FOR IMMEDIATE PUBLICATION 19.10.2009
A MUSICAL WEEK TO REMEMBER AT SÃO LOURENÇO
Paul Crossley at the piano with Pedro Ferro, Rafael Azevedo and Olesya Kyba
Last week after months of planning the Amigos de Musica (the AMIGOS), generously sponsored by the Mundo Crastino Meliori (MCM) Foundation in conjunction with the Centro Cultural São Lourenço, finally embarked upon their ambitious piano Master Class series under the expert guidance of Maestro Paul Crossley, and no one could have foretold how worthwhile and spectacularly wonderful the adventure would turn out to be.
Seven aspiring young pianists had applied for the Master Classes which were given without charge. They were divided into two groups each lasting for three days and both would end with a public recital. The classes began on Monday morning and ran throughout the week and it was fascinating to hear the progress the students made as the Maestro gradually showed them how to polish and improve the pieces they had chosen to study. Paul Crossley has spent a distinguished career playing with most of the major orchestras of the world, recording more than fifty CDs, many of which have won major awards and carrying out Master Classes all over the world. Paul was honoured in the 1993 Queen’s Birthday Honours list when he received a CBE. Paul’s background and many achievements can be found on www.connaughtartists.com/artist_profiles/paul_crossley.htm
Who better then to pass on some of his wealth of skill and expertise to a younger generation?
In the first half of last Wednesday’s concert we heard Olesya Kyba aged 25 from Lisbon followed by Raphael Azevado aged 15 from Barreiro, both playing works by Ravel. In the second, Pedro Ferro gave us Ballade Op. 52 by Chopin and Carnival by Schumann. Pedro who is thirty and already a well established pianist told us that he has admired the work Paul Crossley since childhood, particularly his benchmark recordings of the Debussy Preludes. He played with renewed confidence, sweeping his attentive audience along with him. It was a wonderful concert, so good in fact that we began to wonder if we would be able to equal it three days later when the second group, as yet unheard, were due to play.
On Thursday morning work began in earnest. From Faro Conservatorium came Julia Azevedo, 14, and Alena Khmelinskaia, 18. From Evora came Claudia Silva, 23, a student of Pedro Burmester, and Antonio Cebola, 24, again from the University of Evora. Here was the challenge; would the Maestro be able to weave his magic on these young hopefuls to get them ready for a public concert by Saturday evening? The girls, although off to a shaky start had improved beyond recognition and would play Haydn, Schumann and Chopin in the first half. António Cebola, who had astonished us on the first day with his quiet modest charm and his well rehearsed chosen pieces, would fill the second.
The concert last Saturday night will remain in the memory of the capacity audience for a very long time, the second half especially when we were galvanised by a spectacular performance of two of the most difficult and challenging pieces of music ever written for solo piano. The Andante spianato et grande polonaise brilliante Op22 by Chopin and Gaspard de la Nuit by Ravel. To be equal to both of these stupendous works and to be able to pull them both off with such aplomb one after the other for the first time at a public concert shows a rare and prodigious ability. Moreover, whilst it easy to listen to the Chopin, the Ravel with its sparkling but sinister first movement, its mysterious and threatening second and its oh so dark and scary third, is not. The Cultural Centre audiences are always appreciative but on Saturday night Antonio Cebola held us completely under his spell. His ‘Gaspard’ was like a ride on a rollercoaster, swooping upwards and downwards, hanging on tight, dangerous but somehow irresistible.
It was
a wonderful week when seven aspiring young musicians from Portugal were able to reap the benefit and take encouragement from an acknowledged Master of the piano. They will remember it and
add it to their CVs for many years to come. The two concerts will be remembered by both the audience and the performers. And finally, it would be nice to think that in years to come we shall see Pedro Ferro
and António Cebola established and performing on an international platform and that the AMIGOS, the MCM Foundation and the Centro Cultural São Lourenço had provided a small but significant step along the way.
ABOUT
THE AMIGOS AND THE CULTURAL CENTER
The Cultural Center and the AMIGOS welcomes everybody to their concerts but reservations are essential. There are also some vacancies for new AMIGOS. See the AMIGOS website HYPERLINK “http://www.amigos-de-musica.org” www.amigos-de-musica.org for more details about the AMIGOS and forthcoming concerts. Please call Cristina at the Centro Cultural São Lourenço for more information and to make bookings at 289395475 (between 10.00am and 7.00pm except Mondays) or send an e-mail to HYPERLINK “mailto:ccsl@iol.pt” ccsl@iol.pt
PRESS RELEASE
CENTRO CULTURAL SÃO LOURENÇO (CULTURAL CENTER)
ASSOCIAÇÃO DE AMIGOS DE MÚSICA DE SÃO LOURENÇO (THE AMIGOS)
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BARRY SHAW, PRESIDENT, THE AMIGOS, RUA DE SÃ0 SEBASTIÃ0 4, 8100-070 BOLIQUEIME, PORTUGAL.
TEL/FAX: 351-289366617 CELL: 351-919739997 E-MAIL: HYPERLINK “mailto:info@amigos-de-musica.org” info@amigos-de-musica.org WEB: www.amigos-de-musica.org