Piano Peace (The After Concert Experience)

I wrote in the previous entry that my experience from the Piano Peace concert featuring Yaron Kohlberg and Bishara Harouni went beyond from just being a member of the audience. Looking back, I still find it amazing on how things turned out and I am extremely grateful that I was given this opportunity.

It was during the brief chat after the concert that I had with Filfest Executive Director Martin Lopez and Yaniv Revach, the Deputy Chief of Mission of the Israeli Embassy that I eventually ended up as being one of the page turners for the two pianists during the celebration of the 62 Anniversary of the State of Israel that was going to be held at the Hotel Intercon. Since they needed two page turners, I recommended my friend Charisse who agreed to do it when I told her about it.

Martin also invited me to drop by the Far Eastern University the day before the event since the pianists would be having an open rehearsal at the FEU Auditorium. I’ve never been to the FEU campus before but I told myself that there’s always a first time for everything. Besides, I was able to go to the Insular Theatre in Alabang so why not to the FEU Campus which is much nearer to my place. A few hours before the rehearsal, I was able to listen to Yaron and Bishara getting interviewed over at the radio station 98.7 DZFE so I was definitely pumped up to go to FEU.

As I’ve said, it was my first time to be inside the FEU campus and I was pleasantly surprised with what I saw. And I was also impressed by their auditorium where the rehearsal was held and I am very interested to go back and hear the sound from the different areas of the hall. One thing that threw me off a bit was that there was only one piano which meant that they wouldn’t be able to play the pieces that required two pianos. And those two pieces, the Shostakovich and the Milhaud which they played before, were the ones that needed the page turners. So for this rehearsal, they only played the Schubert piece for four hands and some of the solo pieces that they performed during the concert.

They appeared a lot more relaxed this time around since this was just a rehearsal but they were still able to impress the people who went there to see them. After playing, the two were kind enough to answer questions from the audience who were made up mostly of students and their answers impressed even Ms. Celine Pil whom I noticed was beaming throughout the rehearsal. Some even requested that they play certain pieces but Bishara said that he could’ve granted those requests if he had the music sheet but he was still able to manage to play a section of a Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, Op. 57 “Appassionata” from memory.

Pianist Bishara Harouni

Afterward, while confirming with Martin the details of the event for the next day, I was invited to have a snack with the pianists. And it was during this time that I started to see another side to them. And the fun time continued on when I was also able to join the two when they were toured briefly at Intramuros before heading over to the SM Mall of Asia for dinner. And then we had a game of bowling where I just embarrassed myself on how badly I play. Among with us were Martin, Carlo and a bunch of FEU students (Anna, Ces, Cholo, Mon, Nicole, and Tina) who were also the ushers from the concert over at Alabang. And I knew right then that these kids will be remembering this experience with fondness as well. It’s just a shame that none of them (except for the pianists, obviously) were able to make it the next day at the Hotel Intercon.

Pianist Yaron Kohlberg

I admit that I was nervous hours before the performance since the first piece to be played where I’d be page turning was the Shostakovich piece. I am familiar with it but I’ve never seen the score before and that made me nervous. But the Milhaud piece wasn’t a problem for me since I was already familiar with the score. Minutes before the performance, I was able to have a good look with the Shostakovich score so I was able to have a bit of preparation. Yaron joked that I looked very serious while going through the score and that actually calmed me down a bit.

I’m really glad that the other page turner is a good friend since I knew no one at the event and the pianists were also very busy with their preparations, getting interviewed by a television show covering the event and also entertaining guests. My friend was able to introduce me to Rabbi Azaria and because of him, she was a guest at the event even if I didn’t ask her to page turn. The Rabbi and I expressed our amazement on how my friend was my first and only choice and that we would all end up seeing each other at the event. I was also glad to see Mr. Ray Sison who supplied the pianos for the performance and he was quite surprised to see me as well.

Fortunately, the performance went very well and I am proud to say that I turned the pages a lot better than I bowled the previous night. I guess this happened because right before the pianists took to the stage, I told myself to stop being nervous and just be grateful that this was happening and most of all, to enjoy everything. So whenever I look back at the Piano Peace concert, I’d always remember it with wonder and amazement since it was more than just a concert to me.