It is some time since I wrote on this blog. But perhaps I should mention the next concert in which I am involved. Date: Sunday 26th October, 2018 (afternoon - time to be announced) Venue: 6 Spin Street Restaurant, Cape Town Celebration of Brad Liebl's Birthday with a Dinner-Concert all-Brahms programme featuring Brad himself (baritone) and 4 pianists: Alex Gabriel, Sylvia Schulman, Victor Tichart, Albie van Schalkwyk. Each pianist will accompany a number of songs and play one solo. There will also be some piano duets involving all the pianists in different combinations of pairing! Proceeds will be donated to the Red Cross Children's Hospital.

Piano Teaching

I have been looking into group piano teaching and am contemplating offering such a service. I will start offering it soon. The children enjoy learning together and it is good for them to vie with each other. It encourages them to do better. Keep and eye on this blog.

It's a long time since I posted anything. My niece Lorraine Schulman who is a brilliant clarinetist with the Oxford Philomusica in England came out here and we had been practising separately for some months to do three concerts the weekend after she arrived in April. Unfortunately I tripped in the car park at the airport when fetching her and fractured my wrist. That put paid to the concerts. I had arranged also to have a music appreciation evening at my house before the concerts and we were going to play some of the pieces. The music appreciation group came and we did some playing with me using only my right hand! There was also load-shedding so we all had a lot of fun by candlelight and torches! My arm was bound up for 5 weeks and then I could take the bandages and splint off. I was so sorry for Lorraine who could only come for 10 days just for the concerts. She hopes to be able to come again and do those concerts with me! My 90th birthday was coming up on 21st May and I was arranging a big concert for that - 3 days later so as to have it at the weekend - with about 12 or 13 people performing. These were all musicians I had worked with in the past and present who were still around! This had to be postponed and we are now hoping to do it on 29th November. In the meantime, Marcelle Volckaert who is a soprano I have done many concerts with, asked me to play for her at two concerts this month. I love challenges so was determined to do them. As soon as the bandages came off, I began practising exercises at the piano, very cautiously at first, and learning the new music. It was a great programme of Spanish and Portuguese songs and I also had to play a Spanish solo piece. We did these concerts on 6th September in Barrydale at Tim and Clive's house where we have played many times before, and on 12th September at the Old Town House in Greenmarket Square, Cape Town, for the Friends of the Michaelis Collection. Both went off very well and we had extremely enthusiastic audiences.

Recital at Wahnfried, McGregor

On 7th December 2014 Brad Liebl and I will be performing at Wahnfried, McGregor with almost the same programme as at Casa Labia a week earlier. It will be slightly longer and will include songs by Glück and Strauss to recognise their anniversaries.

Wahnfried is also a beautiful venue in a small town in the Western Cape inhabited by many artistic people! Booking for this is also essential. Phone 072 601 1616.

Brad Liebl and I will be performing at this beautiful venue, Casa Labia in Muizenberg, Cape Town, South Africa, on 30th November 2014.
The programme includes the Gellert Lieder of Beethoven, Bach Preludes, Gounod's Ave Maria, plus others and featuring Brad's Christmas Fantasia - a selection of Christmas Carols interspersed with excerpts from Debussy's Clair de Lune.
Booking is essential by phoning Casa Labia - see their website
www.casalabia.co.za

 SONG RECITAL  AT  WAHNFRIED, McGREGOR Sunday 28^th April, 3:30 for 4:00 p.m.

Two song cycles will be performed at the excellent venue in McGregor known as Wahnfried at the end (or beginning!) of Bree Street.  Berlioz wrote the first piece “Les Nuits d’Été” for piano but later orchestrated it. It is more often performed with orchestra but the piano version is very beautiful. The second cycle is by Turina which has 5 pieces, the first being for solo piano. The music is extremely Spanish and runs a whole gamut of emotions. It is called “Poema en forma de canciones”. There will also be a solo piano piece by Manuel da Falla – Danse du Meunier which is part of the ballet “The Three-Cornered Hat” and of course, was originally written for orchestra. A very “flamenco” piece! There is also a beautiful Brazilian song.

