Whilst outside on Saturday evening, thunder and lightning was crashing through the skies, inside St John’s Church, 12-year-old Lenny Chen’s fingers were flying across the grand piano keyboard playing Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Chopin and many more. Lenny had come down from Boyle, Co Roscommon to close Longford’s inaugural Camlin Keys Piano Festival with a Grand Concert, and as the winner of most of the piano competitions nationwide this year, he was indeed a very special guest. READ MORE BELOW PHOTO Lenny has promised to come back down St John’s, Longford for a Christmas Concert, so watch out for that. The Camlin Keys Piano Festival started at 10am in St John’s NS, with Tamara Niekludow, composer, teacher, examiner and performer delivering a workshop on Performance and Exam Anxiety, hopefully getting everyone ready for the day ahead. Meanwhile, in the next room a very energetic early years Music with Dee Dee was taking place in a room full of children enjoying musical fun, songs, and stories. The Competition Classes started at 11am, again with Tamara Niekludow adjudicating each group. A very difficult job as all the participants had put so much effort into their work. Entries were of a very high standard and with experienced pianists travelling to play, 9-year-old Abishek Varghese coming all the way from Limerick, having won the Feile Lumnigh 2023 and 2023 Castleknock Piano Competition already this year. Entrants also played their own compositions which was a great opportunity for them and for the audience to hear. Tamara was quick to acknowledge the dedication of parents and guardians in supporting their upcoming talents, it was very special that everyone stayed for the duration of the competition, a valuable audience experience for all entrants. Camlin Keys is very grateful to Tamara for taking the time to come to Longford and look forward to seeing her again for next year’s festival, when she has promised she will play for us. The afternoon saw a series of workshops with multi-instrumentalist,
PICTURES | Longford’s inaugural Camlin Keys Piano Festival strikes the perfect chord
Caption: Abhishek Jino performing in St John’s Church during last Saturday's Grand Concert to close Longford’s inaugural Camlin Keys Piano Festival Pictures: Shelley Corcoran
