Friday, October 8, 2010

EUGENE IN CONCERT






In early August this year, Eugene Pook (the Music Director of Kinta Valley Wind Orchestra) went on a Malaysian concert tour in Penang, Ipoh and Petaling Jaya. The concert features Eugene himself on the clarinet, performing together with a guest musician from America, Dr Jeremy Samolesky, on the piano. A decision was made at the last minute to stage a small performance in Ipoh on Friday, 6 August 2010. This event was hosted by Ms. Daphne Chin, the Director of Creative Music Academy in Ipoh Garden East.

The concert was attended by about 100 people from all walks of life and it was a full house despite the venue being small. The VIPs that attended were the family members of Mr. Eugene Pook and Dato’ Dr Madhuri Majumder, a lifelong advocate of the performing arts.

The evening started well with combined pieces played by Eugene Pook and Jeremy Samolesky, featuring compositions from Debussy, Schumann, Paul Reade’s and a ‘Concerto’ by an American Jazz composer Aaron Copland. Eugene gave a polished performance on the clarinet and equally so was Jeremy on the piano. The piece from Paul Reade ‘Victorian Kitchen Garden Suite’ was especially delightful. This enchanting suite was selected specially to be performed on the clarinet and piano. Eugene and Jeremy were the perfect duo and were clearly two Maestros at work. Well done!

Before the end of the concert, guest performer Dr. Jeremy Samolesky introduced his solo piece, engaging the audience with a lecture recital of the musical composition from Franz Liszt - St Francis: Walking on the Water. His mastery of the piece was evident when he played this most powerful composition to perfection, earning him a big round of applause from the audience who clearly showed their appreciation for a magnificent performance.

The evening ended well with an encore, Flights of the Bumble Bees, played by both Eugene on the clarinet and Jeremy as the accompanying pianist. The final performance was a tribute to how music in its smallest measure can be achieved with love.

As lovers of music, we look forward to the next recital!

”Music is the expression of the movement of the waters, the play of curves described by changing breezes”

Archille-Claude Debussy ~ 1862-1918

Written by: Sara Fernandez

1 comment:

char said...

Interesting. Sounds like a great musical treat! And a very well written article too by the way.