Paul Stewart, pianist extraordinaire from Canada, is no stranger to India. Having performed in India several times before, most recently in the City presenting a musical homage to the late Rani Vijaya Devi, this time the purpose was different.

It was a very special day for The Forum for Teachers of Western Classical Music on December 6. After five years of tireless effort, what is probably the City's finest grand piano for the purposes of concerts and music examinations, has come to fruition, and Paul gave a stunning concert to officially inaugurate it.
The concert was held at the StMark's Resource Centre, and the audience was undoubtedly captivated with Paul's performance.

 “An Die Musik” (Ode To Music) by Schubert seemed a fitting start — the composition is one of the composer's most famous art songs, and this was probably a first for singers in the audience to hear the piano transcription! Two Beethoven sonatas followed; the ever popular Grande Sonata Pathetique, Op 13, and the Sonata in A flat major, Op.110. 

It was interesting to note in the former that the usual thunder of the opening page was given a different treatment — a more mellow approach, but convincing nevertheless. The latter was played with utmost maturity and thought of Beethoven's introspection of the later years.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    
Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 15 was breathtaking; though tremendous in difficulty, the performance seemed effortless — a hallmark of every great pianist!

The Russian Medtner, whom the late Maharaja of Mysore and his sister, the late Rani Vijaya Devi helped tremendously in terms of performances and recordings, was Paul's next choice for great composers for the piano. The Sonata Reminiscenza Op. 38 No.1 was written in the tumultuous years following the Russian Revolution, and its first performance was by candlelight in the thick of the murderous Russian winter!

A selection of Chopin's works, concluding with the well — known Polonaise in A flat major, ended the evening with bravura, and the audience was left thirsting for more.

Paul's mastery of the instrument is indisputable; the beautiful lights and shades, dynamic contrasts, pearly scale — work, prominent and flowing melodic lines, and not to mention a thorough understanding of the music and a monster memory to boot, can leave no listener with any doubt that Paul is one of the most brilliant pianists that music lovers in the city have ever heard.