Chicago's Hidden Gems: Accomplished pianist doubles as U.S. Army National Guardsman
CHICAGO (CBS) – A Chicago man made it his life's mission to bring classical music to the masses.
He's an incredible concert pianist, but it might be hard to guess what other job he has. The combination makes Ian Gindes one of Chicago's Hidden Gems.
For the concert pianist, every note is a beauty to behold. His favorite composer is Sergie Rachmaninoff, who's known for work that's pretty complicated.
Reporter: "There's easier music to play Ian."
Gindes: "Yes. Yes, there is. I've always liked to challenge myself."
And that holds true in the other part of Gindes' story.
"Somebody would come up to me and say, 'Wait a minute, you're in the National Guard and you're a concert pianist? I don't get it,'" he said.
Musician Ian Gindes is also Army National Guard Officer Ian Gindes.
He said he joined in 2003 because he wanted to try something new.
"I have a lot of respect for first responders, what they do and how they protect people that can't protect themselves," he said. "That, along with the music, is all about giving back."
To Gindes, the combination is true harmony.
"Music, I think, is a lot about taking risk and a lot of the Army is a lot about taking risk and being in situations that are very difficult," he said.
And Gindes has seen his share of such situations.
"The Guard does a tremendous amount of work in the state of Illinois," he said. "We do flood details and stuff like that, obviously that happens a lot of that in Illinois."
He added, "We were definitely the COVID response. So when you saw the military folks at the hospitals, that was us."
Both his music and his public service take a lot of discipline.
"For classical music, you have to have muscle memory," Gindes said. "And there's a physical portion to it."
It also involves great concentration. The longest piece he's ever played was 47 minutes, all from memory with no sheet music.
Gindes began playing the piano when he was 7 years old with encouragement from his father, who was also one of his biggest fans.
"I was very blessed to be born in a family where we had a lot of music," he said. "My father was a pianist. He had a huge library of music."
His father also had a wish for his son.
"He said, 'You should play Carnegie Hall,'" Gindes said.
And Gindes did play at the historic music hall in New York City not long after his father's death.
"That was one of his dreams for me to do and I think ...I would say that maybe he was instrumental in working that out up there," he said.
Actually, Gindes played Carnegie Hall twice.
"I joke with everyone the hardest piece on that was the National Anthem that I played at the beginning," he said. "Because everyone knows the National Anthem. Rachmaninoff I can get away with sometimes, but the National Anthem, I'm not kidding, it's always tough."
For Gindes, performing and recording music is as melodic and as natural as breathing.
"It's a very intimate situation [where] you're basically putting your heart on your sleeve to an audience," My feeling toward this piece, can I convey that to you?"
Gindes practices at least four hours a day every day. To hear more of his music, check out his professional website and YouTube channel.
