The Yorkton Arts Council is thrilled to bring you the next sparkling "Stars For Saskatchewan" concert: Prairie Debut presents "Fung-Chiu Piano Duo. One Piano/Four Hands" on Saturday, November 1 at 7:30 p.m. in the Anne Portnuff Theatre, Yorkton Regional High School.
With their captivating stage presence, the Fung-Chiu Duo, Janelle Fung and Philip Chiu, have quickly become one of Canada's premiere piano duos. Their stunning talent and ability breathe new life into orchestral masterpieces through their extraordinary arrangements for one piano, four hands; one hundred musicians of the orchestra become twenty fingers flying across the keyboard!
How did these two bright stars come into the same orbit? "I think right next to 'necessity' being the mother of invention, we find 'boredom'. In all honesty, Janelle and I were both studying at L'Université de Montreal, she having come via Paris, me via Toronto, and we were both itching to get some kind of project going. We had big, glamorous plans of starting a concert series in the city, and while researching our 'competition', we came across the Jeunesses Musicales website. Once we discovered they were auditioning artists and ensembles for tours, our concert series flew right out the window and we concocted a program of dueling solo pianists. The JMC committee agreed to tour us the following season, but (at the time) artistic director Jacques Marquis had the brilliant idea of seating us at the same piano instead. We weren't entirely convinced, but he clearly saw something we didn't. By the time we were on tour, we found ourselves comfortably sharing benches and keyboards." Philip explains.
How does the musical process begin? Philip told us how they begin. " We do a large chunk of the arrangements ourselves. Sometimes we will take an existing (excellent) arrangement and add elements of the orchestra that we think the piece absolutely can't do without. And then there are arrangements that just shouldn't be tampered with (i.e. Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue). Our first arrangement was Stravinsky's Firebird, a crazy project born of necessity (not boredom!). I was so determined to perform this piece that I loved so much, but had resigned myself to only ever listening to orchestras performing it. But Janelle encouraged us to take it on, so we grabbed some orchestra scores, a thick pad of staff paper, pencils, erasers, and maybe a beer or two (a glass of wine for Janelle) and we transcribed the final three movements of the 1919 Firebird Suite ourselves. It was exhausting and exhilarating! We haven't looked back since. Our next project was Prokofiev's sublime Romeo and Juliet... we tormented ourselves having to choose only a half an hour slice of all that incredible music. The process is entirely collaborative. We sit down next to each other and literally begin asking, "OK, eight lines of music going on... who's going to play what?"
So what are their favorite pieces of music to perform? Phil replied first. "Hooooo boy, this is always a tough question to answer. I am always jazzed up whenever we program Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. It's a piece that Janelle and I both came to know via the concerto version for piano and orchestra, something we'd thought about and prepared separately, but would now join together to present the whole thing on one piano! I have a blast performing this with Janelle." Long-time favorites make the list for Janelle. "I think my absolute favourites have been "The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires" by Astor Piazzolla, and "Petrushka" by Igor Stravinsky. I didn't know very much about Piazzolla, or tango, before we began working on the Four Seasons, so, nerd that I am, I spent a lot of time on YouTube watching and listening to tango and learning about Piazzolla's amazing life and work. It was so rewarding to immerse myself in a style that's quite different from classical! I've loved "Petrushka" since I was a little kid, and the opportunity to play it was such fun, especially because we rejiggered the transcription so that Phil, who was sitting closest to the audience, could narrate the story as we went along." she said.
Janelle and Philip have an excellent rapport together, as well as connecting with the audience effortlessly. Does this come easily to them? "In a word: yes. Perhaps a bit more easily for Phil, who is gifted with the gab and needs his mic taken away so that the crowd can disperse. We've realized that the best people to be on stage is ourselves, and that the audience always rewards us for showing up and being honest and open." Janelle commented.
It is obvious that these amazing musicians love their music, and love sharing it with the audience. Phil elaborates: "I love that I can do something I love for a crowd that loves it. I am a big fan of communication and I have yet to find a better medium for me than music." Adds Janelle, "Only connect!" That's the two-word epigraph of one of my favourite books, "Howards End" by E.M. Forster. For me, music and performing are all about connection. I love the cocoon that an audience and performers build during a concert - the crackling energy and the feeling that we're all creating something together."
Their wish for the audience is a simple one. "My hope is that audiences will come away feeling entertained, engaged, and inspired. I always feel energized and super-charged after even the most tiring performances, and I hope that audiences leave feeling the same way." says Phil, while Janelle concludes by saying, "I love it when audience members write to us after the concert and say, and "you know, I just can't get [something we played] out of my head I ran home and listened to a recording, and I've been singing it all day". My hope is that everybody, not just the people who write to us, experiences this! We play because we love music, and hopefully we share that love with everybody who comes to hear us."
Tickets for this dynamic piano duo are available at the Yorkton Arts Council, (306) 783-8722, on- line at www.ticketpro.ca, or at the door.
