In the center of Foellinger Great Hall in Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, surrounded by her audience, Assistant Professor Marie Charpagne of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, performed Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor.  

A virtuosic amateur, she played piano at a professional level. Her hands jumped across the keys to create music that bounced in a call and response with the orchestra. Alongside light-brown wood walls which have given host to Grammy Award-winning Chicago Symphony Orchestra recordings, Charpagne’s sound filled the air.  

The program started at 7:30 p.m. on March 11, 2026. 

In the morning, Charpagne taught her usually scheduled 400-level course on metals processing on the second floor of Sidney Lu Mechanical Engineering Building. It was fitting that she played with Illini Strings, a student orchestra of mostly non-music majors.  

“It was really cool,” said London Maxwell, Illini Strings violist and junior in Illinois Grainger Engineering.

 Maxwell sat near the front of the orchestra, close to the piano. 

“She is so talented and clearly has spent so much time practicing, and it was me being up here as well because we could kind of make eye contact with her,” she added.  

Success Through Changing States 

Students look up to Charpagne as a high-level musician, but in the classroom, she is simply their professor.

In a recent class, Charpagne talked about the importance of certain properties of precipitates that influence substantial strengthening in alloys. Students were scribbling handwritten notes. 

The properties she discussed concern the strengthening of alloys as a result of changes from one physical state to another. They are not concepts most people would immediately recognize, but Charpagne’s class requires a chain of six prerequisites and at least seven other classes that must have been taken before or at the same time as those prerequisites.  

Still, the idea of changing from one physical state to another is a metaphor for how Charpagne handles her dual role as professor and pianist.  

Charpagne became curious about the piano when she was 12 and started lessons soon after. 

“When I was 15, I went for the first time to a classical piano recital, and I completely fell in love with playing as a solo pianist,” she said. “It was really inspiring. The concert was full Chopin, very virtuosic pieces. It just ignited something within me, and I did my best to improve, practice, always be on top, and it's been a passion ever since.” 

Born in France, Charpagne entered and graduated from Saint-Etienne’s conservatory of music. She took courses on theory and instrumentation, practicing three hours a day, every day. 

She graduated from high school, following these programs throughout. 

In college, Charpagne was close to a theoretic maximum for the work she could do. She studied energy, materials and processing for one master’s degree and materials and mechanics for another at Mines Saint-Étienne. All the while, she kept studying music. 

Engineering was from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Music was from 6 to 9 p.m. She went to bed at 1 a.m. and woke up five hours later. She took micro-naps to make it through the day. 

“These were really long days,” said Charpagne. “I don’t need to sleep very long. Time management is very important. And I did all of that up until my master’s degree. So that was an intense lifestyle, but that’s how I like living my life.” 

In her first year as an engineering student, she discovered her love for materials science looking through a microscope. Fascinated by what she saw, she went to the lab and prepared metals to see how they were made. 

Charpagne played in concerts and competitions. She won a couple of them – awards in San Diego and Paris – but it took a lot of energy. 

“I actually stopped playing for two years when I joined the U. of I.,” Charpagne said. “Because I started this tenure track contract, and it was very intense. I was working probably over 80 hours every week. When you get back home after a very intense day of work, you don't really have the mental power to practice. So, it was sad years in the sense that I didn't feel complete. I didn't really feel myself anymore.” 

She created the Charpagne research group at the University in 2021, a group with the goal to “design and synthesize new alloys that self-adapt to extreme environments via dynamic transformations, leading to superior performance.” 

Charpagne published papers and found funding. She taught her first students and started playing piano again only recently. She recently met Rebecca MacLeod, professor in LAS and director of orchestras, including Illini Strings. A violinist by training, MacLeod was curious about music and engineering. Charpagne was interested in engineering and music.  

They talked for hours. 

“And then at some point, I asked whether she would be inclined to invite or have guest faculty musicians with the orchestra. And she was on board. I pitched the Beethoven concerto. I found a transcription for strings,” Charpagne said. 

That was in January. 

“It was interesting,” she said. “I had trained this concerto 14 times before, so that was the 15th time. But the last time I played it, it was 12 years ago. And I was a little bit nervous to have lost some ability, mental ability more than anything else, really, to memorize and remember this concerto.” 

She practiced three hours a day, every day, rehearsing backstage with Illini Strings in the KCPA basement. 

“I feel like it was pretty cool getting to work with someone that’s so far above my level,” said Lauren Ruan, junior in engineering and violist with Illini Strings. “You don’t get the opportunity to play with a world-class pianist very often.” 

Charpagne finished the performance in Foellinger Great Hall and bowed before leaving as the crowd and orchestra applauded her. She returned onstage when the ovation continued. 

“My mind didn't wander anywhere, and I was very much into every single note,” she said. “I was present. I felt like I was present with the orchestra. On the stage, there were students that are mostly music minors, actually. And that's something that I want to advocate for, that students should feel empowered so that they can continue music as a minor. If I can do it, at my age, and being faculty, they also can continue. So I hope it inspires them to join some orchestra or continue playing. Because music is a beautiful, beautiful art.” 

It was a rare opportunity and an immense performance. Charpagne thought it went fantastic. She was as complimentary of the orchestra as they were of her. Toward the end of her metals processing class, Charpagne paused and asked for questions about the day’s lecture. 

Her students were as silent as the audience during Charpagne’s performance. 

It was obvious she had taught them well. 

What’s Next for Charpagne

As she moves forward, Charpagne has concerts scheduled in Denver and in France. She will play in Germany, Hungary, Austria and Slovakia. She will perform on a cruise. She is working with Illinois Grainger Engineering and the School of Music to encourage students to pursue their diverse interdisciplinary interests. 

She works and practices at least three hours a day, every day. 

“You can play music in your head, you can think about music, but in the moment when you play, specifically for an audience, that will only exist once,” said Charpagne. “And you create this unique moment that everyone will enjoy from their own perspective, they might enjoy it in different ways, but it's really a unique art in that sense, that it only exists when you play. And it exists only once.” 

It exists only once, so Charpagne will keep playing.