By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
In pianist Nano Beraia’s native Republic of Georgia, people celebrate Christmas on Jan. 7 according to the Eastern Orthodox calendar and on Dec. 25 according to Western tradition.
People in Georgia, she said, just like to celebrate, and those celebrations will include songs, and dance, and instrumental music.
Beraia and her musical and life partner Malik Halce, a native of Kosovo, will present a concert of music for piano four hands to mark the 12th Day of Christmas on Thursday, Jan. 5, at 7 p.m. in the First United Methodist Church.
The program will include Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite,” Johannes Brahms’s “Hungarian Dances,” and Johann Strauss’s “Die Fledermaus.” A freewill offering will be accepted, and refreshments will be served after the program.
Given the performance is being presented in a church, the duo wanted to perform “spiritually uplifting music,” Beraia said. No “Jingle Bells.” Also, on the program will be: “God’s Time is the Best Time” and “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” by Johann Sebastian Bach; “Slavonic Dances” by Antonín Dvořák and “The Sleeping Beauty Waltz” by Tchaikovsky
“We want people to have a good time, but at the same time enjoy a Christmas atmosphere,” Beraia said.
The two pianists, both 27, met while they were both pursuing graduate studies at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. Both are accomplished solo piano performers.
They are now students pursuing master’s degrees in piano performance in the studio of Yevgeny Yontov. They were drawn to BGSU by the prospect of studying with Yontov, whom they knew as a finalist in the 2017 Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition. They were pleased that after they auditioned for the College of Musical Arts, he reached out to them to inquire if they were interested in being in his studio.
Halce grew up with parents who were music lovers. Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony was a favorite piece. His father was a fan of Pink Floyd, Emerson Palmer & Lake, Led Zeppelin, and other rocks acts from the 1970s and 1980s. Halce aspired to play rock guitar, but his talents lay elsewhere.
As a toddler he was always singing. His parents bought a keyboard when he was 5, and he started picking out the melodies he had been singing. He started piano lessons at 8, and by 14 was heading from Kosovo to Istanbul for conservatory. He did his secondary school there, and earned his bachelor’s degree in music, but after starting his graduate work, he decided to take a break from studies.
That’s often necessary for artists, he said. After a year and half back in Kosovo, during which he never questioned whether to pursue his musical career, he continued his studies in Oslo. That’s where he met Beraia. She had already made an important career move.
She started piano lessons at 5, and within months was performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 8 with the Tbilisi Chamber Orchestra. She went on to perform widely and competed successfully in numerous international competitions. “My childhood was very fruitful,” she said.
Then at 17, Beraia decided to take a break from competition. At that point, she felt she was always preparing for the next competition. “I didn’t feel I had enough time to explore music in depth. I decided now it’s time to stay alone with myself and work on a very serious program and explore music and grow as a professional.”
She had not participated in a competition until this December when she was the graduate division winner in BGSU’s Competitions in Music Performance. As one of the winners, she will perform Sergei Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto with the BG Philharmonia this winter.
As a duo Halce and Beraia have similar tastes in music, yet different musical personalities.
“Whatever I’m missing he has,” Beraia said. “He represents the more lyrical and calm side of the music … and I’m making the trouble.”
Halce said, after being together for two years, “I know her. I can anticipate how she’ll play certain passages.”
At first, he said, there were some disagreements, but those have been ironed out.
That personal closeness is important in chamber music, Beraia said.
The two pianists are pleased with their decision to attend BGSU.
Halce compared it to Oslo, in that it is “quiet and calm … you can concentrate.”
Everyone at the CMA is “open minded and supportive and this is a golden thing for the students,” he said.
That includes access to practice rooms and pianos. That’s not the case everywhere, the pianists agreed.
“BGSU,” Beraia said, “is an unbelievable environment to grow as a professional.”
