Thursday, March 28, 2024

The Navajo pianist

The Navajo pianist

Connor Chee is back in Arizona, spreading his musical wings

Navajo Times | Adron Gardner Pianist and composer Connor Chee greets the crowd before performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467 with the Red Rock String Ensemble at the First United Methodist Church in Gallup on Sunday.

Navajo Times | Adron Gardner
Pianist and composer Connor Chee greets the crowd before performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467 with the Red Rock String Ensemble at the First United Methodist Church in Gallup on Sunday.

GALLUP

It was only a generation ago Navajos were being told to forget about college; they were better suited to manual labor.

Now there are Navajo lawyers, Navajo physicians, Navajo college professors … even a Navajo concert pianist.

“I always love to hear of someone being the first Navajo to do something,” said Connor Chee. “It’s so great to see people pursuing their dreams, whether it’s in sports, music, science, whatever.”

Chee has racked up his share of firsts. He’s the first Navajo to win a gold medal at the World Piano Competition, the first classical pianist to win a Nammy, and, we’re willing to bet, the first classical performer to grace Gallup’s First United Methodist Church in a metallic blue dye job.

“Is that your real hair color?” queried a skeptical young fan after Chee flawlessly performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 with the Red Rock String Ensemble Sunday night.

“It is now,” shot back Chee without missing, as they say, a beat.

The sparse but enthusiastic audience Sunday got a real treat in Chee’s sensitive interpretation of the 21st, a difficult piece not only technically but because most people are familiar with it, or at least the bits and pieces that have surfaced in movies and commercial scores over the years.

“Effortless!” enthused concertgoer Judy Conejo afterward. “One of the best I’ve heard. I’m really glad I brought my Kleenex.”

The Times last checked in with Chee, who is bilagáana born for Kin Yaa’áanii, when he was a teenage student at the Eastman School of Music. He still had the novel aura of a prodigy then; at 28, he is working hard to claim a niche in the competitive world of classical music.

Since graduating from Eastman in 2009, he has obtained a master’s from the University of Cincinnati and moved back to his native Arizona. He has two CDs out, including the Nammy-winning “The Navajo Piano.”


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About The Author

Cindy Yurth

Cindy Yurth was the Tséyi' Bureau reporter, covering the Central Agency of the Navajo Nation, until her retirement on May 31, 2021. Her other beats included agriculture and Arizona state politics. She holds a bachelor’s degree in technical journalism from Colorado State University with a cognate in geology. She has been in the news business since 1980 and with the Navajo Times since 2005, and is the author of “Exploring the Navajo Nation Chapter by Chapter.”

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