Musicians define success in many ways. For Christopher Guerriero, musical success is about improvement as he underscored this perpetual state to be the “cornerstone of art.”

On Monday, Sept. 16, Guerriero hosted a lecture recital in the Fresno City College Recital Hall which focused on the first twelve Chopin etudes. At the event, Guerriero displayed what has resulted from years of accumulated experience in stage performance and education.

Guerriero is an American pianist, born in Los Angeles, Calif. Some of his notable appearances include performances with the Fresno Philharmonic, Honolulu and Santa Cruz Symphonies, Aspen Music Festival and the Senate Chambers in Washington, D.C.

Before he even laid his hands on the Steinway grand piano, or the “Ferrari” of pianos as he called it, Guerriero taught the audience about the Polish composer Frederic Chopin who “crystallized the etude as specifically challenging.”

It was a crucial purpose of his lecture to highlight the inspirational point for Chopin, whose work still permeates the Classical arts, and to convey the evolution of his etudes as they became progressively more complex and refined through time.

His role in music is to be a “gatekeeper,” he said. And the value of this role is captured through the preservation of the Classics, i.e. upholding its “musical standards.”

“I felt like I had to help the tradition of great art and piano music to continue on,” he said.

Guerriero played a series of etudes from Chopin’s Opus 10. He played them with emotional vibrancy as he swayed his head and struck the keys according to the attitude of each etude.

“He has a really lyrical style of playing, kind of poetic … coupled with a really fine technique,” said Olga Quercia, instructor and head of Piano Studies at FCC.

In his mid-twenties, Guerriero’s endeavor in musical career and education began after a conscious decision to commit his life to the arts.

He spent eight years as an undergraduate at both the University of California, Berkeley, and as a transfer student at Utah State University.

Unlike some college students who “hit the ground running,” Guerriero was explorative and it took him three years to declare his major in music.

“The personal challenge is really just deciding to do it,” he said.

It was not until he became a student at California State University, Fresno, in pursuit of a master’s degree that he reached a pivotal point of having “uplifting experiences” that reflected his love and commitment to music.

As his most recent pursuit, Guerriero is midway through a doctorate program in musical arts at the University of Southern California while teaching at a private school in Los Angeles.

Attendants were composed of music appreciation students, music majors, staff, colleagues of Guerriero at Fresno State, and some residents of the Fresno community with their children. Larry Honda, instructor and Department Chair of the music department, said that the event had a good turn out.

His live performance created an invaluable experience for everyone in the hall with him that afternoon.

According to Quercia, “the piano is best heard live.”