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(Posted 6:30 a.m., March 28)
Young musicians
use GMC recital to prep for Kiwanis Music Festival
By Fred Sherwin
Orleans Online
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 Lindsay
White performs "Cruella de Vil" during the Gloucester Music Club
recital at the Orleans Client Service Centre on Friday night accompanied
on piano by Mimi Lam. Fred Sherwin/photo
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For the past
six years the Gloucester Music Teachers Association has been organizing
a series of recitals at the Orleans Client Service Centre theatre to give
their students and other budding musicians a chance to play in front of
a live audience.
For many of the
kids, some of whom are as young as six and seven years of age, the Gloucester
Music Club recitals play an important role in building up their confidence.
The recitals are doubly important at this time of year when many of the
young performers are preparing for the annual Kiwanis Music Festival which
takes place every spring in over a dozen venues across the city.
The interest
in the Festival is evident by the fact that over 60 youngsters applied to
play in this weekend's Gloucester Music Club recitals, the first of which
was held Friday night.
The lineup of
32 performers featured some familiar names as well as 10 newcomers who were
performing on the Orleans Theatre stage for the first time.
On of the newbies
was Erica Bergado from Orléans who performed "Fantasy Bossa" by
Christopher Norton. Listening to her play the bossa nova piece with an incredible
delicateness that belied her 13 years, it was had to believe that she was
trembling with nervousness before settling in behind the piano.
"I was a
little scared. It was my first time playing in front of an audience that
paid to be there so I was pretty nervous," said Bergado who will be
playing the Grade 7 piece at the Kiwanis Music Festival despite the fact
that she has only completed her Grade 5 Royal Conservatory of Music exam
and she'll be competing at the Music Festival for the first time. "I
hope I'll do well."
Friday night's
recital was kicked off by an impressive performance by seven-year-old Kevin
Yang, who performed a lengthy and near flawless rendition of Clementi's
"Sonatina in C+ Op. 36 No. 3".
While Yang had
one or two bobbles during his performance, he more than made up for the
miscues with moments of sheer brilliance. Like Bergado, Yang will also be
competing at the Kiwanis Music Festival.
His mother Tong
Jing says Kevin has been practicing about two hours a day in preparation
for his recital and the upcoming music festival. When he's not preparing
for his live performances or practicing for his Grade 5 RCM exam which he
will be taking this summer, young Master Yang will often flip through a
Grade 8 or 9 song book in search of a challenge.
There were a
number of highlights during the Friday night recital, including a vocal
performance by Lindsay White who was accompanied on piano by Gloucester
Music Club veteran and multiple Kiwanis Music Festival award recipient Mimi
Lam.
White's spirited
and campy rendition of "Cruella de Vil" was a real treat. After
performing in the "Pop Music" and "Musical Theatre"
categories at last year's Kiwanis Music Festival in which she finished first
in her class, the 12-year-old vocalist plans to stick to "Musical Theatre"
this year with the hope of earning an invitation to sing in the Highlights
Concert on May 15.
Judging by her
performance of Mozart's "Sonatina in C K309 3rd Mvt." on Friday
night, Naomi Ng should also impress the adjudicators at this year's Music
Festival.
The third movement
of Mozart's Sonatina is a challenging piece on its own, but when coupled
with the second movement which Ng plans to perform at the Music Festival,
it's even more so, especially when you consider that Ng has to perform the
piece completely by memory.
"I find
if I play the piece one note at a time, it's a lot easier than trying to
think about the entire thing," said Ng after wowing the audience with
her incredible dexterity and musicality.
What made Ng's
performance even more amazing is that fact that she doesn't have a regular
practice regimen. The gifted student has a heavy study load and she's also
active in drama.
"I sort
of practice whenever I can find the time," said Ng.
Among the many
other highlights on Friday night was Felix Lu's performance of "Milonga
del angel" by Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla; Aris Penny's beautiful
rendition of "Totems" by Edwin McLean; Grace Tang's performance
of "Fantasia in C+" by Telemann; Vanessa Tanner's rendition of
"Romance" by Reinhold Glière; and Amy Li's performance
of Clementi's "Sonatina in G+ Op. 36 No 2" which made the perfect
bookend to Kevin Yang's performance.
Among the other
performers on the program were Trisha Kandiah, Nicolas Cosenza, Jacqueline
Chau, Michael Mofina, Tiffany Hnatiw, Eric Kingsbury, Robyn Moke, Lauren
Kingsbury, Isabelle Filion, Sebastien Roy, Michelle Song, Joshua Kandiah,
Pamela Ng, Oliver Ng, Philip Chau, Charles Li, Alexandre Cosenza, Jonathan
Kandiah and Julia Lemieux. Isabelle Desjardins and Gabrielle Monette also
performed on the recorder.
A second recital
featuring 31 other young performers will be held at trhe Orleans Client
Service Centre theatre on Sunday night starting at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are
$4 per person or $10 for a family of four.
(This
story was made possible thanks to the generous support of our local
business partners.) Return
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