Why has Glen Montgomery, a world-renowned concert pianist, returned to the Comox Valley every November for 25 years to perform concerts, give public master classes and offer private lessons to young piano students?
With a busy schedule of solo, chamber music and symphony concerts on top of his teaching responsibilities as head of the piano department at Lethbridge University, why does he reserve the week of Remembrance Day to return every year to the Comox Valley?
When asked these questions, he talks of the rich musical culture in the Comox Valley and how his energy is renewed by the audiences and the young music students he encounters.
Several local students he has worked with in past years, including Sarah Hagen, have gone on to study with him in Lethbridge.
But after a quarter of a century it is interesting to note that the Comox Valley students he will hear play next month were not even born when Montgomery first began coming to the Comox Valley.
Over the years, Montgomery has invited local musicians to perform at his concerts, and on other occasions he has enticed professional colleagues to come and perform with him.
This year, for the first time, he will share the stage with one of his own students — award-winning prodigy Stephen Nguyen. Stephen will perform some solo numbers and will join Montgomery in a duet version of Brahms waltzes.
The Comox Valley Piano Society presents Glen Montgomery and Stephen Nguyen in concert at the North Island College Stan Hagen Theatre on Nov. 11 at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are available at Laughing Oyster Books and Blue Heron Books and Videos N More.
— Comox Valley Piano Society