9/08                                                                                                  20 November 2008

AN EVENING OF PIANO RECITAL AND PAINTING EXHIBITION BY MALAYSIAN AND FRENCH ARTISTS IN PARIS
 

With rigor and elegance, pianist Muzaffar Abdullah did not disappoint the over 180-strong Paris audience who attended the Malaysian-French cultural evening held at the Paris City Hall of the 13th Arrondissement (District) on Thursday, 20 November 2008.  Muzaffar’s classical piano recital, organised by the Malaysian Embassy in Paris, charmed the audience from the very beginning with his rendition of classical composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Ferrucio Busoni, Scriabine and Johannes Brahms.  In addition to Muzaffar, French artists also participated at the event such as pianist Olivia Garnier and violinist Yaoré Talibart who showed their talents as well as French painter, Patrick Fouilhoux who exhibited his watercolour paintings of Malaysian sceneries entitled “A Journey to Malaysia”.      

The cultural evening or “Soiree Franco-Malaisienne”,  was co-hosted by H.E. Dato’ S. Thanarajasingam, Ambassador of Malaysia to France and Mr. Jean-Marie Le Guen, French Member of Parliament and Deputy Mayor of Paris  as well as Mr. Mr. Jérôme Coumet, Mayor of the 13th Arrondissement. The event was held in conjunction with the “Malaysian Kitchen” initiative as well as the 51st anniversary of the establishment of the Malaysian-France diplomatic relations.  

Pianist Muzaffar Abdullah started his career as a concert pianist in Europe after graduating with honours in piano performance and chamber of music from the prestigious Ecole Normal de Musique Alfred Cortot  and the European Conservatory of Paris. Trained by eminent French teachers such as Pierre Sancan, Germaine Mounier and Claudine Mellon, he also studied with pianist legend Irina Zaritskaya in London and attended masterclasses with Vlado Perlemuter and Tatiana Nikolaeva.  Now an active pianist in the international scene, Muzaffar has won numerous awards in France, Italy and the United States. In Malaysia, he founded the International Piano Festival in 1994 with the support of the ‘Yayasan Seni Berdaftar’, an art foundation of which he was the Artistic Director for ten years.

Throughout his career, the Malaysian pianist has performed in France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Finland, Austria, Belgium and the United States. In Asia, he has played in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Laos and has recently performed Rachmaninoff’s 2nd piano concerto with the Malaysian National Symphony Orchestra to a packed audience in Tokyo’s Opera City Hall and the Osaka’s Philharmonic Hall. Currently living in Paris, Muzaffar teaches piano while dynamically continuing his activities as a concert pianist.

French pianist Olivia Garnier gave her first piano recital for French television at the age of seven. At ten, she was already playing in many Parisian halls and has since then performed in many concerts at various international piano festivals not only in France but also Malaysia, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary and the West Indies. Being a member of the ‘Art of Music Chamber Players’, she now plays frequently in the Boston area in the United States.  At the cultural evening, both Muzaffar and Olivia took to the stage as a pair to perform a lively and enjoyable piece for four hands, Johannes Brahms’ 3 Hungarian Dance, nos.1, 2 and 5. 

Violinist Yaoré Talibart as guest musician also enthralled the audience with Jean Sebastian Bach’s Sarabande de la 1ere Partita and Russian’s composer Alexander Glazunov’s concerto for violon in A Major, 3rd movement. Fifteen-year old Yaoré started violin at the age of five with violinist Anton Matalaev, founder of Quatuor Anton.  Yaoré began performing in public at the age of seven and has since performed in music festivals throughout France and Italy.

French painter Patrick Fouilhoux, who owns an art workshop in the Paris Bastille area, studied fine arts in France, Sweden and the United States. His water colour works are inspired by his numerous travels abroad. The exhibition dedicated to Malaysia at the cultural evening was the fruit of his experience during his three consecutive trips to Malaysia.  

The French guests at the cultural evening had a chance to taste popular Malaysian food at the cocktail reception after the concert. The food prepared by the PERWAKILAN Ladies Association included among others satay, samousa, popiah, rendang and some sweets such as kuih lapis, bingka ubi and ondeh-ondeh.  

Embassy of Malaysia
Paris
20 November 2008