News
Performance of a lifetime
Scott Wagar
05/21/2013
What do you get when you take a 1,450 pound grand piano, a chandler, five accompanists and one piano player? Well, one great concert headlined by one of the greatest piano players in America, Lorie Line out of Minneapolis.
Line was in Bottineau on Thursday evening playing to a large crowd at the Holwell Auditorium where thunderous applause filled the auditorium after each song. She played a variety of music from her 44 albums, but focused Thursday night’s concert on her latest album, “Come Together,” a tribute album to the Beatles.
For Line, the piano and music is a passion. She has been playing the piano since she was a child and continues it today due to her adoration for the instrument and the beautiful sounds that music brings to the world.
“I love what I do. I am one of the lucky few who get to do what I absolutely love to do. I don’t consider it work, I consider it my lifestyle,” Line said. “The piano is a fully orchestrated instrument. One does not rely on one other person to make a great sound, where as if you play with any other instrument you really don’t get that satisfaction of the full sound unless you play with an ensemble of people or another instrument. The piano is an orchestra instrument that plays all of the parts and it can sound like a full orchestra when you sit down and play it.”
Line was born in Phoenix, Ariz., grew up in Reno, Nev. and has spent her entire adult life in Minneapolis, Minn. She started playing at the age of five and was competing by age nine. Line went on to University of Reno where she earned her BA degree in piano performance and is classically trained in the instrument through the University of Minnesota.
She actually started her career in music serenading shoppers in Dayton’s in Minneapolis, which placed her piano career on a soundboard of greatness and longevity.
“That is how I kind of got discovered by Midwesterners, because it was a destination spot for shoppers who came to the twin cities. I was one of 18 pianists who played for Dayton’s,” Line said. “A lot of people would come up to me and ask me if I have a CD, and I didn’t, but I thought maybe I should try.
“Dayton’s ended up buying my CD from me so I became a vendor and pianist at the store. That was really neat and so successful we made a holiday album and Dayton’s bought it for all 62 of their stores and I was off and running because now it was being sold in North Dakota, South Dakota and everywhere there was a Dayton’s store.”
From there, Line started touring, doing three concerts a year in the midwest. Twenty-four years later, she now conducts 60 to 80 concerts a year and performs throughout the entire United States. Along with her 44 CDs, she also has published 39 song books.
Although she tours the entire nation, Line still loves spending time performing in the midwest, especially in the small rural towns of North Dakota.
“North Dakota and South Dakota is a very good place for me, and I have a lot of fans in North Dakota,” she said. “So, I go to the smaller towns because they really come out and support the show.”
After Thursday evening’s performance, there is no doubt the Lorie Line fans of the Bottineau area are already dreaming about the next time she will come back to perform for her fans once again in the Holwell.