NE North Dakota News

The Gershman Graduate Center at the University of North Dakota held a concert on October 1 to celebrate the donation of a baby grand piano by Kathy and Hal Gershman. The event featured performances by graduate and undergraduate students, as well as faculty from the UND Department of Music. The program included music from a variety of countries, such as China, Nigeria, Bolivia, Georgia, Argentina, Honduras, and the United States.

The piano, now available for graduate students to use for practice, was presented in the historic hall to an audience that included the Gershmans. Their donation of the piano follows their earlier contribution in 2020, which helped restore the graduate center. The building now serves as a community space for graduate students and others to gather for events like this concert.

Chris Gable, teaching associate professor of music and graduate program director, commented on the addition of the piano: “It’s a beautiful instrument, and it sounds great in this environment,” said Gable. “We’re always happy to have more venues —not just at UND, but in Grand Forks in general.”

Kathy Gershman, who attended the concert, spoke about her motivation for the donation: “We’re grateful. It sounded really beautiful,” said Kathy. “It’s great to see the center full of people. It was empty here for years before the renovation, and they were going to tear it down.

“But the house is made for music as well,” she continued.

“We thought if we could donate the piano, the students can start using it. We did this because these parlors were used for music performances years ago. By putting a piano in there, we can bring it back to its original use.”

Performer Carolina Caballero from Bolivia said, “It was a great experience. The piano feels really special. It feels really new, so we have to play it to break it in!” She also noted, “They made us feel really welcome. We come here from other places and everything feels so new and scary, but they make us feel great. It’s wonderful to be able to play something Bolivian, from my country. It feels great to be taken into account.”

Nariaki Sugiura, professor of piano and Joyce and Aqueil Ahmad Endowed Scholar at UND, emphasized the importance of the piano for the music community: “It connects us,” Sugiura said. “It’s nice for them to be able to share music and ideas here. The piano really helps with that.” He added, “Our goal is to recognize our connection to the community. We feel the support from the community, and we’re able to accomplish and learn more with things with this building and the piano.”

The concert’s performers included Anne Christopherson (soprano), Simona Barbu (cello), Nariaki Sugiura (piano), Carolina Caballero (piano), Ana Papashvilli (viola), Kylar Pagnac (piano), Wei Yin (piano), Victor Chukwu (cello), Victor Ikenna Chukwuezi (piano), and the Red River Trio: Salah Dandan (violin), Andrea Cordova (cello), and Kaden Dowling (piano). Their performances highlighted musical traditions from around the world.

The new piano is expected to encourage more graduate students to engage with music in a dedicated space at the center.