Imagine being submerged in a sea of symphony while seated in the plush environs of the Marsa Malaz Kempinski, The Pearl, thoroughly in the thrall of the melodies invoked by some exceptionally talented children of Qatar.
This charming piece of imagination is set to get real at the fourth Moving Young Artists (MYA) concert, featuring musically prolific children, on February 4, as Marsa Malaz Kempinski and Sonja Park, top concert pianist and co-founder of MYA, get together to bring the much-awaited gig at the Grand Lobby from 4:30pm to 6:30pm.
Founded by ace musicians Park and Joris Laenen, MYA is a non-profit foundation that reaches out to sponsors, partners, organisations, peers and volunteers in Qatar “in order to create opportunities for music to be the motor for individual and collective change and exchange”.
Park told Community, “Every MYA concert has been special for various reasons. The upcoming fourth edition will include fine talents from the International Centre for Music as well as the main performers who have been selected and participating in every single concert. A student of mine will be performing/singing her own composition as well. Moreover, we have a new talent, Evan Pyne, who spent three years in Vienna being part of the renowned ‘Vienna Boy’s Choir’ touring the whole world!”
About MYA, Park and Laenen say: “When we count our blessings, we always count music twice.” That’s because MYA, they say, aspires to develop music education programmes for children, and also find, support and encourage local talent. In their words, it’s “out of the desire to inspire a deep love and knowledge of music within the Qatari community”, that MYA kick-started a cultural development programme “to promote the transformative powers of music, the value of creativity through playing music, and an appreciation of cultural diversity.”
As for the children performing in the concert, in what way are such regular concerts and exposure to a live audience beneficial to them? “There is a huge difference between playing for yourself in your living room and performing for people on stage. It is a fact that playing musical instruments are highly beneficial for children and even for adults. It ignites all aspects of a child’s development – intellectual, social and emotional, motor, language, and overall literacy. Performing for an audience is thrilling and exciting but it’s also highly taxing, both physically and emotionally. At times, it can be a bit unnerving, too. However, all these young talents who have been performing at MYA concerts over the past two years have grown so much, overcome their fears, learned to love to share their musical talents with the audience, and developed their talents to another level. Performing at such concerts helps them be more confident, more focused, and manage their emotions, even in moments of crisis. I feel it matures their emotional world,” Park explained.
It was more than five years ago that music brought Park and Laenen to Qatar. “Being professional musicians, we figured that wherever we go, we can make music happen. Music is indeed the guiding force in our lives and we believe it can be for others too, for anyone. In order to make that happen, we founded MYA, supported by a number of like-minded believers who wanted us to get into action. We engage others to share our vision and involve them to join our cause: bringing music to the people who don’t have access to music, guiding and supporting young local talent and developing campaigns where art and culture are tools of expressing one’s self or connecting to the other,” they say.
When it comes to picking her favourite moments from the MYA concerts thus far, Park has a tough time. “I must admit that every single concert has been extremely special to me so far,” she said. “It has been an incredible journey for me to support and guide all these young talents as much as I could. I witnessed them growing from raw talents into aspiring, experienced and beautiful young musicians. It is a blessing to be able to witness this precious moments.”
Park wishes that she could do more for them. “I would love to find more talents and help them grow and share their work with everyone in this country to start with,” Park said. “I would love to inspire more children to learn music; to soothe, to heal, to help the ailing, the underprivileged, and the poor. We are always looking for opportunities and I hope more people will be interested in MYA and will join us. MYA is not merely a concert-conducting organisation but an organisation with much higher goals.”
The child prodigies at the first Moving Young Artists concert at the Marsa Malaz Kempinski, last May.
