Terrific concert by Melia Garber and Geronimo Oyenard today!

Hanging out with Melia Garber and Geronimo Oyenard
at Virginia Heights Baptist Church
after their piano and violin recital.

Their program.
My favorites were the Beethoven Sonata
and the set of pieces by Pauline Viardot-Garcia

My music-major son and I went out on a date this afternoon. We stopped at Mill Mountain Coffee to sup on grilled cheese (his on a croissant with a side of chips, mine on wheat with a side of pasta salad), then headed over to Virginia Heights Baptist Church on Grandin Road for a piano and violin concert by my friends Melia Garber and Geronimo Oyenard.

I always say, "piano and violin" instead of "violin and piano." Can't help myself.  Anyway, it was a wonderful program, and a collection was taken to benefit Goodwill Industries of the Roanoke Valley. Melia and Geronimo were not paid, which was huge of them. Imagine the time they must have invested in preparing the music.

I spotted one of my piano students in the front row. I'm planting this to see if she reads my blog.

During the reception following the recital, I asked Melia to reveal to me which of the pieces was most challenging for her. I had my own prediction. It's a little game I like to play. After a bit of thought, she settled on the Beethoven. That was my second guess. I thought it would certainly have been the set by Joaquin Turina, but she said that those became much easier after she started thinking of them in terms of jazz. I'm not sure how that worked, but it did work, because she was amazing with that set. Melia is the sort of pianist at whom I marvel. She's a wife, mother, piano teacher, and church musician, yet she still finds time to practice and perform very challenging repertoire. (Her house is probably clean, too. And I don't mean that in a sexist way. After all, I didn't say that SHE cleaned it, although maybe she did and that's fine. I'm just saying, it's probably clean, and I'm jealous.)

Geronimo is a violinist with the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, and he teaches as well. He did a top-notch job today, and I especially enjoyed his interpretation of the Viardot-Garcia set. He is a thoughtful and expressive performer.

Now, I will take off my music critic hat and share some cool news of a thing in the works.

Melia's page-turner during the concert is one of her piano students at Hollins University. She is a young lady from Japan who is looking for a musical internship this coming January. I asked her if she'd be interested in interning with The Piano School as a sort of teaching assistant, and she was very receptive. According to Melia, she is preparing to perform a Mozart piano concerto with a small orchestra in November, and she would be a great intern for us. Plus, she's not allowed to get paid. Perfect. I'll talk to someone at Hollins about setting this up. I think it would be a great opportunity for both of us.

If you attended today's concert or the one Melia and Geronimo did at Hollins a few weeks ago, please keep track of it for your live performance credits. This one was worth two!