Just because you don't win doesn't mean you don't give up
"I run a private piano teaching studio in East
Dulwich, South London and was sending my students far away to Croydon and
Bromley to take part in music festivals.
I don’t drive and it was always difficult for me to get to there so it
occurred to me that I should set up on my own festival. In 2012, I founded the Dulwich Music Festival
for my students, and for other local students and piano teachers. The festival
started as a small-scale once a year event but has now grown to around 5 events
a year and is part of the Federation of British and International Festivals.
The festival is an opportunity to feature most
keyboard instruments from piano to fortepiano to harpsichord, and we may
include the organ in the future. The
aims are to introduce young musicians to primarily historical instruments and
also to have competitive piano classes.
We encourage contemporary music which provides the young musicians with
the opportunity to meet the composers who wrote the music they’re playing. We’ve just had our
fifth annual piano competition this June and already have the date in the diary
for next year’s event at Dulwich College which will be adjudicated by James Kirby.
We also run the Broadwood Horniman Harpsichord
Competition which is the only harpsichord competition of its kind in the UK and
so there’s a lot of demand for it, with competitors coming from across Europe
for last year’s event.
Our newest event is the Clementi Junior Piano
Competition which had its inaugural event in March 2016. Whilst researching
local Dulwich history, I found a connection with Muzio Clementi’s former home
on Kensington Church Street which was previously owned by Dulwich Schools JAGs
and Alleyn’s School in the 19th century.
When I discovered this piece of local history I thought it was great
connection for the Dulwich Music Festival and I contacted Clementi House to
establish a new event. Competitors perform set pieces by Clementi on a modern
grand piano; the next competition is in February 2017 and entries are already
open.
Of course, not everyone wants to compete. I have colleagues who don’t enter their
students into competitions and there are also parents of some of my students who
do not want their children to participate in competitive events so we always
include non-competitive
classes. These provide the opportunity to receive
feedback and it’s also great preparation for exams as it helps to combat the
nerves by performing in public.
I personally don’t mind competitions; I
took part in competitions such as the Ealing Festival regularly as a child so I’m used to them
and consider them a rite of passage for young musicians. Being at ease with
playing to an audience developed my confidence with public speaking which is a
skill that I regularly use now when performing as a harpsichordist and also as
the festival director. I didn’t win any competitions but
I enjoyed the experience and also the excitement of performing - and it was a
fantastic way to hear new repertoire before the days of YouTube and Spotify! In
fact, the only time I remember “winning” is when I played in a class of two and
I came second! I was around 17 years
old. It didn’t put me off. Just
because you don’t win doesn’t mean you give up.
When I perform I love to play contemporary
music. Recently I performed music by the
Australian composer Stephen Yates. The
composition, written in the 1990s, is based on a Baroque Fandango. A wonderful aspect of performing contemporary
music is that you can get in touch with the composer and ask what was in their
mind when they were composing. This piece has a macabre character and goes into
some very dark places so I asked the composer all about it and he provided me
with fascinating information about the background to the piece. The music is
about someone who wandered into a castle on his travels where he stumbled upon
a crowd of people dancing at a ball. He is invited to dance in the fandango and
suddenly it turns sinister and the dancers start swirling around him and
drawing him into their ghoulish embrace.
I’ve also recently discovered the music of Greek composer Nikolas
Sideris that I performed at a recent harpsichord recital.
One of my other passions is the music of Haydn played
on the harpsichord. I am fortunate enough to have access to a Kirckman
harpsichord built in 1772 that resides at the Horniman Museum and Gardens where
I have performed several times. This instrument is ideal for the music of Haydn
and I have a lot of Haydn programmed for 2017 recitals.
I’m attracted by the repertoire and also by the
harpsichord community which is very welcoming and mutually supportive. And you tend to end up playing in amazing
places; beautiful old buildings always seem to surround the harpsichord
world. Not long ago I was in the Museu da Música in
Lisbon. To one side is the tube station and the other side is an amazing museum
underground. I went there just to try
the instrument but it ended up being an audition so I look forward to playing
there in the near future. Another
interesting place where I recently performed is The Asylum Chapel in Peckham. This is a Grade II listed building created
for retired pub landlords that was bombed in the war. Although the whole of the inside was destroyed
the stained glass windows stayed intact. The acoustics are wonderful and it
makes for some stunning photos. I had a
very diverse audience for this concert and all ages came as well, it was
fantastic, I think it’s what we call the South London effect!" (Lorraine Liyanage was speaking with Markson Pianos Composer in Residence Lola Perrin)
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To find out more about many of the events listed
above, please visit Dulwich Music Festival
Upcoming harpsichord recitals are listed online
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