Lightyears

What comes to your mind when someone mentions a piano concert? Dull? Boring? Serious?

Joja Wendt’s concert breaks all these stereotypes, for he put up an amazing performance at the Esplanade Concert Hall last night! There wasn’t a concert programme to start with, and it was quite exciting to hear/see what songs he would perform. Reading the write-up about him didn’t reveal much about what he was going to play, though it did mention something about jazz.

Anyway, the concert started off with a beautiful piece which I had no idea what the title was. He played songs inspired from different countries because I don’t think he played anything that was original; every song seemed to be infused with jazz in one way or another. Although I wasn’t really a jazz type of person, I was definitely wowed and mesmerised by his playing.

Throughout the concert, there was no doubt about his technical abilities, and in between songs he cracked jokes about how difficult each songs would be (I would assume they are technically demanding), and how had a short description about how each song came about and such. Never had I attended a concert with the performer speaking so much (not even for pop concerts I attended).

In addition, there were also special effects, like having the piano “move”, and extra “hands” etc., the former being done by his stage effects person and friend, Christian (if I got his name correctly), whose birthday happened to be on the same day as the concert. Joja willingly played a few “impromptu” versions of “Happy Birthday” for him in the styles of well-known classical composers like Mozart, Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky (think I made some spelling mistakes with the names). It was simply amusing!!

 All in all, it was an amazing concert and I have to say that Joja is a great entertainer! I would definitely attend his concert if he comes back again, as much as I don’t really enjoy jazz.

 Oh by the way, his website is: www.jojawendt.de