Nena Lorenz, principal percussionist of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, was diagnosed with breast cancer in May, University students in the School of Music wanted to do something special for her, according to associate professor of percussion Brett Dietz.
Their well wishing materialized into musical healing during a fundraiser concert for Lorenz on Sunday.
The University’s Percussion Society held the “Minimalize Cancer” concert in the School of Music Recital Hall to raise money for Lorenz, who has close ties to the student percussionists — also known as Hamiruge.
“We’re doing this within the Percussion Society at LSU,” Dietz said, “In conjunction with that student organization and the Percussion Ensemble, we’re all doing this together.”
Dietz said many of his students have taken lessons with Lorenz.
“If they need to do orchestral kind of playing, they go and study with her first,” Dietz said.
Lorenz, who spends most of her time playing with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, often visits the University to teach master classes even though she also teaches at the University of New Orleans and Xavier University.
Dietz said it came as a shock when Lorenz was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer and could no longer teach classes as she began her treatment.
Dietz said though stage three is advanced, Lorenz still has hope.
“It’s still pretty curable for breast cancer,” Dietz said.
Lorenz had an operation last week to fight the cancer, and will undergo a second later this week,
The music played at the concert was inspired by the tunes of the late ’50s to early ’60s.
“It’s very repetitive music,” Dietz said.
The idea for playing minimalist music came from the idea of “healing through repetition,” Dietz said.
Hamiruge also began selling T-shirts that read “Minimalize Cancer,” and people who wore them were allowed to attend the concert for free.
“So far, we have raised over $1,000,” Dietz said.
Sixteen students performed in the concert, which Dietz conducted.
Music graduate student Daniel Heagney, who played in the concert, said the event was personal for him.
“For me, this is really important,” he said, “I know Nena personally, and I play with her on a regular basis. My highschool band director also died of breast cancer, so this one kind of hits home for me.”
Heagney said helping Lorenz’s cause gave him a feeling of accomplishment amid the University’s financial woes.
“It’s time we take our mind off of the budget cuts going on at the school and really focus in on one thing we can do to help the world at the moment,” he said.
_____
Contact Julian Tate at [email protected]