He attended Princeton University, then transferred to the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Rudolf Serkin.

In April, Schub will return to Skidmore where he will perform publicly as a soloist, and also rehearse and perform in concert with the College's student chamber music ensembles.