Global festival celebrates isles’ rich piano culture

Soccer was forbidden. Ballet was a no-no. When she was growing up, Lisa Nakamichi wasn’t able to participate in many of the extracurricular activities that usually fill kids’ spare time.

“Volleyball and basketball were definitely out because there was a chance I could sprain my fingers,” said the acclaimed concert pianist, who lives in Honolulu. “My mother even told my teachers that I had to be excused from P.E.”

In high school, Nakamichi enjoyed being a member of the band and swim team. “But after I got home, I had to practice the piano for three to four hours,” she said. “Practicing is ‘work’; to this day, it’s still not fun. I usually practice two to six hours a day when I’m preparing for a concert.

“That said, I love music, especially if I’m performing with an ensemble, whether it be a full orchestra or a chamber group.”

Nakamichi started playing the piano at age 4. The late Ellen Masaki, her longtime teacher in Honolulu, told her that Hawaii has the most piano students per capita in the world. That stuck in Nakamichi’s mind for years.

“If there were so many piano students in Hawaii, I wondered why I didn’t see more of them excelling in competitions on the mainland or at respected conservatories,” she said. “I felt there was a need for music teacher training, reasonably priced concerts and high-caliber lessons for piano students.

“I founded the Aloha International Piano Festival in 2005 because I wanted to offer world-class music education to local students and teachers who would not have that experience unless they went to the mainland.”

Since 2006, the nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization has staged an annual event of the same name, which spotlights up-and-coming talent. Many of those students have gone on to attend prestigious music conservatories and win international competitions on the mainland.

The AIPF has five components: concerts; competition performances; workshops, educational presentations by distinguished guest artists; the Piano Academy, which enables students to take three private lessons from one of the guest artists; and master classes, private lessons that are observed by an audience.

“The guest artists are in great demand, and normally it is very difficult to arrange private lessons with them,” Nakamichi said. “We have serious students coming from all over the world to have that probably once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

On the impressive roster of guest artists for this year’s 10th annual AIPF are Jon Nakamatsu, Sara Davis Buechner, Thomas Sauer and Haewon Song. Like Nakamichi, they all are award-winning, internationally renowned concert pianists who will teach master classes, perform in concerts and judge the competitions.

Ranging in age from 6 to 62, participants will vie for top honors in five divisions: level A, which goes up to age 8; level B, ages 9 to 11; junior, ages 12 to 14; high school, ages 15 to 18; and amateur, adults 21 and older who don’t attend a music conservatory, aren’t a performance major or a graduate of a music conservatory and aren’t earning a living by playing or teaching piano. There is also a young artist (ages 19 to 25) category, but there are no competitors in that division this year.

Performance times, including pauses between pieces, vary by age: level A, 6 minutes; level B, 10 minutes; junior, 20 minutes; high school, 25 minutes; young artist, 30 minutes; and amateur, 15 to 20 minutes.

Competitors must perform their entire program from memory. Amateurs can play any work or works of their choice; the rest must meet specific requirements. For example, junior competitors must play four compositions representing these periods: baroque (1600-1760), classical (1730-1820), romantic (1780-1910), and impressionistic (1875-1925) or contemporary (1975-present).

“AIPF started with just 15 local students, and it has been exciting to see both the competitors and the audience grow in numbers over the past 10 years,” Nakamichi said.

“This year, we’ll have about 80 participants from Japan, China, Chicago, Seattle, Minnesota, Boston and, of course, Hawaii. Local students have been doing well, and it’s an absolute joy to see them going on to make a big impression on the national level.”

It takes Nakamichi about a year to plan each festival, but to her, the rewards are well worth the time and effort. Guest artists are re-energized and appreciate the creative collaborations with colleagues. Aspiring young pianists learn from a distinguished faculty and share their talent in a spirit of healthy competition. Audiences enjoy concerts of the same caliber as top venues (think Carnegie Hall in New York and Suntory Hall in Tokyo) either free or for a nominal charge.

“People come even if they don’t play the piano or know anything about the pieces or composers,” Nakamichi said. “That’s not necessary to enjoy the performances. Music really is the universal language.”

Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based freelance writer whose travel features for the Star-Advertiser have won several Society of American Travel Writers awards.