Tucson pianist draws on martial arts, COVID for upcoming recital

Tucson pianist Fanya Lin learned military-style martial arts.

“Originally, because of the Asian hate crimes, I learned it as self defense,” said the Taiwanese-born University of Arizona music professor. “But I fell in love with it.”

Krav Maga is a self-defense system developed in the mid-1930s by Jews facing antisemitic attacks in the former Czechoslovakia. The goal is to be able to defend yourself against a variety of attacks with extreme efficiency that’s based largely on muscle memory.

Lin, who arrived in Tucson from Minnesota in 2019, wanted to be prepared in case the Asian hate crimes that had been spreading throughout the country came too close to home.

“I was in contact with friends in New York … and they were telling me that they didn’t want to take the subway,” said the 32-year-old.

Krav Maga and the pandemic also inspired her “Masquerade” program that she will play Sunday, Aug. 14, when she debuts with the popular St. Andrew’s Bach Society summer concert series.

The title is a throwback to the pandemic — wearing masks at the height of COVID-19 — and the celebration of coming out of it — a costume ball and dancing.

If that vision is lost on you, the music will surely transport you there, from little-known Curaçaoan composer Wim Statius Muller’s lovely “Nostalgia Waltz” to Stravinsky’s “The Firebird” and Ginastera’s sometimes fiery and frenetic “Danzas Argentinas.”

The concert’s centerpiece and the work that really sums up “Masquerade” is Schumann’s “Carnaval,” which is based on masked revelers at the pre-Lenten Carnival festival.

“I (programmed) all the repertoire related to dance,” said Lin, who has done a handful of public recitals and has played keyboards with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra a couple of times in her three years here.

Lin said she chose Stravinsky’s “The Firebird,” transcribed for solo piano by Guido Agosti, because it reminded her of her Krav Maga lessons and her instructor.

“She taught us not only to protect ourselves but confidence and perseverance,” Lin said, two dominant themes in “The Firebird.”

Originally composed as a ballet for Sergei Diaghilev’s Paris-based Ballets Russes, the piece is based on the Russian fairy tale of the firebird who helps a prince fight evil spirits.

“The rhythm and energy reminds me of our training,” Lin said. “The audience will hear, especially in the opening, this repeated high note that is so shocking and so different from the normal lyrical and melodic piano repertoire.”

In September, Lin will perform the Grieg’s Piano Concerto and Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto with the Tucson Repertory Orchestra at Crowder Hall. In January, she and her Lin-Linder Piano Duo partner, UA piano professor Daniel Linder, will perform works for piano four hands and two pianos.

The Sunday performance is at 2 p.m. at Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 2331 E. Adams St.

Tickets are $25 for premium, $15 for general admission and $10 for students through standrewsbach.org. For more information, call 520-808-2122.