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World Class Junior Pianist

“The Piano Is Main Attraction” Concert A Great Success!

Yesterday’s concert in Monmouth University featuring Charlie, two other very talented kids and Norman Seldin, an accomplished Blues/RnR/Jazz musician was a great success! The audience absolutely loved it! They truly enjoyed the beautiful classical music performed by the young talents, and also the oldies n goodies plus some originals by the veteran Norman and his friend Vance.

In the first half, the 3 kids performed, the first was 13 yo Nicholas from Princeton. He played a repertoire with a nice variety of styles. Very composed performance and a great start. Then the 9-yo Taksh really mesmerized the crowd. I was in the back and saw people being incredulous with his playing. He performed 4 pieces, and had it all in the performances – technical skills, musicality and presentation. It was a superb performance.

Then came Charlie. He performed Beethoven Appassionata, Tchaikovsky October, and Liszt Mazeppa. In another musician’s words, he really “rocked the house with his Mazeppa”. Multiple musicians came up to us to compliment how great Charlie played. They said the Beethoven was great, but they really marveled at the Liszt, and just baffled at how Charlie was flying through those jumping octaves 🙂

Initially we heard that the audience would be mainly non-classical crowd, but clearly everyone loved the classical performances. Many came up to us to compliment Charlie’s playing, and some were lost with words, kept saying “oh my”. Multiple people bought Charlie’s CD, which we bought over. Thanks to everyone!

My favorite about the concert – and this is why Charlie’s starting Rescue Music Foundation and have young, talented kids giving more concerts – is when a kid came up to look at Charlie’s CDs. He turned to his father and said “I want to buy the CD”. His dad said: “Really? You have to play like that if you want to buy it”. He responded:”I WANT to play like him, that’s WHY I want to buy the CD”. And we all laughed, and his dad bought the CD. Very smart kid, and it’s great to see a kid inspired like that. And Charlie’s autograph to him was “Work hard and you’ll succeed!”. We hope that Charlie’s Foundation takes off and inspire a lot more kids with such concerts! The first one will be next month’s benefit solo recital Charlie will give – it will be raising money for his Foundation, then the Foundation will be able to sponsor concerts around NJ and elsewhere to inspire and help communities. Details now available here! Contact us if you’re interested in helping, donating, suggesting nonprofits (as donation recipient of a Rescue Music Concert) or seeing such concerts come to your town!

Thanks to Norman Seldin and Monmouth University for this great event!  The piano Norman arranged was gorgeous and the venue was beautiful. Everything about the concert was great!

For those who bought the CDs, we didn’t list the original classical pieces’ names in the CD as they’re a bit too long and we wanted to emphasize the moods of the pieces and how they accompany a person’s life rather than opus numbers. But here the detailed pieces if needed:

  1. Ave Maria, D. 839 “Prayers: A New Life Begins” – Schubert
  2. Keyboard Concerto No. 5 in F Minor, Bwv 1056: II. Largo “Bliss: The Tender Years” – Bach
  3. Prelude in D-Flat Major, Op. 28 No. 15 “Serenity: Love Weathers Storm” – Chopin
  4. Prelude in E Minor, Op. 28 No. 4 “Sorrow: Unexpected Heartbreak” – Chopin
  5. Oboe Concerto in D Minor, S. Z799: II. Adagio “Solitude: Forlorn Recovery” – Marcello (Bach transcription)
  6. Songs Without Words, Op. 30 No. 6 “Voyage: Lonely Trip to College” – Mendelssohn
  7. Prelude in C Major, Bwv 846 “Epiphany: Love at First Sight” – Bach
  8. Schwanengesang, D. 957 “Serenade”
  9. Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 13: II. Adagio Cantabile “Elation: The Wedding” – Beethoven
  10. Nocturne in E-Flat Major, Op. 9 No. 2 “Contentment: Happy Together” – Chopin
  11. The Seasons, Op. 37A No. 10 “Nostalgia: Retrospection in Golden Years” – Tchaikovsky
  12. Romance in E Minor, S. 196 “Romance: Endless Love” – Liszt
  13. Nocturne in C Minor, Op. 48 No. 1 “Charlliam Fantasy I” – Chopin (Watch Charlliam Fantasy I and Bloopers! You’ll love them)
  14. Grandes Études De Paganini, S. 141 No. 3 “Charlliam Fantasy II” – Liszt (animation in the work right now)
mingyiliu@yahoo.com Administrator

4 Comments

  • Norman Seldin May 7, 2017 // 7:38 pm

    All I can say is that the entire show was from every point amazing as the audience showed after every artist. Having Charlie and Tkash representing the studio of my long time friend Ingrid Clarfield was beyond fabulous and of course Nicholas Budny who is taught by the wonderful Marvin Blickenstaff put on a beautiful performance. My thoughts were to bring in for the first time in a concert, multiple young pianists of all ages performing classical selections and then mixing them with my solo/vocal New Orleans style and ultimately sending “Dueling Pianos” with my partner Vance Villastrigo on Billy Joel to New Orleans blues/rock combinations. It totally worked and having two 9′ Steinway & Sons Model D grands on stage together was awesome thanks to Bob Rinaldi of Jacobs Music who supplied the marvelous second Model D for my Stormin’ Norman performance. A totally professional sound and lighting crew made everything perfect with a special thanks to Vaune Peck who has been my close friend for over 40 years for taking the chance on “Where The Piano Is The Main Attraction” that totally thrilled the entire audience. Just waiting for Part 2!

    • mingyiliu@yahoo.com May 7, 2017 // 8:11 pm

      Thanks Norman for the great concert, and indeed thanks to Bob for the great pianos! Charlie said if you’d like to young classical pianists + blues again he’s game!

  • Weili May 7, 2017 // 9:19 pm

    WOW! Very accomplished! Congratulations! Sorry we had missed it because of conflicting with other commitment. Looking forward to hearing more exciting news from you. Thanks for sharing!

    • mingyiliu@yahoo.com May 7, 2017 // 10:00 pm

      Thanks! Hope to see you guys at the benefit solo recital on June 24! We’ll be sending out invitations soon.

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