Michael Strening Piano Concert (05/21/99)
Michael Strening

Like many young piano students, Michael Strening Jr. often wanted to be outside playing with his friends instead of sitting on a bench tickling the ivories. But today, at age 30, Strening is plenty glad he heeded his parents advice and stuck with the piano all those years.


5/21/1999 - 5/21/1999


"Like many young piano students, Michael Strening Jr. often wanted to be outside playing with his friends instead of sitting on a bench tickling the ivories. But today, at age 30, Strening is plenty glad he heeded his parents advice and stuck with the piano all those years. After quitting the instrument when he finished high school in 1987, he didn't play for six years. Then he picked it up again in 1993, and soon realized it was the thing he most enjoyed doing. Last year he self-released his first CD, Sunrise, he has performed around the city a number of times and he is in the process of producing a concert series featuring himself and other musicians which will start at the Chopin Theatre in March.

Strening describes his music as a fusion between folk and classical. The airy, rippling pieces with their booming crescendos and lush emotion evoke images of thunder storms, mountain lakes and leaves falling from trees. Strening said the pieces were largely inspired by nature, specifically such things as the moon rising over Lake Michigan.

Performers
Michael Strening

Tags: Music, American, 1999