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Piano duo to present Feb. 10 live concert
Topics: activities, Calendar, family, Music, entertainment
Posted by Sat Jan 5, 2008 22:27:52 PST
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0 responses 0 comments Location: 5 Real Rd. (Stockdale Hwy. & Real Rd.), Bakersfield, CA 93309

    Duo pianists Christopher and Johnathon Smith, piano performance majors at Pt. Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, are offering a concert Feb. 10  at 4 p.m. as part of the Fred and Beverly Dukes Memorial Concert Series at First Congregational Church, 5 Real Rd. (at Stockdale Highway). The concert is open to the public free of charge.
    Highlights of the program will include Poulenc’s “Concerto in D Minor for Two Pianos” and Corrigliano’s “Kaleidoscope,”  which helped them win recognition as one of the top three piano duos last March at the prestigious Ellis Duo Piano competition in Spartanburg, So. Carolina.  They won first place for Best Performance of an American Piece for “Kaleidoscope.”
    “The Ellis competition is a really big deal, especially back East,” Christopher said. “Most of the competitors are professionals.”  Applicants submitted a one-hour CD of their best work, from which finalists were chosen to perform at the live event.
    Christopher’s and Johnathon’s piano teachers have included Betty Bergman in Shafter and Bonnie Farrer in Bakersfield.  They grew up in Shafter where they learned to play several different instruments, graduated from Bakersfield High School, and migrated to Pt. Loma to pursue their dream of becoming professional musicians. 
    The brothers began giving recitals even before entering grade school.  In  addition to regular performances at the Mennonite Brethren Church in Shafter, the brothers competed successfully in many venues, including Exchange Club talent contests at Harrah’s in Las Vegas and at the California Music Teachers Convention in Los Angeles. 
    “It’s important for young musicians to have a purpose for practicing,”  their mother, Kathie Smith, said in a recent interview.  “Being in recitals, going to nursing homes as volunteers, making CD’s are important motivators for kids.” 
    She also advocates sitting down with young musicians during instrumental practices. Mrs. Smith,  a music and math major in college, also plays several instruments.  Currently she teaches math full-time at Bakersfield High School.
    Christopher, who has been a regular pianist for Bakersfield Music Theatre and Stars Dinner Theatre while attending Bakersfield College, graduated recently from PLNU and is teaching several students privately as well as playing piano at the La Jolla Community Church. The 25-year-old  describes himself as “outgoing, friendly and into lots of things, especially music and drama.”
    His favorite composers are the romantics. He is also especially fond of Rachmoninoff.
    Two years younger than Christopher, Johnathon will graduate this spring with separate degrees, one in piano and another in mathematics.  He also started his own software business, Just Make Sense, designing custom software for companies and individuals.
    Mrs. Smith describes her younger son as “an unconventional thinker, someone who thinks outside the box.  He does many things at once, and being with his brother is a bonus when they do music together.”

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