In the imperial aura of the Grand Lobby of Marsa Malaz Kempinski, The Pearl-Doha, the tender little fingers of eight-year-old William McChesney chased the ivories with the proficiency of a seasoned pianist, opening a concert with the symphonic flourishes of Bach’s Prelude in D Minor and Beethoven’s Sonata No.20 G Major, Op.49 No.2.
The sheer quality and range of talent on display at the unique 90-minute concert, last week, featuring eight young and driven artistes was staggering, to say the least. With Marsa Malaz Kempinski, The Pearl-Doha and Moving Young Artists (MYA) having partnered “in order to create a pleasant platform to support local young talents in the pursuit of their musical dreams”, the hotel organised the concert in its Grand Lobby – the first of many such sessions, they assure us.
Founded by top musicians Sonja Park and Joris Laenen, MYA is an inspiring non-profit foundation that reaches out to sponsors, partners, organisations, peers and volunteers in Qatar “in order to create opportunities for music to be the motor for individual and collective change and exchange”.
Park told Community, “This concert was very special because first of all, it’s very personal. Previously, we had held seven concerts of MYA at the Paper Moon Doha, soon after which I gave birth. That meant that we took a year-long break from this project. This is the first concert since I gave my birth to my son Noah, and the show was fabulous.”
Park was all praise for the venue and the team that put it together. Park explained, “The magnificent setting at Marsa Malaz Kempinski, their amazing team that is so excited to work with us at MYA, and the children who gave it their all; this show went just as planned. In fact, from October onwards, we will have these concerts every month so as to provide a good platform for the 20 talented children at MYA, who otherwise, might not find a suitable platform to showcase their music skills.”
Park and Laenen, who founded MYA, maintain: “When we count our blessings, we always count music twice.” Understandably, MYA aspires to develop music education programmes for children, and also find, support and encourage local talent. In their words, it’s “out of the desire to inspire a deep love and knowledge of music within the Qatari community” that MYA kick-started a cultural development programme “to promote the transformative powers of music, the value of creativity through playing music, and an appreciation of cultural diversity.”
Park and Laenen said, “More than five years ago, music brought us to Qatar. Being professional musicians, we figured that wherever we go, we can make music happen. Music is indeed the guiding force in our lives and we believe it can be for others, too, and for anyone. In order to make that happen, we founded MYA, supported by a number of like-minded believers who wanted us to get into action. We engage others to share our vision and involve them to join our cause, which is bringing music to the people who don’t have access to it, guiding and supporting young local talent and developing campaigns where art and culture are tools of expressing one’s self or connecting to the other.”
Wissam Suleiman, General Manager of Marsa Malaz Kempinski, said, “Our hotel is extremely proud to partner with MYA and support the local arts scene and this noble cause through a series of events that embrace the positive qualities of music, bringing vibrant, young energy into our majestic lobby.”
The eight young, talented aspiring artistes from Doha, who put out a stellar show, are Hala al-Emadi (Qatar, piano), Mia Park Torchinsky (8, Korea/Russia/UK, piano), William McChesney (8, UK, piano), Nicole Ng (10, Singapore, piano), Tricia Ng (11, Singapore, violin), David Stankov (15, Hungary, French horn), Lizzie Dijkstra (17, South Africa, piano), and Ella Pyne (13, Ireland, piano).
In the programme overrun with beautiful Western Classical pieces, Nicole Ng (10) played R Schumann from the Album for the Young Op.68, No. 13, May, Sweet May; and C Debussy, from the suite Children’s Corner No.1, Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum; while Hala al-Emadi performed F Chopin’s Waltz in A Flat Major, Op.69, No.1 L’Adieu, and Prelude in E minor Op.28, No.4.