Concert Review—

Tone, Technique And Passion

By June April

Superlatives can only describe the performance given by the violist Nokuthula Ngwenyama and the pianist Melvin Chen last Sunday at Edmond Town Hall. Both of these multi-talented young people are already recognized for their outstanding musical abilities, and their careers are just starting out.

From the opening measure of Haydn’s Divertimento in D Major on October 31, it was obvious that tone, technique and passion were of a superior level. This was more than affirmed by the pair’s brilliant interpretation of Bach’s Partitia No. 2 in G minor (BWV 1004). The level of mastery can be heard next year when it will be recorded on compact disc for the Helicon label.

When Ms Ngwenyama was 15 years old and a student at the prestigious Colburn School for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles, the great violinist and humanitarian Isaac Stern came to visit there. After hearing her solo work while listening to some chamber music, Mr Stern requested that the gifted teenager meet him and play further for him.

“I played for him and he was very warm and encouraging,” Miss Nokuthula noted. “He suggested that I form a quartet to help hone my skills.”

Very self-critical, the now-23-year old violist admits to being “a little bit relentless with herself.” Her two-to-three hour daily practice sessions mean pulling out challenging segments of a work she is performing, and doing them repeatedly, rather than merely playing through the entire piece.

“I try to balance the emotional with the analytical aspects of a musical composition,” she explained.

Add to this already unbelievable schedule (the musician is also currently a Harvard student), her role as a teacher twice a week, plus some time made for tennis or rollerblading, one must sit back in total awe of this exceptional and very pleasant woman.

“I always loved music,” Ms Ngwenyama explained, “and I realized when I was four years old that was what I wanted to be.”

Since receiving his PhD in chemistry from Harvard, Dr Melvin Chen leads a triple life: scientist, pianist and violinist. His keyboard skills as an accompanist are superb, both in the technical and emotional/balance demands of that role. He has performed in Asia, Canada and the United States.

While studying for a double masters degree (violin and piano) from Juilliard School of Music in Manhattan, he received the Jacob Javits Fellowship from the US Department of Education along with the William Petschek Piano Scholarship and the Ruth D. Rosenman Memorial Scholarship. Charming and funny, this young man is someone to enjoy, no matter where, or which instrument he is playing.

With some two dozen young people in attendance at the concert, and a full house (in spite of the Halloween antics and gorgeous fall weather), Newtown Friends of Music president Ellen Parrella acknowledged that efforts to draw audiences to the reasonable and outstanding series seems to be gaining in popularity and awareness from the public. It’s never a disappointment to experience the programs.