Krystelle Arneson will be the featured pianist for the Evangel University Orchestra concert at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 16, 2013. The event is free and open to the public. Krystelle Arneson’s mother is pretty wise. She has a piano studio in her home, and while teaching each of her seven children how to play, she also taught them how to teach.
“Mom said if we knew how to teach piano, we would always have a source of supplemental income,” says Krystelle, a junior Music Performance major at Evangel University.
“I started teaching when I was in junior high. I taught the younger siblings of mom’s students,” she says. “It was good experience, and it has paid off. I’ve been able to teach, and make some extra money, all through college.”
Krystelle is the youngest in her family, and she is the third to study music at Evangel.
“For most of my life, I have practiced at least three hours per day,” she says. “I am inclined toward music, but I would be nothing without the practice.”
The Springfield community can judge for themselves tonight, when she will perform one of the toughest concerts of her life. The Evangel University Orchestra will present its spring concert — free and open to the public — at 7:30 p.m. in the University’s Chapel auditorium. The production will feature Krystelle, performing the Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4.
“Performing with an orchestra brings a totally different dynamic,” she sats. “As a solo performer, I am used to occasionally having a second piano to play off of. But it is different with 50 other instruments on stage.”
Interestingly, Krystelle is the third person in her family to be honored with a solo performance with the Evangel Orchestra. In 2005, her older sister, Rakel, performed the Prokofiev Concerto in D-flat. Then in 2008, second oldest, Chanelle, performed Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the group.
Asked about other interests, she laughed and said, “I don’t have much of a life outside of music.” That explains why, in her spare time, she performs in a folk-pop-rock band, “The Willows,” with three friends from Evangel.
But that’s a story for another day.
