Treasure of musical talents in Kuwait growing
Teji Wang wins Grand Prix of KMA ToT Festival 2017
KUWAIT CITY, May 23: Musical talent is found in every country or city, big or small and in Kuwait it has grown over the ages. Riding on the wave of decades of tradition 150 enthusiasts and professionals participated in the annual Festival of Youth Musicians, Treasure of Talents to entertain an audience of hundreds of music lovers. The 10-hour event, with short breaks, attracted the attention of the society and the media.
The festival can be traced to the post liberation era — the liberation of Kuwait from Iraq’s occupation. The first such ‘gathering’ was organized in the partly destroyed by war Sheraton Hotel. Most probably it was the first semi-public concert which was held in the just liberated Kuwait. Around thirty children and teenagers with their teachers performed for their parents and friends. The concert was dedicated to the Prisoners of War and to those whose fate was unknown.
One of the main reasons was to kill the post-war trauma, honor the victims and help the youth and the society to once again live a normal life.
The concert was attended by one of the members of the Royal Family, HE Sheikh Ahmed Al-Sabah, who later became the Minister of Finance.
One of performers as a composer and flutist — a very talented teenager, Sulaiman Al-Degan, who now holds the Doctorate of Music Art and one of the most renowned Kuwaiti composers.
This tradition continued and 17 years ago culminated in the annual Treasure of Talents Festival and five years ago in the formation of the first fully professional music school, Kuwait Music Academy (KMA).
The KMA was established by a young Kuwaiti lady Mrs Fajer AlMazidi and her former piano teacher Prof Cezary Owerkowicz and Treasure of Talents became the flagship presentation of the Academy.
The event was held at the beautiful recreation place, the Al-Shaheed Park on the First Ring Road, Al Sour Street, a short distance from the Sheraton Hotel.
From 2016 the KMA has been enjoying the hospitality of the large hall of the Al-Shaheed, the Visitors Centre.
Amazing
On Saturday, May 20, small children, younger or older teenagers and even adults (both students and teachers) presented an amazing variety of music époques, styles and forms from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm.
The first piano songs were presented by two small Kuwaiti girls Farah and Fay followed by two Chinese boys Xi and Hu and French siblings Candice and Oscar and Indian girls Rhea and Shubhanghi.
After this presentation every hour scores of youth from the North and South Americas, many from Arab, Asian and European countries (almost 30 countries of the world) performed as soloists singing or playing piano, violin and other instruments.
It was to the satisfaction of the young talents that the event was covered by KTV Channel 2 (the Gala Concert) and KTV 1 (earlier) recorded a long material from the Festival. The main sponsor of the event was KGL — KMC and Tanagra, Kuwait, which has been supporting the festival from the first festival and the hospitality of AlShaheed Park.
Gala Concert brought together winners of the 16th edition of the Festival. The 2017 festival was won by Teji Wang who holds the Distinction Diploma from The Royal Music Academy of London on piano and the Special Prize for Extraordinary Achievements was won by Haiwei Li, who after collecting all possible music prizes in the Gulf over the past decade has won the ‘Musician of The Gulf 2017’ award. Both are beneficiaries of the Kuwait Music Academy Scholarship.
The other winners who performed
Gala Concert
Triumphant Winners - Haiwei Li and Teji Wang
Haiwei plays Mozart
in the Gala Concert are Elaf Al Tattan, soprano singer and two exceptional Kuwaiti female violinists — Amna Al Qallaf and Hawra Al Qattan.
Their violin teacher, Kamolliddin Khusanow with his colleague from Budapest, guitar teacher and player, Tibor Hujber also prepared as an encore two surprises, the brilliant Argentinean Tango by A. Piazzola and a bunch of Persian (Iranian) melodies.
The KMA female teachers — Kinga Masternak and Inna Agibalova presented this time their skills on piano (both talented singers) as well as their male colleagues, pianists — Piotr Podemski and Tudor Buciumanu, presented their skills on piano to support the performances of their students and other lecturers.
Another very gifted singer, winner of the vocal prize, Akansha Fernandes after excellent interpretation of her song had to ‘abandon’ the Gala Concert because of her school exams.
The talented performers won individual prizes and cups, and honorary Gold Medals and Certificates were given to all participants. The display of prizes looked very impressive, similar to what we see during big sports events.
