Smart move! SOPA has the piano already, and it does indeed await its place in the special Performing Arts Center, as so aptly demonstrated by a stunning recital in Stanley Hall last Wednesday night.

The benefit concert (It raised $2,752 in donations!) for Supporters of the Performing Arts was billed as one showcasing the Steinway. The varied program put together by Mia Marletto, who has a music studio in the Denver area, and Chris Wood, SOPA’s Capital Campaign Coordinator, was a marvelous example of why we need such a center. The program’s star was really Kevin Ahfat, who, at 15 years old, is off to a fantastic start for a career as a professional pianist if he wants it. He really demonstrated the color and tonal variety that a Steinway is noted for. Kevin played the bulk of the program and did so very professionally, for all his young years. From Chopin to Liszt, with Ravel, Haydn, Brahms and Prokofiev in between, he exhibited a remarkable artistic maturity. His phrases were well articulated and nuanced. The dynamic contrasts were poignant and dramatic, and each piece, played from the heart, moved toward and away from its peak clearly. That’s the result of long hours of practice and hard work understanding and memorizing the music. That’s the sort of stuff which keeps you on the edge of your chair and gets your full attention, in case you didn’t know! It’s also the sort of thing that shows what a fine piano can do for one who knows how to make it happen. Kevin presently studies with Dr. Lei Weng of the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley.

Kevin may have been the star, but he was in good company with Ted Homan and Nancy Lloyd-Thompson, who performed a masterful clarinet and piano sonata by Poulenc. (Ted teaches clarinet in Mia’s studio.) Singers Maggie Manire, Soprano, and Brionne Wright, Mezzo Soprano, showed, with equal artistry, entirely different kinds of skill and poise with an arietta from Romeo and Juliet by Gounod and a torchy blues song, ‘Round Midnight, by Thelonius Monk, respectively. Two rousing, up-to-tempo duets from Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, rounded out the selections. Anitra’s Dance and In the Hall of the Mountain King were performed just the way you want to hear them, with lots of energy and vitality.

Whew! If this concert is any indicator of the artistry available to us, just think what a Performing Arts Center will bring forth. As young Kevin himself put it:

“Estes Park definitely needs a performing arts center! Great music, whether it be orchestras, choirs, bands, operas, ballets, or musicals, is so essential to any community, and it provides many opportunities for aspiring performers as well as enjoyment for people who come to watch and enjoy what the town has to offer...A lot of people who already enjoy the environment and activities of Estes Park will definitely welcome a new center where they can enjoy a concert, play, or any other performance…Having a place for the performing arts in Estes Park would be ideal for the benefit of the community and it would attract many performers who would come to perform in such a great town!”

Thank you, Kevin. You are as expressive with language as you are with the piano!