Just had another concert last month. It was held at Walter Hall at U of T’s Faculty of Music. I performed following solo piano works: Chopin: 4th Ballade Ravel: La Valse Mendelssohn: Variations Serieuses Op 54 Ginastera: Danza Argentinas and also accompanied some vocal works (sung by Barba[...]
Archive for the ‘Performance Journal’ Category
April 17th, 2009 - 9:12 pm § in Performance Journal, View all journals ...
Nov 20, 09 - Recital Benefiting Oxfam Canada
Boston International Piano Competition
Just came back from competing in the Boston International Piano Competition (for non-professional musicians), organized by Boston Piano Amateurs Association. I was awarded 2nd prize: 1st prize Vincent Schmithorst 2nd prize (tie) Ricker Choi,…….Abel Sanchez-Aguilera 3rd prize no award [...]
June 20th, 2008 - 10:23 am § in Performance Journal, View all journals ...
June 20, 2008 - Sunnybrook Hospital
The Royal Conservatory of Music has kindly organized a recital for seniors at the Sunnybrook Hospital, which I was fortunate to be part of. I performed Beethoven Op 109 (3rd Mvmt) and Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz #1 to about 50 people. Originally I was very worried about performing dramatic and [...]
Preparing for Oct 18 - My Epic Struggle!
The concert featured a jazz trio, classical vocal works, and piano solo of classical repertoire. I performed Alexina Louie’s Fastforward, selections from Scriabin’s Preludes Op 11, and Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz No. 1. . My epic struggle Preparing for the Oct 18 performance was a str[...]
March 28th, 2008 - 4:43 pm § in About Ricker, Performance Journal, Stage Fright, View all journals ...
7 Lessons Learnt-Washington International Piano Artists Competition
I competed in the 2008 Washington International Piano Artists Competition, and was awarded 3rd Prize, the Press Jury Award, and Best Performance of a Romantic Work Award. It was an amazingly intense and nerve wrecking experience. Being my first time competing in this type of competition and highly [...]
I Can’t Hear Myself at Markham Theatre!
Tonight I performed at Markham Theatre. Even though tonight was my 3rd time performing there, I still couldn’t adjust to its acoustics. I still recall my 1st performance at Markham Theatre was in 1992, in which I played Liszt’s Rigoletto Paraphrase and Prokofiev Sonata No. 3. I still rem[...]
November 28th, 2007 - 2:20 pm § in Performance Journal, View all journals ...
It sounds so strange! How can it sound good to you?
First time I performed at Willowdale United Church, a music critic friend kindly gave me a very honest, and um… unkindly feedback: Your playing sounds messy, I can’t hear the melody, and it is very unmusical! I knew I got something to work on! In my next concert, my piano teacher, Boris [...]
November 28th, 2007 - 1:21 pm § in Performance Journal, View all journals ...
Conquering Markham Theatre!
Coming Sunday I shall be performing in Markham Theatre for a local music festival. I performed there last year and I gave a disastrous performance! The piano was a Petrof piano, whose keys felt much heavier but shallower than Steinway or Yamaha. The technician overheard my comment, and adjusted the [...]
November 3rd, 2007 - 3:57 pm § in Performance Journal, View all journals ...
It is marked “piano”! Shouldn’t I play ’softly’?
A common complains I hear: Ricker, I can’t hear your melody! It is not projecting! After 2 years of struggle, I finally realize that dynamics markings on a music score has nothing to do with volume! Andre Laplante has a good way of putting it: Think “piano” as your normal singing v[...]
November 3rd, 2007 - 8:34 am § in Performance Journal, View all journals ...
Nov 03, 2007 - Music Heals!: Oxfam Charity Concert
We had a great concert at Willowdale United Church. Thomas Yu, Elina Kelebeev, Leonard Gilbert, and myself performed in front of an enthusiastic audience. The program contained works by Liszt, Chopin, Beethoven, and Prokofiev. In here you can read the biographies of the performers. Poster Pictu[...]
