MORE THAN JUST MUSIC IN SANT CARLES

 

PRESS RELEASE IN IBIZA, SPAIN DURING THE 20TH IBIZA INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2013.
7 September 2013

 

Rough Translation of article:
“More than just music in Sant Carles”
From Singapore to Ibiza

DISTANCE does not seem to be an impediment to some of the Contestants that came to Sant Carles. Clarence Lee, 22 years old comes with his mother from Singapore.

Clarence mentioned that he has heard about Ibiza before and was told that Ibiza was a beautiful Island with very nice people. Apart from that, his teacher, Dr. Thomas Hecht was also a member of the jury before in the past edition of the competition.

Clarence had the courage to play a Spanish piece by Albeniz in Spain and moments before he went on stage, he admitted that he was a little bit nervous not knowing whether he could capture the Spanish essence.

For Lee, music was much more than words and for that reason, he thinks that it is his obligation as a pianist to awake and caress the public’s feelings.

It is not an easy task as the piano is a very complex instrument and you have to know how to make it talk with a voice that would better transmit the message that you want to send to your listeners.

Lee has some advantage in this process of understanding the instrument because his development was interrupted for 2 years to serve National Service. During this period, he learnt to appreciate the little things of each piece. In the years of his military service, he has grown up a lot because of the suffering he went through during this period. Music was his way of relief from the difficult times and he started to look at the little details of the pieces from the great composers of the music as each note counts.

This young man reviews his theory that “if the composer invested his time to write each note, then each note has its relevance.” and hence he tries to understand the composer’s intentions and interpret their pieces with the highest respect possible.