Pianist and Saxophonist Jean Renaud is excited to entertain classical music lovers at the Classical Delight Concert featuring local musicians at Belair Community Centre from 7:30 this evening.
Renaud, 39, will play the saxophone in Rachmaninoff’s Harvest of Sorrow, and Gallop March, which is a piano piece for eight hands on one piano, with his colleagues Magali Le Gouais, Yenys Lugo and Julien Lebrun. He will also conduct two pieces with the Choir Charlie par Coeur: “Worthy is The Lamb” by J.S Bach and “Heilig” from “Messe Allemande,” composed by F. Schubert.
Renaud has been involved in music since he was young. “When I was four years old, my father inherited a piano from his father and it became my favourite and only toy as soon as it appeared in our living room. My parents then realised that I was playing many songs by ear and my grandmother decided to pay for my piano lessons,” Renaud said.
“My teacher discovered that I had perfect pitch and told my parents that it would be against my destiny not to do music. I didn’t want to learn to play the violin, because I had to stand up for the whole lesson. I learnt to play the piano first with a private teacher in Canada, then in school. I studied conducting with my master Michel Brousseau, a well-known conductor in Canada.”
Renaud played for 20 years before he had an accident during which he broke a ligament in his right hand. “I stopped practising for many years after the accident and became an orchestra conductor. Now I play mostly for my own pleasure.”
Renaud says that although his piano playing skills are not perfect due to his ligament damage, he plays every day, because it’s a form of meditation. “I can just breathe, not think and let my soul express itself while playing… I can truly express my emotions through my fingers, which is one of the things my teachers always recognised.”
Renaud said he spends his free time getting inspired by the beauty of life to compose instrumental music and songs.
As for his future goals, he would like to swim with dolphins. “I think that, without music, I would have turned to the dark side. My teenager years were difficult. Now I have to give back, and one of the things that makes me most fulfilled is to inspire people with my passion, especially kids and teenagers.”
His performance tonight will be “a modest, but heart-giving one. There are so many good performers who will play at this concert. I’ll just be one among them. Patrons should come out to discover all the talents we have on this island and especially for young people to get inspired and discover what live music is.”
Check him out at: www.jeanfrenaud.com