The programme will be performed by Marcelle Volckaert, soprano and Sylvia Schulman, pianist.

Seats are R80 and booking can be made by phoning 072 601 1616

Piano Life Saver System

News of the Piano Life Saver System has just reached me and may interest those of you who have valuable acoustic pianos needing to be humidified. My Steinway has had a basin filled with water on the floor under the piano for years, that being the only method I knew to try to keep the soundboard humidified! I will now invest in one of these systems that have had an unrivalled reputation since the 1950's! The suppliers have fitted them to pianos all over South Africa with consistently excellent results. There has been a dramatic improvement in the tone and tuning stability of these pianos, from small uprights to new Model D concert grand Steinways. Contact me for more information. Phone 028 514 2904 or 082 855 0534. You may also email me at sylbenat@futurejhb.co.za

HOW TO REACH THE 80s IN GOOD HEALTH

I've learnt over the years that the adage "You are what you eat" is absolutely true! Here I am, at the age of 87+, moving into a further career as a concert solo and accompanying pianist with recitals becoming more and more frequent, teaching piano, secretary of the Bahá'í Assembly of Swellendam, treasurer of the Swellendam Heritage Association, bookkeeping for a chiropractic clinic and generally enjoying life in a beautiful part of the world. I thought I would just put this information out in case there are those who would like to know how to achieve such a state of health and well-being in what is called "old age"! If you are one of those people, follow my blog and write to me in the comment section. If there are quite a few requests I will post another message to this blog.

Updating!

I've been rather backward in keeping the blog up to date and I notice that 6 months has flown past since my last posting. It's been quite hectic for me - various concerts, rehearsals, organising fund raising for the purchase of a new Kawai grand piano for the Swellendam High School, various Bahá'í activities, bookkeeping jobs, teaching etc. etc. In the last few months it has been necessary to get down to some heavy practising for a solo recital at the new concert venue, Wahnfried, in McGregor on 2nd December. I have resuscitated my old programme called "Sylvia Schulman Plays Piano Music for You (from W.A. Mozart to Billy Mayerl)" which I have not played for several years. It consists of 15 pieces with a fair amount of talking in between, sometimes linking different pieces by a common denominator, but generally giving some interesting information about them and/or the composers. Then I decided to present the programme as one of the Country Classics series in Swellendam, this time at my house, a week beforehand. For singing and flute the acoustics here are not good because the room has wall-to-wall carpeting; so we have used other venues for the Country Classics concerts which have been with Marcelle Volckaert, soprano, Brad Liebl, baritone and Chris Nicholls, flute. However, the acoustic is satisfactory for piano so it is very convenient for me to do the solo recital on my own piano! On 9th December Brad Liebl and I will be giving a recital in Barrydale - that lovely drive from Swellendam through the beautiful Tradouws Pass - which includes a Christmas Fantasia on a Theme of Debussy, arranged by Brad Liebl. Going forward into next year, Brad and I will be performing at Wahnfried on 10th February, the programme for which will include songs by Wagner and Verdi as 2013 is the 200th Anniversary of their birth. Later in the year, as near winter as possible, we will do a recital in Barrydale to include some of Die Winterreise of Schubert at the request of our hosts, Tim Teale and Clive Strawbridge. Marcelle Volckaert and I will also be performing in Barrydale with  Turina and Berlioz song cycles. No doubt these recitals will also be presented in Swellendam.

KAWAI The Future of the Piano

The sole distributors (in the Cape, South Africa with agents in Natal) of the wonderful Kawai range of pianos have appointed me as one of their agents. I am very happy as this make of piano is superb - I say this because I own a Steinway grand myself  but have given several concerts on a Kawai, so I have experienced its capabilities. Kawai is rated as one of the top 3 piano manufacturers in the word, along with Steinway and Yamaha. In the last 3 decades Kawai has taken a leading position in mechanism design,  tone character and digital piano development. The range in acoustic pianos is from several models of uprights to baby grands to concert grands. The digital range suits all purposes from  purely home machines to stage pianos. There are several innovations which make for improved tone quality, action and longevity in acoustic and digital.

