Sometimes all it takes is asking to be put in the spotlight for it to happen.
That’s a lesson Milton Fernández has learned in his decades-long classical music career. His fingers glide across the keys of Tulsa Performing Arts Center’s Yamaha grand piano as he gives it a test run ahead of his upcoming Brown Bag It concert.
As he plays a song, his eyes close and reopen. When he’s finished, Fernández takes a deep breath, then smiles. For a few moments it’s easy to imagine him playing on the stage and not where he actually sits — at the end of a PAC hallway, with people passing by to exit through doors that lead to Williams Green.
Fernández will play a free concert in the PAC’s Westby Pavilion beginning at 12:10 p.m. March 4. The Dominican pianist said he hopes the lunchtime performance will create a nice musical interlude during a busy, hectic day. His goal is for attendees “to feel connected, to feel welcome, to experience joy and any other feelings they want to experience through music.”
“Music is just so empowering and regenerative, so it just makes your day,” Fernández said. “Somebody who has experienced that nine-to-five thing, it’s very important to just kind of disconnect. Art is just so good in that it puts you into another orbit, on to another planet, in which you are more in contact with feelings, contact with more narratives, and it just makes you more whole and plucks you in a different way to go back to your normal life.”
There are some who write off classical music as old-fashioned. Fernández works to change that mindset, inviting those who feel that way to come hear what he has to play.
“Part of my life as an artist has been debunking that myth that classical music is not for everybody, and I think that’s such a mistake,” Fernández said. “That’s not true. Classical music is only called ‘classical music’ because somebody a long time ago decided to say that, and that’s just nonsense.”
Fernández is new to town, arriving from North Carolina with his wife Sarah in May 2025. Shortly after making the move through the Tulsa Remote program, the married couple took part in a downtown tour where Fernández saw the PAC for the first time and was instantly drawn to the giant tan block building at 110 E. 2nd St.
“I was like, ‘that’s a big boy here. I want to perform there,’” he said. “I remember emailing them thinking it’s probably a long shot, and it was very surprising, ‘Yes!’ I was like, ‘Oh my god, the people in Tulsa are so nice. They’re so welcoming. They want everybody to come and listen.’”
The Fernándezes are also guiding the next generation of musicians at their recently opened Nuance Music Studio, 7181 S. Braden Ave., in southeast Tulsa. It’s an extension of his family’s music academy in the Dominican Republic that dates back 40 years.
At Nuance, students of any age can learn how to do piano, violin, voice and guitar. They also offer kindermusik lessons for kids ranging from newborns to six years old.
“We prepare you with the tools to be as best (a) musician as you can be,” Fernández said. “If you want to just play for fun, that’s OK. That’s what everyone should do, but you’re going to have a very solid technique and very solid repertoire to do that. If you want to go to pre-college level, or college level, we can do that too. Whether you want to do classical, you want to do jazz, or you want to play Lady Gaga, you can do that.”
Fernández said he was quickly accepted by many in Tulsa’s arts community and feels very lucky to be surrounded by so many talented people in his daily life.
“I am overwhelmed by how much talent there is in this city and how sometimes they’re not seen,” Fernández said. “So I love when places like Tulsa PAC are offering these opportunities for talent just to exhibit what they have.”
Sometimes all you have to do is ask.
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