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by Nina Beckwith FEATURED UCSF ARTIST | NINA'S ARTS NOTES 1st appeared 20 May 1998 Pearl Toy: Transfusions of Beethoven "We're interested in the quality of life here at UCSF. Science is wonderful but it's not quite enough and there is room here for the arts and the performing arts ." Pearl Toy is a major player in both spheres. She is president of the UCSF Piano Group, professor of Laboratory Medicine, chief of the Blood Bank and director of the NIH-funded Transfusion Specialized Center of Research (SCOR), one of three in the country.
"I started piano at five," she replied, "and studied throughout high school and college but then found that the pressures of medical school simply didn't allow time for anything else. So I stopped playing. "But I started again two years ago: the UCSF Orchestra Piano Concerto Competition had a lot to do with that. It's campuswide; anyone can enter, playing any piano concerto and I found that I wanted to do that and to win. But after so many years, I had to go back and take lessons, so I went to the SF Conservatory, not far from Parnassus." It took her just one year to regain not only keyboard skills but the mastery required for such towering works as her beloved Beethoven Fourth, the G-major piano concerto. "Yes, I am a Beethoven aficionado," she says. "He reaches deep into our emotions but he is very straightforward, very down to earth. However, I didn't win the competition that first year -- Julian Chen did. I won the next year -- with the Beethoven Fourth." And as though on cue, Chen appears at the door to practice so we move to the adjoining piano studio. He is a fifth-year graduate student in Biophysics and will perform both solo and in chamber works at the May 26 Grand Piano Celebration. "If one has the fortune to be trained in music," Toy continues, "life is not complete without it." Her life also includes marriage and being the mother of a daughter who is a Harvard freshman and a violinist. Toy confirms that the UCSF pianos are "wonderful instruments. They are American-made Steinways from about 1912 and we really treasure them. But of course they need upkeep, repairs, tuning, so we have to raise the money with concerts like our celebration on May 26th. "They are also used by students who don't have the money for a piano," Toy points out. "It's important for students, faculty, everyone who can to take a break, play music even for a few minutes to replenish the spirit. And not only for us: the other day I found the father of one of our patients, a child who is very very sick, and he was in here with all the lights turned out, playing the piano. That's how he found his consolation." Hear Bach, Brahms, Chopin, Jazz, solos, trios, and much more performed by accomplished musicians who are also your UCSF colleagues. It all happens at 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, May 26th at the 6th Annual UCSF GRAND PIANO CELEBRATION. Setting is the Library's top floor Lange Reading Room -- "fabulous view, beautiful venue, warm, and with wonderful sound," as one pianist describes it. This Benefit Concert helps maintain the two very fine Steinway grand pianos in Millberry, built in l912 and donated in l958, which are used by students, faculty, researchers, and many other campus players, and which often need repairs and tuning. Wine and cheese reception starts at 5 p.m. Concert tickets are $6 for students, $12 for the public. Seats are limited so plan to arrive early. ***** A few days later, on Saturday morning May 30, the lovely Lange acoustics will resound to a younger group of music makers when children of UCSF faculty, staff and students come together to share the joys of music in the first UCSF Young Artists Recital. It's also a benefit for the Arts & Performances Save the Steinway Fund. Singers, pianists and other instrumentalists of high school age or younger with family affiliation to UCSF will be joined by outside guests, including recipients of the l998 Menuhin-Dowling Young Musician Awards. It's bound to be a heartwarming occasion. Music-making starts at 11 a.m. and will be followed by a dessert reception. UCSF family tickets are $l0 , students $3; non-UCSF family $15 and general public $7. Information: 476-6932. ***** Essence of Chinese Elegance Still a stone's throw from the UCSF Parnassus Campus, while its new home at Civic Center is in the works, the Asian Art Museum in Golden Gate Park is a delightful lunch-hour oasis and richly rewarding for longer visits. All this summer (until September 9) exquisite furniture is on view, made in the l6th and l7th centuries, in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, for wealthy Chinese homes and for the studies of honored scholars. Chairs, cabinets, tables, and bedsteads crafted without nails from lustrous tropical hardwoods display consummate skill in their elegant simplicity and strength. Included are materials about the architecture and layout of the Chinese home and the design of the scholar-official's study, in accordance with principles of feng shui. Contemporary reproductions of furniture and ceramics by Chinese artisans are available in a special Museum Store near the exhibit. ***** Cherchez la Femme Tickets are selling fast for San Francisco Opera's Femmes Fatale Festival, June 6 - July 2, which will bring to life three of opera's most dramatic heroines: Alban Berg's sensual, mysterious Lulu ; Poppea, who schemes to marry her lover, the Roman Emperor Nero, in the exquisite L'Incoronazione di Poppea (The Coronation of Poppea ) by Monteverdi; and Bizet's fearless and ever-fascinating Carmen. First-rank international singers, directors, and designers will be featured, including a number of Company debuts. All operas have English Supertitles and ticket holders are often invited to hear illuminating free lectures before the performances. Since its $80 million renovation completed last fall, the War Memorial Opera House is more splendid and its sound more glorious than ever. Depending on availability, the Opera sells Student and Senior Rush tickets in person two hours before each performance at $30 each. (That may sound like a lot but it could get you a seat that regularly sells for four times as much). Standing room may also be available (also only in person ) for $12. Opera Box Office phone 864-3330. |
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Toy
came to UCSF in l980 after her Stanford medical training
in Hematology and Internal Medicine. We met on a recent
rainy day in one of the Millberry piano studios and I
asked how she finds time for music in addition to the
long hours and heavy responsibilities her positions
entail.