However, there was general opinion that many young participants
Chopin Prize Winner Yammen Tareq Moh’d with Prof Cezary.
Teji Wang
Awarding Ceremony
Sama El Ebrahim, Umberina Rao, Wasmiyah Al Musaileem,Yasmeen Roy and Zainab Abu Ghazaleh
— pianist, graduated with honors from Chopin Music University in Warsaw, performed in Poland, Kuwait and abroad, lecturer of KMA since 2012.
Abdullah Al Ghanim, Abdulrahman Al Awadhi, Abril Duarte Gonzalez, Ahmad J. Al Rashidi, Ali Hussein Hammoud, Annie Alphonso E. Morais, Banu Kerkut Luoglu, Carol Watfi, Easa Aiman Alaraj, Eman Abdulaziz Al Shatti, Farah Mohammadi Pour, Fatima Mahamed Kowdan, Fay Khaled Abul, Ismaeil Abdullah Al Mutawa, Kanay Simha K, Lea Kendirjian, Lina Zeitoun, Lulu Al Shaya, Maria Jassim, Mohammed Al. Houti, Noah Jammal, Nour Alqattan, Olivia Sieminski, Rawnaq Ali, Rana Fahl, Sami Jassim, Sanaa Al Hiraki, Seza Kendirjian, Shunhanghi Sharma, Talia Imam, Taniya Mishra, Tea Cvetkoviã, Turki Sami Ebrahim, Zaher Joumaa and Zaina Ali Ali.
— guitarist, graduated with honors from the University of Miskolc, Hungary. He has performed in Europe and Kuwait as a guitar soloist as well as a leader and member of guitar bands; KMA lecturer since 2017.
Aida Nahis Al Enizy and Fatma Wahadi
— exceptional violinist, clarinet & piano player from Tashkent. He began when he was 7 as a special gifted child on government scholarship. He graduated from the National Conservatory of Tashkent, Uzbekistan, performed in various solo & orchestral performances throughout Central Asia; KMA lecturer since 2016.
Abdulaziz Bukhamseen, Amani Shnaya Matheen, Amna Qassim Hassn Alqallaf, Anisha Shenaz Matheen, Candice Sauvan, Danah Al Kandari, Ghazi Faisal Alali, Hawraa Mohammed AlQattan, Laila Ahmed Samir, Loulwa Zeyad Alhunaif, Noor Saad Alawadhi, Rania Al Adawi, Talal Alajeej, Waleed Aburouss, Yacine Imam and Yunhao Wen.
— music/piano teacher from Romania, graduated music & pedagogic. As a lecturer he concerns on ‘touching children soul and free the spirit’. Since 2016 he lectures also at KMA.
Ayla Aliyeva, Huda Raeisi, Jenna Al Shihab, Joseph Armani, Oscar Sauvan and Sarah Al Shihab,
The following was the Programme of the Gala Concert: Haiwei Li — piano — W.A. Mozart — Fantasie in D Minor; Tibor Hujber — guitar — A. Barrios — Barcarolle; Kamoliddin Khusanov — violin; Kinga Masternak — piano — P. Sarasate — Zigeunerweisen; Kamollidin Khusanov — violin; Tibor Hujber — guitar — A. Piazzola — Tango, Iranian melodies; Teji Wang — piano — F. Chopin — Grand Valse in A flat major Op. 34 No.1; Kamoliddin Khusanov, Amna Q.H. Al Qallaf, Hawra M. Al Qattan –violin — A. Corelli — Giga
This is in addition to Elaf Al Tattan — G. Caccini — Ave Maria — S. Rachmaninov — The Son — G. Puccini — Aria di Lauretta; Tibor Hujber — guitar — P. Romero — Malagueña; Kmoliddin Khusanov, Amna Q.H. Al Qallaf — violin; Inna Agibalova — piano — J.S. Bach — Concerto in D minor for 2 violins (1st mvt.); Inna Agibalova — F. Schubert -Impromptu in E flat major Op. 90 No. 2; Kamoliddin Khusanov — violin; Kinga Masternak — piano — A. Vivaldi — ‘Summer’ from ‘Four Seasons’ (3rd mvt.)
Everybody who would like to join or continue such activities is invited to visit the Kuwait Music Academy, Salwa, Block 1, Street 100, Al Danah Bldg. or visit www. kuwaitma, www.kuwaitma.com, or phone 90994561/66568600