Chopin spree: Pianist Melody Quah returns to KL for homecoming performance

The Star

19 hours ago

Malaysian classical pianist and academic Melody Quah, based in the United States, makes her long-awaited return to Dewan Filharmonik Petronas this weekend for the Chopin Festival, performing with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra.
The two-part festival opens on Aug 16 under MPO music director Junichi Hirokami.
The orchestra will partner with Quah to present the Polish composer's iconic Piano Concerto No. 1 In E minor .
Premiered to great acclaim in Warsaw in 1830 as part of Chopin's 'farewell' concerts before leaving Poland at 20, the piece is often described as romantic and calm, yet tinged with melancholy – like recalling a beloved landscape in memory.
Chopin composed 'Piano Concerto No. 1' at the age of 20.
'For a composer who wrote mainly for solo piano, Chopin prioritises cosiness and intimacy,' says Hirokami.
'So when conducting the piano concerto, I think of it as 'large chamber music.''
Being home
'It's always special to perform in Malaysia, not only because my VIP guests are able to attend (my parents!), but because of how it feels to collaborate with fellow Malaysians and those who have made Malaysia their home. There is a sense of unspoken kinship that is palpable,' says Quah, 37, in a recent interview in Kuala Lumpur.
She is also no stranger to the DFP big stage and is set to enchant the audience with Chopin's emotional range and lyrical melodies.
In 2018, she made her solo debut with the MPO under German-Japanese conductor Jun Markl.
A Kuala Lumpur native, Quah currently resides in University Park, Pennsylvania, and teaches piano as an Assistant Professor at Penn State University.
It's a delight for her to be back in Malaysia performing again with the MPO, reconnecting with musician friends here.
'My first performance with the MPO was in 2018, playing Beethoven's Concerto No. 1 in C major , so I'm glad to be back playing Chopin this time,' says Quah.
'Chopin is a special composer for pianists because he wrote primarily for the piano. When you think about romantic classical music, oftentimes the first composer that comes to people's minds is Chopin. He wrote very idiomatically for the instrument, meaning that all of the arpeggios, all of the virtuosic material, they fit very nicely in a pianist's hands,' she adds.
'When playing one of Chopin's works, the job of the pianist is often to try to make the piano sing as expressively as possible,' says Quah.
Quah notes that much of Chopin's beauty comes from his love of opera, especially the singing style of Italian opera.
'When playing one of Chopin's works, the job of the pianist is often to try to make the piano sing as expressively as possible, like a singer.
'So even though there is this sort of drama of the soloist in front of the orchestra, it's really quite an intimate experience listening to Chopin live because of the way it's written. There are lots of 'singing' lines and plenty of nuance to appreciate – if we're doing our job right, at least,' she adds with a chuckle.
Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 also happens to hold a special place in Quah's heart.
'This concerto is very special to me, because it was the first concerto that I performed with an orchestra when I was around 14. It was with the Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic Orchestra, soon after I had moved (from Kuala Lumpur) to Sydney, Australia to study piano at the Australian Institute of Music,' she says.
'I played it a few years ago in Pennsylvania, but now coming back to it after having hopefully improved, having much more experience and being able to interpret it in a more mature way, it's sure to be interesting. I'm pleased to have the chance to work on it again.'
Emotional depth
Chopin's works are known for exploring the full expressive range of the piano. Piano students often use his pieces to learn how to express emotional depth.
For Quah, she can't quite recall what was the first Chopin piece she ever played – 'It was probably a short waltz?' – but one of the most important techniques she learned through Chopin very early on was the concept of 'rubato'.
''Rubato' describes this feeling of flexibility when playing a piece. Even though the beat is going very steadily in the background, as a soloist, you have this freedom to speed up the tempo or slow it down. The great thing about this is that every artist's interpretation is unique, so you'll never get the exact same performance.
'So when you're a young pianist, you get assigned these short Chopin pieces to learn how to practice that flexibility, that rubato, while staying on the beat,' says Quah.
A life in music
A musical virtuoso from a young age, Quah's love for the piano began when she was only two years old, when her family noticed that she had learned to play the piano by ear, improvising tunes she heard on the radio.
In Kuala Lumpur, she attended SK Taman Tun Dr Ismail (2) for her first two primary years before moving to Sekolah Sri Cempaka in Damansara Heights from Standard Three to Form One.
'I had a lot of fun with music as a child and sought opportunities for it to be a part of most facets of my daily life – from accompanying Negaraku at school assemblies to playing violin at church and for Christmas carolling!'
Quah's love for the piano began when she was only two years old.
Quah completed high school at the Australian Institute of Music and earned a Bachelor of Music from the Vancouver Academy of Music, Canada. She later received a Doctor of Musical Arts from the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University, along with graduate degrees from the Yale School of Music and The Juilliard School.
Through the years, she's been taught by respected pianists such as Boris Slutsky, Peter Frankl, Matti Raekallio, Lee Kum Sing, and Snezana Panovska.
She joined a music appreciation class at four and began piano lessons with Panovska (founder of Chopin Society Malaysia) at six, soon composing and playing other instruments. At seven, she made her overseas debut in the Czech Republic and Hungary.
'I had many inspiring music teachers in KL, including Tan Siew Ghee, Clement Siow, Adeline Wong, Nora Kim, and Snezana Panovska, who all contributed to my musical education in their own, indispensable way,' she says.
Quah has since performed on major stages – from playing the Electone at the 1998 Bukit Jalil Stadium opening to recitals at Carnegie Hall's Weill Hall and solo appearances with symphonies and orchestras worldwide.
An expressive piece
While the piano remains her primary instrument, Quah's musicianship extends far beyond its keys. A true music lover, she occasionally performs the pipe organ professionally, relishing the grandeur and complexity of the instrument.
In more intimate settings – be it special requests or family gatherings – she's just as comfortable tucking a violin under her chin or coaxing warm, intricate tones from a classical guitar, reminding those around her that her relationship with music is as versatile as it is profound.
Quah at the Penn's Woods Music Festival in 2022, which was when she last presented Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor. Photo courtesy Melody Quah.
Even then, Quah still considers the Chopin concerto she will be playing 'a challenging one'. She last performed this Chopin piece at the Penn's Woods Music Festival in the US in 2022.
'I think one of the challenges lies in the fact that it is so expressive. The piano is inherently a percussive instrument, because you play it and then the sound dies right away. But in this concerto, through the piano, we have to create the illusion that we are a singer,' says Quah.
'Another challenge is in how the soloist is tasked to draw the audience in with all of this lyrical material and bring out the contrast between all of the drama that's in it. It's up to the soloist to decide what colour of sound they want to create, and this sort of nuance and subtlety can only be best appreciated when it's heard live in concert,' she concludes.
Melody Quah will perform at the MPO's Chopin Festival at Dewan Filharmonik Petronas, Kuala Lumpur on Aug 16, 8pm. The MPO will also present Russian composer Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 in D minor at this festival opener. More info: mpo.com.my.