On a cold night in March, French pianist Nima Sarkechik came to perform in Tel Aviv, bringing a message of peace, filling the hall of the Einav Cultural Center with the warmth of his presence.
I was transported by his playing, the flow of his fingers on the keys with tenderness and conviction, those moments of silence, his hand hovering in the air, when you hold the music within you and know it is all there, ready to take flight.
After the Chopin, Sarkechik played the Liszt, Sonata in B minor. As he sat at the piano, I felt that he was listening to the instrument as a fellow living being in the universe, embracing not only the musical instrument before him, and the composer who first touched these notes, but the living wood of the tree it was made from, and the forest where it grew, speaking to all that has ever lived, is alive and will live. It was a journey through darkness and uncertainty, plunging into profound depths of beauty. The journey of a true seeker, who knows the path and knows the destination, yet also knows that to have a chance of arriving at that destination, one must be willing to risk everything, to come to each moment, each note, open to this vast uncertainty, as if it is the first glimmer of light in a dark universe.
Some feeling of Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal drifted through my mind as he played: “Tout y parlerait/A l’âme en secret/Sa douce langue natale.” My heart pounding, I felt it expand as we ventured deeper into the work, filling my entire being as if it might shatter my rib cage and spill out into the room, and then learn that there is room, there is room within me to feel all this, the strength to feel all this and more.
It is no wonder that last night’s audience did not want to let him go, and he generously returned several times with offerings of Mozart and Chopin Études.
Sarkechik will be playing two more concerts in Israel, in Haifa on March 14, 2011, and in Jerusalem on March 15, 2011. To hear him play is a transcendent experience that I feel fortunate to have shared.
Sarkechik is one of five soloists from the French Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris (CNSMDP) who have performed in Israel since December 2010, as part of the musical season « French Notes, » a project of the French Embassy in Israel and the French Institute.
27 year old Sarkechik was born in the South of France to a family of Iranian origin. He began his piano studies at the age of 6, and entered the Paris Conservatoire in 2001, studying with George Pludermacher and François-Frédérique Guy. Nima Sarkechik has performed internationally in venues such as the theater of the Champs Elysées in Paris, and in music festivals in France, Italy, Luxembourg and Morocco.
Sarkechik is a member of ADAP Association of Artists for Peace, an organization founded in Paris in 2003 by artists from several different countries, seeking to bring people together through the arts. In this context, he has performed concerts with ADAP artists Israel Kastoriano and David Lively.
In his concerts in Israel, Sarkechik will play a program of Chopin and Lizst :
Chopin: Impromptu in A fat Major, op. 29
Chopin: Impromptu in F sharp minor, op. 36
Chopin: Impromptu in G fat minor, op. 51
Chopin: Impromptu Fantaisie, op. 66
Liszt: Sonata in B minor
Concert dates are:
March 14, 2011 – Rappaport Auditorium, Haifa, 04-8363804
March 15, 2011 – Jerusalem Music Centre, Jerusalem, 02-6241041
