Ms. Emily Bear, a seventeen year old American-born child prodigy, visited Anguilla over the holidays, along with her family, and embraced the opportunity to perform a mini-concert for young pianists on the island.
Her performance was a highly interactive event, organized by the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School (ALHCS) Department of Music. It was staged on Friday, January 4th, at Room 106 of the ALHCS Campus B where the island’s only highly rated Steinway Model B Grand Piano is temporarily housed.
From the outset, our young musicians were awestruck by the absolute genius of their multitalented counterpart. One of the many highpoints of the morning was when Emily requested short, interesting personal stories from her young audience and used the themes of those stories to compose short, appropriate musical pieces.
Emily, who hails from the state of Illinois, began to play the piano and compose music as a small child. She made her professional piano debut at the Ravinia Festival at the age of five, being the youngest performer ever to play there. Emily gained wider notice from a series of appearances on The Ellen DeGeneres Show beginning at the age of six. She has since played her own compositions, and other works, with orchestras and ensembles in North America, Europe and Asia, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Hollywood Bowl, Montreux Jazz Festival and Jazz Open Stuttgart.
Ms. Bear composed the music for a national television advertising campaign and is heard on the 2015 Broadway cast recording of the musical Doctor Zhivago. She leads her own jazz trio with which she recorded an EP, Into the Blue, which was chosen as a 2017 top jazz album of the year.
Aside from the entertainment at her ALHCS performance here, young pianists in the packed hall were comprehensively motivated and challenged to be deliberate in their music study – and to be resolute in their effort regarding music making.
Head of Music at the ALHCS, Mrs. Kimba Southwell, underscored the importance of the moment and similar collaborations in the future. She remarked: “We at the ALHCS fully intend to explore and take advantage of similar alliances and opportunities where our students can observe, enjoy and be influenced and motivated by this priceless interaction.”
On behalf of the ALHCS Department of Music, Mrs. Southwell expressed appreciation to Emily and her family for their outreach to our music students. Appreciation was also extended to Sunset Homes (Anguilla) for their partnership and sponsorship, as well as to the young musicians and their families for their engaging presence.
