28 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY JANUARY 16-22, 2025 www.montereycountynow.com MUSIC Pianist Hans Boepple has spent a lifetime exploring the dialectic between being a piano teacher and being a piano performer. Now, in semi-retirement, the balance between the two has finally come into focus. “I never wanted to be a concert performer,” Boepple says. “I didn’t want to travel like that. I wanted a well-rounded, settled life”—quite the statement from a player whose formidable resume includes appearances with over 40 symphony orchestras worldwide. “I’m not a natural performer at all,” he continues. “I don’t like getting all nervous, uptight. I think people who tour have a burning desire to do so. It just wasn’t the most important thing to me. The music is important, but not performing. I’m basically a timid guy. It takes everything I’ve got to get out there and do it.” Surprising again, given that his performing career began when, at age 4, his violin prodigy mother introduced him to the piano. At age 10, she arranged for Hans and his brother to debut performing Camille Saint-Saëns’ epic masterpiece “Carnival of the Animals” with the LA Philharmonic, and it was off to the races from there. The dust hasn’t cleared for the last 50 years. Yet through it all, teaching has been Boepple’s true focus. He has been a professor of music at Santa Clara University since 1978. “Frankly, I got into teaching to make a living,” Boepple says. “Almost no one can make a living being a concert performer.” He also cites his family as a magnet pulling him away from the road. With a wife and three children, Boepple became a reluctant traveler. Besides, teaching has always allowed him to think through the music. “The black notes on the score don’t really tell us much about what to do, so we have to decipher that, unravel that. That is the journey, the mission,” he explains. “I love to teach, and teaching is at the very heart of everything I do.” For this solo concert hosted by Carmel Music Society, Boepple has assembled a program of favorites, piano- and pedagogy-wise: Bach, Chopin, Scriabin, Brahms. “Any person’s response to any piece of music is subjective,” he says. “Great music takes me to a specific place. Why does it make me, or us, feel that way? I love to get deep into these pieces, and these questions, whether in a concert hall or in a classroom.” Hans Boepple performs 3pm Sunday, Jan. 19. Sunset Center, San Carlos and 9th, Carmel. $41.50-$61.50. 6259938, carmelmusic.org. Class Session Pianist Hans Boepple has performed around the world, but finds music in teaching. By Paul Fried “I’ve never had an agent, and so I just play concerts when I am asked to do so,” says Hans Boepple, who made a career at the piano. 720 BROADWAY AVE. SEASIDE Call 831-899-1762 to order DINE IN / TAKEOUT / DELIVERY Using fresh, quality ingredients The Oven continues a tradition of New York style pizza, alongside signature San Francisco sourdough pizza. Come enjoy a slice today. Great Dough Great Pizza is Thin crust & Sourdough pizzas Salads & Calzones • Pasta • Subs Draft beer on tap • Wine • Dessert FRESH. LOCAL. TASTY. Fisherman’s Wharf FRESHEST SEAFOOD with PANORAMIC VIEWS Open Daily at 11:30am • At the end of Fisherman’s Wharf #1 www.rockfishmonterey.com • 831.324.4375 Reserve your spot at Grief-Resilience-Jan2025.eventbrite.com Monterey Peace & Justice Center 1364 Fremont Blvd., Seaside Saturday, January 25, 10 am - 1 pm Reserve your spot at Grief-Resilience-Jan2025.eventbrite.com Dress comfortably Refreshments provided Voluntary sliding scale donation TENDING GRIEF: BUILDING RESILIENCE with Trish Nelson & Natascha Bruckner A WORKSHOP 5-7257 cm_crockett@sbcglobal.net (per paid contact for 12 monthly ads) kshop PM YOU DON’T HAVE TO FACE IT ALONE. 24 Hour Crisis Lines Salinas: (831) 424-HELP (4357) Monterey: (831) 375-HELP (4357) www.mtryrapecrisis.org Services are bilingual and confidential Now serving Salinas and Monterey
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