All of our Y7 and Y8 pianists were treated to a masterclass from our Piano Music Fellow, international soloist and recording artist Katya Apekisheva on Wednesday 14 February.
Katya made her first visit to school last term when she spent the day with Upper School pianists. However, this time, the Prep School boys were also fortunate enough to benefit from her wealth of musical knowledge, experience and expertise.
Katya began the session by performing a Hungarian Rhapsody by Franz Liszt, a composer who, as she told the boys, was a pianist himself and produced some wonderfully showy pieces that were technically very difficult. The boys watched and listened attentively, astonished by the technical prowess of Katya’s playing. One mouthed silently to his friends, “Her fingers are so quick!”
After Katya’s astonishing performance, it was the boys’ turn to perform the pieces that they had prepared for the occasion.
First to play was Lucas Hill (Y8), who played Storm and Stress by Cornelius Gurlitt for Katya and his audience of peers. Katya commended his performance and encouraged Lucas to take a bow as he received an enthusiastic round of applause, as she explained that stage presence is an important part of the overall performance. She worked with Lucas on passages from the piece, giving him some tips about adding character by making subtle changes to mark out the call and response form and fine-tuning dynamics to add colour.
Lucas was followed by another five pianists, namely Ted Yeung, Hugo Morgan, Martin Sun, Zachary Wong and Maxi Wereszcynski. All the boys gave confident and engaging performances, treating the listeners to a wide variety of styles.
Katya shared expert performance advice about balancing the two hands, looking for patterns in the score to emphasise in order to bring more colour to the music and finding ways to bring out the melodies. She urged the boys to experiment with the sounds they produce by making small adjustments to the weight and shape of the fingers on the keys in order to find the specific colour that they wish to create.
Katya’s afternoon was spent in the Upper School, continuing her work with some of the boys that she had heard play during her first visit last November, to see how they were progressing and to offer her insights and encouragement.
Mrs Bantock, Head of Piano, said of the visit, “I was delighted by the attentive behaviour and quick responses of the year 7 and 8 pianists during the morning’s Performance Session with Katya and by the continued progress of the Upper School pianists and Chamber Groups during the afternoon lessons. It was such an inspiring day for the young pianists and an immense privilege for musicians at Bedford to work with a world-class performer.”
You can find out more about Katya Apekisheva and the rest of this year’s Music Fellows here.
