Gifted composer who ‘hears’ light of moon
‘A man without limits’
When he plays the piano his disability disappears and those who listen to his music enters the magic world, full of unusual landscapes and fantastic stories. When someone approaches his house, the sound of the piano keys can be heard from a short distance.
They resemble the twitting of the birds because the house is made of wood and was built before the WW II near the border in a forest. Gregory is seen seated in the room near the piano and puts his feeling in the sound of every piano key. He somehow plays beautifully and it appears as if he is narrating a story.
‘This is the best way for him to communicate with us,’ says his father, Lukas. ‘This is such a sort of translator’ he explains. When Gregory plays he describes his emotions, moods, fights with others, amusements and grievances, etc.
He transmits with the keys what he is unable to do with words, when he plays his favorite composers such as Beethoven, Debussy, Schumann or Salieri in addition to his own compositions.
His works are like fables. It is good to close your eyes and listen to Gregory’s music, to see with him the Norwegian fiords, to be at the centre of a fight with elements of nature or to be wrapped up by delicate treads of time... sometimes simply the silence.
However the hearts of the local crowd of mountaineers who have settled there are conquered by his ‘Beethoven Moonlight Sonata’. This is his favorite because it was recorded on a cassette by his mummy, Joanna, a talented concert organist, who died suddenly in a tragic accident when Greg was one-and-a-half years old.
The still beautiful 150 years old grand piano which sits in the home belonged to her. Greg uses it until now even though all the keys don’t respond to his touch.
The famous Beethoven Sonata is so dear to him because the German genius was also deaf just like him. The author of the 9th Symphony became deaf when he was thirty but Gregory lived in the world of silence his entire childhood.
Actually speaking, for the past few years he was able to enjoy the sounds and music. The Moonlight Sonata he learned to play by himself without knowing the notes, just by listening to that tape.
For many years, Gregory was refused entry into the music school. The list of his suffering, from ‘blindness and deafness’, to doctors, teachers and bureaucrats, is very long.
Chance
Because of wrong medical diagnosis Gregory was long since recognized as an autistic child, mentally disabled. This deprived him of the chance for regular music education as a commoner. When he was born a premature baby his Apgar score was 2 out of 10.
He suffered from anoxemia and one side paralysis. After the doctors declared him autistic, the psychologists confirmed it. The boy was almost blind, dumb and hard of hearing.
After the death of his mother, Greg’s father was left with three children, two of them demanding special care because of illnesses. Lucas got help from his wife’s best friend, Margit. ‘Greg was a very cheerful boy but there was no verbal contact with him,’ she remembers.
At seven a psychologist from the educational centre described his ‘moderate but with essential mental disability’ and sent him to an adequate school for seven years. Even the boy started to revolt: ‘I remember when I saw the schedule of my younger brother, Michel at regular school: history, geography, physics, chemistry, I started to ask why I have no such subjects.’
He could not speak clearly. Finally when he was 13 some doctors found him ‘very hard of hearing’. It was confirmed by the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing in Warsaw and ruled him out of autism and intellectual disability and he was sent to the regular school after so many years...!
Hope
He got the hearing apparatus and passed the optical test. ‘I remember the moment I began to hear high sounds, I began to play and went to the forest to hear the chirping of the birds...’ When he was almost fifteen he began the program of elementary education.
There were no schools for both: those hard of hearing and hard of seeing. They found a special school in Krakow with individual curricula. It speeded up his education as well as his music therapy. ‘Lessons with Miss Ala went flying as an airplane...’ He dreamt about real music school but stayed with private individual lessons.
The next school was at the renowned Charity Institute for Children led by Sisters in Laski near Warsaw. The new implant helped him to listen better and better. Once a month he was taken to the Warsaw Philharmonic.
At the age of 19 he started to compose. When he came back home for long holidays he decided to learn Moonlight Sonata. ‘He spent a lot of hours near the piano until he learned the piece perfectly,’ said Margit. When he performed it the first time at a charity concert many people were seen crying and the audience gave him the standing ovation.
He had to overcome many obstacles -- physical, hard fate, human mistakes but also many obstacles from official institutions and their officers and procedures due to lack of empathy, imagination, open hearts limited by ‘instruction of use’ for human (necessary ‘normal’, ‘regular’ everymen)? Is it necessary to be a hero to overcome it? Thank God, but for the help of some who are not blind in their hearts.
Implants
Two years ago he won at his favorite Moonlight festival for implants holders. One year later, he placed a sign on his piano which read ‘Man Without Limits’. Soon he will edit a disc under the title ‘I Hear Moon Light.’ It is a sort of compensation after years of stormy weather,’ said his father.
A music critic says: ‘For half a year we have been following his development. Gregory had no chance to go way of typical talented children. He is very receptive and fantastically using the knowledge which he has already absorbed. He is able to express himself in music. He has no limits as it is with language.’
‘Gregory is brave to build major narrative forms. He is a gifted composer, and the structure of his works is very good. He writes illustrative music, giving birth to imagination, listening with pleasure because of high level of emotions. It is seen that he knows how to expose and develop his idea, story, dynamically harmonize it.’
Tearful story...
For Gregory music is not his only love: his other loves are photography and informatics. He is very sensitive when it comes to beauty of nature. His pictures are poetic, not banal. The knowledge of informatics is also useful and compatible with interest in music. Whatever he is involved in, he gives it his whole heart, to the extreme.
He has completed two computing courses accompanied with service practice. ‘He has a vast knowledge about the subject and add to this his ability. However, he faced difficulties when it came to employment due to problems in communication.
He was also able to fine tune pianos. Gregory plans to establish his own little business but ‘I speak unclear and write with mistakes. My problem with communication is a big obstacle,’ he says. ‘People are very intolerable...’
It is a story for a sentimental movie ‘wringing tears from eyes’ with warranted effect. However it is a true story and I wrote it for our reflection. It is our common duty to help the people, not to neglect them, to help the disabled brothers and sisters, to respect their sensibility and differences. Keep your hearts open.
Editor’s Note: Cezary Owerkowicz is the chairman of the Kuwait Chamber of Philharmonia and talented pianist. He regularly organises concerts by well-known musicians for the benefit of music lovers and to widen the knowledge of music in Kuwait. His email address is: cowerkowicz @ yahoo.com and cowerkowicz@ hotmail.com