The biting chill and the lashing fury of an exceptionally cold Doha winter wind outside was tempered by the collective talents of 11 young musicians inside, their tender fingers conjuring impossible soundscapes that warmed everyone’s soul, piece after piece, note after note.
The regal aura of the Grand Lobby of Marsa Malaz Kempinski, The Pearl-Doha, once again lent the perfect setting for a soaring 90-minute show by Moving Young Artists (MYA), on Saturday evening. As has been the case with previous MYA shows, the top-notch quality and range of talent on display was impressive.
The show took off with India’s Dhanisa Khalil playing G Handel’s Gavotte on the guitar, followed by piano renditions by Singapore’s Nicole Ng of a Bach composition and Russia’s Sofia Vasilenko of Jazz Etude by M Dvorak. Nicole’s sister Tricia Ng performed another Back piece on violin, while Sri Lanka’s Shenaya Speldewinde took to guitar to play the Presley classic Falling in Love.
Qatar’s Hala al-Emadi performed Chopin, Bach and H Emadi compositions on piano, while Ireland’s Evan Pyne performed vocal renditions of Beethoven and Mozart pieces. Tricia brought out her violin once again to deliver a Mozart composition, while Egypt’s Ragwa Foudah performed Chopin. The vocals and guitars of South Africa’s Lizzie Dijkstra and Armenia-UK’s Narae took the audience through two interesting original compositions, while Indonesia’s Prama Yudhistva performed F Mendelssohn’s Spinning Song to close the show.
Well attended by dignitaries and music lovers alike, the concert featuring some of the brightest musical stars of Qatar held everybody in its thrall. In the end, MYA extended its special thanks to International Centre for Music (ICM) and the Qatar Music Academy (QMA) for the collaboration.
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”.
After the concert, Park told Community, “This concert was the 12th of the official Moving Young Artists concert series since its launch, apart from the various special concerts for Ajyal Youth Film Festival, British embassy, Korean embassy, and such. All along, there have been three children who never missed a concert to perform. However, unfortunately, my daughter Mia missed this concert due to her surgery; Singaporean sisters Tricia and Nicole have played all the concerts. And it’s hard to explain the kind of progress they have made. I am not saying that is only because of MYA concerts but because as a performing musician, you grow and learn the most on stage.”
Moreover, good education is the key to our children’s bright future, and healthy, happy and successful life, she pointed out. “Music education is extremely important within the sphere of overall education as learning an instrument offers tremendous benefits enabling successful results in academics, due to its positive effects on focus, concentration, and balancing of different emotions while also being an outlet for the same,” said Park.
“Over the past nine months, we have been able to bring in a very nice audience at this magnificent venue of Marsa Malaz Kempinski. The setting itself is magical and with all these inspiring young talents, we create pure magic. What keeps us going is being able to share the love and the gift of music which can touch and move people. I hope to inspire and enrich more lives through this mission, and I won’t stop!”
In the pipeline is a tie-up with Hamad Medical Corporation so that the children can go to the hospital and perform for the patients. Young violinist Tricia Ng, said, “It’s been such a great experience. It was fun as you get a chance to hear from players you have not heard before! This was truly enriching.”
As for MYA, Park and Laenen, who founded it, say: “When we count our blessings, we always count music twice.” That’s because 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.”