Our future

May Li played a Wednesday lunchtime concert in the midst of the Eisteddfod being held at Wesley.  Given her history with the Eisteddfod, as well as her other recognitions (AmusA no less) I guess she felt quite comfortable.  It at this sort of age many of us have played Chopin waltzes, although my skills were nothing like this.  Bach, Mozart, Chopin and Miriam Hyde, a very different style from the others which were different enough in themselves, and all played from memory, capably, quickly.  These were not trivial pieces.  A Bach prelude and fugue with that glory that is a Bach fugue, a Mozart sonata and that Chopin waltz and the Miriam Hyde which was far more impressionistic, all rising and falling passages, busy in notes and dynamics, imaging Brownhill Creek in Spring.  May is still at school but playing with considerable maturity.  We can be happy that such musicians exist around us in Canberra, and let's hope it stays that way.

May Li (piano) performed  Bach, Mozart, Chopin and Miriam Hyde at Wesley.

Same not same

Wesley Music Centre is admirable in its support of young, upcoming musicians. Not sure how they afford it, but they maintain a string of Wesley Music Scholars and have done so for yonks, with graduates even working internationally. They also support local students appearing amongst the Wednesday lunchtime concerts that I record. This one was the return of Elena Nikulina's studio with four students, some of whom we have heard before. This was Oscar Wu playing de Falla and Bartok, Hannah Ni playing a Chopin Polonaise, May Li playing Glinka arr. Balakirev and Simon Wu playing Chaminade and Bartok. They all played capably and the concert was wonderfully satisfying. My unexpected new awareness for the afternoon was how a piano, in this case a fairly new Yamaha grand, was so different under different hands. To some degree it would be a function of the music, but May's tone was so delicate and endearing under her considered touch while Simon's was heavy and meaty. Preferences and styles come to mind, but the different presences of the same piano was obvious and unexpected. Just a lovely concert all round with a touch of learnings (to borrow an ugly neologism).

Students of Elena Nikulina, Oscar Wu, Hannah Ni, May Li and Simon Wu (piano) played at Wesley.