As well as this agency I am able to take orders for sheet music. Swellendam has no music outlet and those wanting music have to order from Cape Town or Stellenbosch. Now they can order from me which is much more direct.

For more information (if you are in the Cape although not Cape Town itself and as far as say Sir Lowry's Pass) please email me at sylbenat@futurejhb.co.za

More Concerts Coming Up

Concerts in November and January are being planned in Swellendam and Barrydale, following the success of the Garden Route Concert Series in Heidelberg. Marcelle Volckaert, soprano, and I will be performing in November in both towns, and in January it will be Brad Liebl, baritone, and myself at the same venues, both being in beautiful private homes with good pianos! When exact dates have been confirmed all round,I will post another notice. Beautiful programmes have been planned by both singers. I will add about 2 piano solos to each programme, giving the singers a bit of a breather!
By the way, to be informed about concerts or to advertise them go to www.mstring.co.za. Everybody who registers with them receives an email to announce events for the following two weeks. One can also advertise instruments and jobs, make announcements, join the forum etc.

Latest News

The Garden Route Concert Series came and went! They were all very successful as regards performance and much appreciated by the small but very warm audiences. Our hosts, Chris and Sally Nicholls provided a most welcoming ambience and the refreshments were absolutely super!

The day after the last concert I had to go to Johannesburg for two weeks to work with the Gauteng Choristers for their entry in the NCF competitions. They very kindly arranged for a chauffeur driven car to pick me up at home and take me to the Cape Town airport where I was flown to OR Tambo Airport. There was a Hyundai hire car for me to pick up and I was off to the National Bahá'í Centre where I was being accommodated. I was horrified to find that the Giluleys exchange on the N1/3 had been altered and I had no idea which road to take. Fortunately I took the right one and was relieved to see the familiar off ramps coming up. Rehearsals started the next day and I was very warmly welcomed by the Choristers! Good to see them all again and to work with Sidwell Mhlongo, their very talented conductor. I think it is three years since I was last with them. Then I caught a cold and cough, and after another couple of days unexplained pains in my leg kept me awake for three nights. In desperation I went to see a doctor who prescribed the usual drugs which I hate taking, but at least I got some much needed sleep. I had phoned many of my friends and was taken out for lunch and breakfast on several occasions. Great to see them all again. Driving up and down on the busy motorways almost every day was a strain but I got through it all, even the long drive into Soweto and out again after the competitions. I think it took me more than an hour that night to get back to the Bahá'í Centre. I flew back the next day rather the worse for wear! It has taken me nearly two weeks and several wonderful treatments from the outstanding chiropractor/kinesiologist, Dr. Zaida Rivené, to recover and am still a little weak! Piano students have been around for more coaching and things are gradually returning to normal. My lovely little dog Figo was beautifully looked after by Evelyn (my lovely domestic help who comes in three mornings a week normally) who sacrificed her home life to stay with him for the two weeks in my house. Needless to say, he was very pleased to see me and must have licked my face for at least 15 minutes to say Hello!

Well, that's my latest news but there are more concerts in the offing. In the meantime there are quite a few to attend and it will be nice to be part of the audience again.

Garden Route Concert Series

There are three concerts in this series. The first one was on Saturday 18th June with Marcelle Volckaert, soprano. They are taking place in Heidelberg, 50 kms from Swellendam, at the home of Chris Nicholls and his wife, Sally Presant. I am accompanying all three artists. We had a very small but most appreciative audience for this first concert which included Aria Antiche, Schubert, Berlioz and Villa Lobos for voice, and Chopin, Rachmaninov and Frank Bridge for piano solo.

The second concert will be on 16th July with Chris Nicholls, flautist. French composers predominate with Fauré, Poulenc, Debussy and one could include Chopin as French as well! But there are also Bach and Mozart in the programme.

