I simply cannot ignore this concert even if it happened last month. One basic threat to concerts, theatre performances and so on here in Malta is the simple fact that far too much entertainment of all kinds is available. There is so much happening and it is all no more than half an hour's drive from home. So apart from a literary conscience - all those books I continue to purchase or have inherited but half of which remain unread - I have also acquired a conscience for all those events I cannot help missing: events at the Italian Cultural Institute for example; events at the Eden Cinemas who even brought out a barefoot pianist; all those plays, operas, ballet at St James and the Eden, although I did enjoy Bizet's Il Pescatore di Perle transmitted directly from the Met recently and earlier some lovely ballet performances from the Royal Opera House at the Eden Cinemas.
For example our Philharmonic Orchestra alone has some 70 performances this year. Just attending those would be culture enough and the thought of all that parking to be found in itself leaves me breathless. I have to say that my favourite are concerts which involve the piano. Perhaps this is because having spent many years trying to bridge the chasm between me and Chopin I understand what it takes to play this instrument properly. I was put on a revolving piano stool at the age of three years. Miss Dolly used to come home to give me lessons as my legs dangled and swung and she would put her hand on my thigh to keep them still. Nowadays she would probably be hauled before some magistrate for child molesting such is the nature of our decadent society. I also have happy childhood memories of my mother sitting at our upright and playing until my father returned home from work and so to tea and jam tarts. In fact, such was my mother's respect for music, that she made sure that my three sisters and myself went to piano and theory lessons. When we had a piano exam she would put a couple of Holy Pictures and medals in our Peter Pan (who remembers wearing them?). One year I had found it very hard to explain to an examiner what it was I was running after, terrified of eternal damnation if I lost it, when, during one exam, a medal of Our Lady escaped and rolled at the feet of this stern-looking gentleman.
But enough autobiography and onto the concert.
The Turkish embassy has been very good to us. Last year it brought us a number of excellent events, including a gifted pianist.
The 'reign' of the new ambassador H.E. Reha Keskintepe augurs well. His wife, Martina, is a tall, slim German blonde. They make a lovely couple. Prior to his posting to Malta His Excellency served as Turkish ambassador to Australia (2012-2015) and before that as Director General for Research and Security Affairs (2010-2012). At the same time he was Director General for Bilateral Political Affairs (2009-2010) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ankara where he has also held a range of positions. His Excellency was appointed as Turkey's Ambassador to Finland during 2005-2009 and as a career diplomat with extensive experience, has served as Minister-Counsellor in Beijing (1999-2001); as First Counsellor at the Turkish Permanent Mission to the UN Office in Geneva; as Counsellor in Moscow, as First Secretary in Washington and as Second Secretary in New Delhi. Much travelled I hope he will not find Malta too tiny.
His personal interests include collecting vintage postcards of Istanbul which have been displayed in ten countries worldwide and will be exhibited in Malta too.
Gülsin Onay, one could immediately discern, is an experienced pianist . She, in fact, was just six-years-old when she gave her first concert, broadcast on Istanbul Radio. After some studies in Turkey she was sent to France at the age of twelve under the Turkish "Law for Children With Exceptional Talents". There she studied at the Paris Conservatoire with many distinguished pedagogues including Nadia Boulanger who also taught luminaries such as Aaron Copland, Philip Glass, Daniel Barenboim and that interpreter of Chopin Idil Biret, another eminent Turkish pianist. By the age of 16 Ms Onay had graduated from the Conservatoire with the highest honours in all subjects and was awarded the prestigious Premier Prix de Piano. She continued studying and winning prizes which launched her onto a truly international career. Ms Onay has performed in the major musical centres of over 55 countries across all continents.
That evening at the Manoel Theatre we were in the presence of a truly distinguished performer who holds the title of Turkish State Artist and who has been named Goodwill Ambassador by UNICEF.
I immediately sensed, as soon as she came on stage, that she is a seasoned pianist with much study and experience behind her. She is at ease. She played J.S. Bach's Partita No 1 in B flat major. She wears her elegance and erudition lightly and her playing is the product of experience and a vital musical imagination. My favourite in that evening's programme was Beethovan's Waldstein, his Sonata in C major. To my mind not as beautiful as the Moonlight, Pathétique or Appassionata when it comes to sonatas, but it is a close fourth.
Beethovan, the genius who wrote the most famous four notes in the history of classical music (the 'da-da-da DAAAAAH' at the start of Symphony No 5.
There is power in Ms Onay's playing; she is reassuring and the audience instinctively gathers that she is in charge and knows exactly what she is doing. She has a natural gravity which compels attention; then there is also clarity of articulation. Her allegros are sparkling, Her manner is strong and direct. Whether in fast music or slow she conveys the feeling of ready communication. She also played Chopin's Ballade No 3 in A flat major and Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's Variations sérieuses Op 54.
Ms Onay has championed the music of contemporary Turkish composer A. Adnan Saygun (1907-1991) whose music features in many of her programmes and recordings. He dedicated to her his 2nd Piano Concerto. That evening she played a delightful Sonatine Op 15 by him.
I have a recording of hers playing Tchaikovsky's No 1 and Rachmaninov's No 3 with the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, a treat to have both of them on the same CD.
I met her at the after-concert reception where I also met for the first time the Ambassador to Turkey and his wife Martina. This concert was a most enjoyable interlude and a change from our highly politically- charged ambience. Music, food for the soul indeed.