NVMTA’s Spotlight teacher of the month is new member, Dr. Christopher Kies! He grew up in Chevy Chase, Maryland (and graduated from B.C.C. High School) where he studied piano with Ylda Novik, an active member of MTNA. Chris said, “Without her guidance, I might not have been able to have a career in music.” Dr. Kies moved to Virginia in 2020 from New England where he had lived for 50 years. He found the Virginia Music Teachers to be a very active and organized group. He was also impressed by the number of events they host each year.
Chris’s best advice for new members is to volunteer with this or that event for students. He says, “It seems to be the best way to meet people. It’s a good way to know what is going on in the organization.” He certainly follows his own advice! Dr. Kies volunteered to be a judge for the composition festival. He is chairing the General Recitals, and may help with a few other things. Also, shortly after moving to Virginia, he gave a presentation at the State VMTA conference titled “Appreciating Augmented Sixth Chords, even when they don’t behave”.
Educational Background
Chris has a BM in piano performance and a BM in composition from New England Conservatory in Boston. While there he studied piano with Theodore Lettvin. Additionally, he studied composition with Donald Martino. He earned an MFA in composition from Brandeis University and a Ph.D., also from Brandeis. As a graduate student he was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to study in Germany. He was twice awarded an Individual Artist Fellowship from the New Hampshire Council on the Arts. He taught piano, theory and composition for 41 years at the University of New Hampshire. His current title is Professor Emeritus.
Current Projects
Current projects include a new arrangement of one of his several compositions for music and narration. The title of the piece is Amos and Boris, and it is based on a children’s book by William Steig. The original version is for flute, bass-trombone, piano and narrator. The new version is for a woodwind quintet and narrator. The piece also exists in other arrangements. He said, “I need to make the parts for the woodwind version. That will take some time as the notes are interspersed within the text of the narration on each part.
Musical Goals
When asked about his musical goals, Chris shared that as a pianist he would very much like to be able to play all 24 of the Chopin Etudes, or 27 if you include the Etudes Nouvelles. He says, “There are still about five of them that vex me greatly, but I have not given up.” On the piano, I am practicing daily my Chopin Etudes, Liszt Technical Exercises, and various other pieces like Brahms’ shorter works from late in his career.
As a composer, he looks to find performers who would be willing to try some of his compositions and/or arrangements. Meanwhile, he spends a good amount of time finishing work on his website: christopherkies.com, which he thinks of as a kind of archive or library of all the music he have created in his professional life. I do occasionally sell PDF files of this or that work, but suffice to say, I do not do it for the money. I do it because music is the most important (non-human) thing in my life.
Memorable Moments
Some of his most memorable musical moments are when his large compositions are performed for audiences of students at various levels from elementary schools through High School and College. One such moment was in 2006 when my 45-minute oratorio, Franklin Portrait, was performed at Franklin (Massachusetts) High School (and also at UNH) to commemorate Ben Franklin’s 300th birthday. The concert involved the concert choir of the high school as well as their women’s chorus, concert band and orchestra. Members of the Concert Choir and orchestra from UNH also participated. The narrations were of texts by Benjamin Franklin and the concert also featured a guest performance on the glass harmonica, which Franklin had invented.
One other similar event was for the entire elementary and middle school population from Durham, NH. On that day, my composition, “Le Tombeau de Saint-Saēns” for chamber orchestra and narrator was performed twice. The narration was of poetry about animals by Ogden Nash. These poems were different from those he was commissioned to write to accompany Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saëns. My piece is a sequel to that earlier piece. The orchestra in that event consisted of professional free-lance players, thus, a very generous grant from UNH was needed to sponsor the event. It is fair to say that one of my most favorite areas in music is that of music plus narration, especially for younger audiences.
Hobbies and other interests
During his retirement, he enjoys spending time with two of his daughters who live locally and also with his grandson who is three. His third daughter lives in Rhode Island. His late wife, Arlene Pepe Kies, was a brilliant pianist, and Chris says he was lucky that she also taught piano at UNH for 20 years or so. Chris’s current hobbies include being a grandparent and also cooking, especially Italian cuisine which I learned from my wife who was 100% Italian American. He loves all kinds of music, but especially classical music from around 1700 to 1999 and he is also a big fan of ragtime piano music. Playing his piano, which is a Hamburg Steinway, is the best way he knows to stay close to his favorite music. Listening to music is fine too, but that is more passive.
Would he have done anything differently in his life, given the chance? Chris said, “I probably should have spent more time working on the Public Relations aspect of my life as a composer. That is a challenge for anyone in music, especially composers. Otherwise, I feel extremely fortunate to have been able to work in music, make a living, and have a family at the same time.”
Welcome Chris! And again, thank you for jumping in whole-heartedly and for your help with NVMTA!