The last of this series is with Brad Liebl, baritone. A good variety of composers in this programme: Schumann, Strauss, Liszt, Mozart, Menotti, Copland, Gershwin and Foster!

Tickets for more than one concert booked in advance are discounted but the opportunity for a really big reduction was for three concerts and now only two are left!

Anyone interested in booking for these last two concerts, contact me by email - sylbenat@futurejhb.co.za or phone 028 514 2904 or cell 082 855 0534 (in South Africa, of course!)

Recital for the Wagner Society of South Africa

Some news about last night's recital:

6th March 2011 - Well, it came and went but what a wonderful experience. Brad Liebl and I gave a recital for the Wagner Society of South Africa last night in a private home in Cape Town which housed a super Yamaha grand piano. Such a joy to be able to use an instrument with a lovely tone, a great action and over which one can have complete control. And then to be making music with such a top-class super baritone - a great privilege. As an accompanist one does not often have the opportunity to be free to interpret at the same time as being sensitive to the needs of the soloist and allowing him also to be free. The programme consisted of 5 Heine Liederkreis songs by Schumann, Morgen and Heimliche Aufforderung by Richard Strauss, the E minor (posthmous) Waltz by Chopin, a Figaro recitative and aria by Mozart, O Du Mein Holder Abendstern by Wagner and Lieben, Hassen, Hoffen Zagen from Ariadne Auf Naxos by Richard Strauss, a Rachmaninov Prelude in G# minor and three outstanding songs Op. 10 by Samuel Barber - After the Rain, Sleep Now and I Hear an Army. As an encore Brad sang "Not While I'm Around" from Sweeny Todd by Stephen Sondheim. The small but appreciative audience were full of praise for the performance which was followed by drinks and snacks. I also managed to sell a few of my CD's! Here is what the Chairman of the Wagner Society wrote to me today:

"First of all let me say how much I (and everybody else, without exception, I am sure) loved yesterday’s recital. It was one of those magic evenings where everything went well. Brad sang so beautifully, you are a most sensitive and attentive accompanist with a fabulous feeling of timing and nuances. And your solo pieces were played so freshly as well." Brad himself wrote the following to me, "The concert went so smoothly and I felt so very comfortable with you!" This is what I had written to him: "What an inspiration you are! I can’t remember when last I felt so able to really perform! This does not easily happen working with lesser artists than yourself. Thank you so much."

As you see, we are a mutual admiration society!!!

Someone else said it was a "memorable" evening - so all in all, although it was exceedingly warm weather and pretty uncomfortable whilst performing, I am very pleased with the success of the recital.

The owners of the house where it took place have two lovely dogs, one of which sings when the piano is played. Whilst I was practising before the recital I heard her howling in another room and wondered where they would put her during the recital. They must have found another place because we had no doggie accompaniments when the time came!

3 Songs by Samuel Barber Op. 10 Nos. 1, 2, 3

This is the first of 3 songs by Samuel Barber (Op. 10 No. 1) which I am working on at the moment to play with Brad Liebl (baritone), perhaps at a recital we are doing for the Wagner Society on 6th March next year, or else at some other recital. I am posting them to my blog so that I can listen and learn! They are not easy but very interesting and exciting. The words are by James Joyce.

The artists are Gerald Finley and Julius Drake.

Advertising in South Courant

I have been running an advert for my piano lessons in the South Courant, Swellendam, which has attracted more enquiries than any other advertising so far. This is what it says:

PIANO LESSONS

Do you long to play the

piano? Do you need to brush

up on your playing? Do you

have a musically gifted child

10 years or older?

Teenagers and adults

Technique

Interpretation

Performance peparation

Exam preparation

Look no further!....

