The Journal

Issue date: 3/29/07 Section: LifeStyle

Media Credit: Jeff Curry Daniel Schene plays during the faculty piano recital March 25. Stephanie Morrison, a piano performance graduate student, assisted Schene during the recital.

Daniel Schene's music has taken him to countries including Asia, Brazil, Chile, France, Greece, Italy and Turkey.


The nearly 60 people who attended his March 25 faculty piano recital gave a standing ovation. His performance in the Winifred Moore Auditorium garnered audience admiration of three difficult pieces by Ludwig van Beethoven, Frederic Chopin and Serge Rachmaninov.


Schene, born in New York City, received both his bachelor's and master's degrees from Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind. In addition to his travels around the world, he has been a faculty member at Webster since 1983, mostly giving private lessons to students as well as teaching chamber music.


He has a small following of devoted students who attend his concerts. Freshman Mekenzie Schneider, a music performance major, takes private piano lessons from Schene.


"He's magnificent," Schneider said. "He's just so personable, he doesn't act like he's being paid to teach you."


The three pieces Schene played were from different eras in history. The composers' work spanned from the late 1700s to the early 20th century.


Schene began the program with Beethoven's "Sonata in A-flat Major, Op. 26." The selection was an elegant mixture of full tonal sounds and mellow, lengthy chords. Beethoven, who lived from 1770 to 1827, was the oldest composer featured in the recital.


"I look for variety, but also for relations between the pieces," Schene said. "The Beethoven and Chopin pieces were in the same key, so they could easily be placed together, and Rachmaninov was heavily influenced by Chopin."


The second piece was Chopin's "Polonaise-Fantaisie, Op. 61." Ray Skelton, a retired investment banker and former private student of Schene's for 11 years, commented on the difficulty of Chopin's work and Schene's skill at playing the piece.


"His music really says it all," Skelton said. "I watch all his performances that I can. I wish he would get more notoriety because he is a treasure to the St. Louis community."

Continued...

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