BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists- Michael Pandya & Keval Shah NNF 2024
There was something so spritely and energetic about their presence that was captivating. In such a stunning venue with immaculate acoustics, it was a great privilege to be in the audience.
NNF
As part of the Norwich and Norfolk Festival, BBC Radio 3 have swept into little old Norwich bringing some of the brightest budding talent in classical music with their New Generation Artists residency. This is an exciting opportunity to witness up and coming talent in a stunning intimate venue, recorded to be broadcasted to the nation.
Michael Pandya is a former artist at the Bayerische Staatsoper, and has appeared alongside established musicians as diverse as Bryn Terfel, Michael Nagy and Nadine Sierra. He has been awarded several prestigious prizes, including the Pianist Prize at the Wigmore Hall, and works at the Royal College of Music as a vocal coach and conductor.
Kerala Shah has been lecturer of Lied at the Sibelius Academy, Helsinki since 2020, making him the institutes youngest professor. He divides his time between running the song programme at the SibA and appearing at venues across the whole of Europe, and describes himself as a pianist, broadcaster and pedagogic.
The pair of them took to the stage at the Octagon Chapel hand in hand, beaming with joy. Keval provided a brief introduction to the art of four hands piano, discussing how it is has been overlooked throughout history. Its intricacy and need for careful focus was an invigorating joy to witness.
The evening commenced with Debussy's Ballet from Petite Suite, and was followed by a bewildering variety of pieces, showcasing this largely neglected category of piano music. Composers as diverse as Satie, Mendelssohn, Chopin and Brahms have tried their (four) hands at this underappreciated musical art form. In a program that featured a total of twelve works, all packed into a compact one hour, there was barely time to register names previously unfamiliar such as Busoni, Rontgen and Hahn, before being whisked off to wonders new. Their fluttering warming melodies whisked audiences away to a whimsical paradise. They were clearly having the time of their lives from the expressive euphoria on their faces with each track.
The evening concluded with Franz Litszt's Festpolonaise, demonstrating that the most well-known of romantic composers enjoyed the challenge of producing work of such complexity that you had to sit back and marvel. Watching these two young musicians, working together in symbiosis, there was something so spritely and energetic about their presence that was captivating. In such a stunning venue with immaculate acoustics, it was a great privilege to be in the audience.