....except at my blog:

www.swellendampiano.blogspot.com

Book now for an appointment

and interview

Contact:

SYLVIA SCHULMAN

Tel: 028 514 2904

Cell: 082 855 0534

Email: sylbenat@futurejhb.co.za

Philippa Castle's Birding Video

Philippa Castle has produced a beautiful video with her wonderful bird photos, using a track from my CD as background music. Please visit this site to enjoy the experience! It is on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=427296365484&comments=

Philippa Castle's Birding Video

Philippa Castle has produced a beautiful video with her wonderful bird photos, using a track from my CD as background music. Please visit this site to enjoy the experience! http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=427296365484&comments=

Preludes for Piano No. 3 - George Gershwin

"The art of music is divine and effective. It is the food of the soul and spirit. Through the power of music the spirit of man is uplifted." Bahá'í Writings

Enjoy this excerpt of music, a track from my new CD, "A Few of My Favourite Things".

Interview with Sylvia Schulman

What do you do? What is your musical specialty?

I am a concert pianist playing as Sylvia Schulman. For 10 years whilst fulfilling the task of Office Manager at the National Bahá'í Centre in Johannesburg my musical involvement was interrupted and I was fairly inactive in this field, my only connection with music being as resident pianist for the Gauteng Choristers and occasional informal events. For the last 3 years I have been in the Western Cape Province and am gradually increasing my musical activity as soloist, accompanist and teacher. A CD recording will be made in January 2010 entitled "A Few of My Favourite Things...." and will include 12 pieces from Liszt, Mozart, Brahms etc. to George Gershwin and Zez Confrey. Three concerts are so far scheduled for 2010.

Do you work alone or in a group? If in a group, who are the others you work with?

Depends on the engagement. If solo, then alone - if as accompanist, then with soloist(s) or group or choir. It could be with orchestra as well.

Is there a web address where one can listen, see, or read some of your work?

I am working on it.

Please list any awards, competitions, or other acknowledgments you would like to mention.

My main acknowledgements are in the form of newspaper critiques! As a student a long time ago I obtained qualifications - various Licentiates.

Please list discography in which you have participated.

Before the days of CD's I played in many broadcasts some of which I have in tapes but none are available to the public now. I am about to make my first CD entitled "A Few of My Favourite Things...." which will contain 12 pieces for piano. This will be available late January 2010.

How did you begin making music? Who introduced you?

My father was a musician and I have been playing the piano from the age of 4.

What was your musical education?

Piano lessons in the then Belgian Congo, England, High School in Cape Town, South African College of Music at the University of Cape Town. Later in England I was coached by Joel Ryce (American husband of Yaltah Menuhin) and Louis Kentner.

When did you realise that making music could be a way of life for you?

It is part of my way of life. I have always realised it. I have many other interests as well.

What is your creative process?

I recreate - the creativity is in the interpretation of the music I play.

When do you have your most lucid moments, in the morning or night?

Morning is best but if in concert at night then I need to have had adequate rest to be lucid!

Have you ever awoken with a melody created from your dreams?

No.

How do you know when a song is finished or needs no more changes?

Not applicable

How often do you practice?

If a performance is coming up then I practise every day.

How do you feel right before going out on stage?

Nervous

Which musicians or groups have been inspiring to your career?

Great pianists

What should be done to stop piracy?

Moral education from early childhood.

What type of music do you detest?

The Founder of the Bahá'í Faith says: "We have made music as a ladder for the soul to ascend to heaven, make it not wings for self and passion." So music which seems like wings for self and passion is the sort of music I detest.

What time did you get up this morning?

7 a.m.

How do you sell yourself? What has been your experience with record companies and representatives?

I haven't done much about selling myself and have no experience with record companies and representatives. If I have a concert it is usually advertised by whoever engages me.

What other things have you done to make a living?

Bookkeeping, running my husband's photographic businesses, office manager, internet affiliations, teaching music in schools and privately.

Have you ever played on the street or in the subway? How much did you collect each day?

No

Who would you play with, without a doubt?

All good musicians.

What advice would you give to someone starting out in the business?

Get a good agent, work hard, take up all opportunities and challenges, try to be in the right place at the right time. Don't expect to become a star overnight. Some great artists who suddenly appear on the scene have probably been struggling to get known for 10 or more years.

Read more: http://www.whohub.com/sylbenat#ixzz0yxgJIT1j