Abu Dhabi: Children in the capital were entranced by a musical workshop conducted by Gergely Boganyi, — an award winning pianist from Hungary — and his colleagues, recently.
Stavros Antypas from Greece, a 15-year-old grade 10 pupil of International School of Choueifat in Abu Dhabi, was one of the 20 pupils who participated in the workshop, along with six special needs children.
The two-hour workshop under the theme ‘Let the music be everyone's treasure' saw the participation of six children from Special Care Center — a school for special needs children — and the rest were from mainstream schools.
Distinguished guests introduced the world famous Kodaly method to entertain the children with songs and musical games.
Avinash Mohan, 14, a pupil at the Special Care Centre, said he could easily reproduce various sounds taught by the musicians. "I like the dance steps shown by them ... especially the one in which he touched his hand on the foot," Mohan said.
For a cause
Boganyi performed before a packed audience at the Park Rotana Hotel to support the ‘Donate a Brick Campaign' which aims to build a school for special needs children in the capital.
People from all walks of life thronged to the venue to enjoy the music maestro's magical performance,
He is regarded as one of the most exceptional pianists of our time.
Playing the legendary music of Mozart, Lizst and Chopin, the virtuoso pianist mesmerised the audiences with his brilliant command of technique combined with amazing artistic expressions.
The magical touch of his fingers on the piano worked wonders transporting the souls of the listeners into the world of fantasy, and romance.
Piano music lovers responded with repeated thunderous ovations.
Hailing from a family that has a musical background, Boganyi is one of the youngest ever pianists to have won the highest artistic award of Hungary, the Kossuth Prize, becoming one of the leading pianists of his generation.
Musical ‘language' rules workshop
"Everyone carries a musical instrument inside … that's the faculty to sing … that's why everyone sings, or at least hums privately", two Hungarian musicians told Gulf News on the sidelines of a musical workshop.
This was the reason why the young children at the workshop could follow a foreign musician at once, Dr Joszsef Reiter, a Dubai-based Hungarian musician who taught dance steps at the workshop, said.
Music is a language and people from all over the world understand it irrespective of their own language, culture or nationality, Marianna Szabo, vice-president of the Music School of Szob in Hungary who led the workshop, said. "I have seen, when musicians from different parts of the world get together, they at once start singing together as if they sing in same language," Reiter added.
Etisalat, du help support initiative
Proceeds from the Gergely Boganyi piano concert will go towards building a school for special needs children in Abu Dhabi, Isabelle Le Bon Poonoosamy, co-founder of Nahtam Social Responsibility, a charity, said.
The charity has so far raised Dh9 million for the school which requires Dh16 million, she said.
The campaign titled Donate a Brick, in cooperation with etisalat and du, has received 12,000 SMSs worth Dh5 each, Poonoosamy said. "The total money from SMSs will go towards [the] school building fund as etisalat and du do not take any service charge", she said.
To donate funds
Mobile holders with an etisalat connection can send their SMS as ‘Brick' to 9050, while those with a du connection must send it to 9100.
Each SMS will contribute Dh5 towards the school building fund. Call 02 6420526 for more details.
Is there a lack of special needs centres? Will the scheme of donating through text message encourage more people to contribute?
