Serious music, now with fun

By Joe Brown

Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Given your choice of two pianos — an austerely elegant jet-black Steinway grand or Liberace’s own rhinestone-encrusted Baldwin, sparkling with rainbow colors in the spotlights — which would you pick?

Sparkly proved irresistible to most of the junior pianists at the Competitors Showcase for the 2008 Liberace Piano Competition on Sunday afternoon, including 8-year-old Natalie Rule of Las Vegas.

“I liked the gems on it, and it was shiny,” she says, patiently explaining her no-brainer choice to a grown-up. Natalie, who had, just moments before, turned in an impressive performance of a Bach etude, is one of 18 young pianists taking turns performing short classical pieces at the Liberace Museum as a preview of this year’s competition, which has evolved over its 15 years from its beginning as a Liberace play-alike contest.

All of the performers at the showcase are preliminary-round winners from Las Vegas and Henderson — with the exception of teeny-tiny Tiffany Koo, a 6-year-old from San Marino, Calif., who, after a special extension was added to the piano’s pedals, startled the audience with a nimble and confident trot through Mozart’s “Rondo in D Major.”

The young local artists will be joined in next month’s semifinals by pianists from other states and countries, all hoping for a shot at the cash prizes and scholarships.

Watching Natalie intently from the back of the museum’s showroom is her big brother Nicholas, 12, dressed up in black tie, white shirt, suspenders and shiny shoes. He’s an old hand at the Liberace competition — he won last year’s junior competition with a Liszt etude (“Op. 1 No. 4,” he says.)

“I thought (the junior pianists) were all extremely talented, and I thought that the contestants that returned from last year were seriously improved,” Nicholas says. “I’m very, very thankful that I won last year, and I’m really happy to see my sister continuing on and doing the competition herself. We have different pieces, we don’t have many duets, so we don’t really practice together, but we help each other out.” He’s sitting out this year’s competition to give his sister a shot, but will be performing in other state competitions.

Nicholas says he doesn’t remember how long he’s been playing piano (his mom reminds him he’s been at it for five years; Natalie began at age 3), but he points out that piano lessons and competition aren’t just about musical skills.

“You learn good posture and dressing correctly for occasions,” he says. “Having the right expressions and movement and sensitivity, showing your feelings through the piece you’re playing. You learn confidence and how to look people in the eye.”

After chatting, Nicholas, who is polite and well-spoken and a bit of a ham, takes a seat at the mirrored piano in the museum and plays a Beethoven sonata, eyes closed, attracting a small crowd that includes Anna Nateece.

“He looks just like a young Liberace,” she whispers admiringly. And she should know — Nateece was Liberace’s fur designer and close friend.

After a solemn bow, Nicholas goes back to being a kid — he hops off the piano platform with both feet, and is later spotted pretend-playing the black and white keys painted on the counter of the museum’s snack bar.

After a break, it’s the teenage competitors’ turn, and they wait, sitting stiffly in chairs along the wall, dressed in gowns and dark suits.

Seth Thompson, 16, opts to perform on the dignified Steinway grand, as do all the other teenagers. The very image of a concert pianist, Thompson curves over the keys, his hands mirrored in the polished wood, to execute a thundering movement from Prokofiev’s dissonant, dramatic Sonata No. 6. Later Thompson, who is also a math whiz, hip-hop fan and pingpong club founder at Coronado High, is seen exchanging congratulatory fist bumps with his buddies.

Norman Rockwell could have painted the scene: “Sunday Afternoon Piano Recital”: Some in the audience are listening raptly; others have clearly been dragged along to support a sibling. A woman plays one-handed “air piano” on her husband’s shoulder while listening. A pair of young brothers take turns swatting each other with cardboard fans printed with Liberace’s face.

Watching proudly from the sidelines, occasionally raising his eyebrows after a particularly expressive phrase or gesture, is Darin Hollingsworth, president of the Liberace Foundation, which administers the competition. After self-effacingly joking that his “only talent is applause,” Hollingsworth — who is sporting beaded “Liberace Kicks” sneakers and a black shirt trimmed with stripes of black bugle beads — acknowledges all the piano teachers in the audience.

In the spirit of Liberace, the competition has added a “showmanship” category, represented at the showcase by the day’s final performer, 16-year-old Alexander Montes, who manages to stand out before playing a note.

“I apologize if I didn’t wear the appropriate attire,” he says, flashing a sheepish grin as he takes the stage in a striped polo shirt, brown jeans and Nikes in neon hues of green.

The audience is already in love as Montes (whose nickname is Lexus) sails into a medley of “Autumn Leaves,” “Georgia” and “New York, New York,” lavishly ornamented with improvised arpeggios and ostinatos. As he nears the flourish-filled conclusion of “New York, New York,” he turns and grins at the audience, signaling “Big finish!”

Liberace would have loved this kid.