Julian Gargiulo in aid of Diabetes Support Group, Grand Cayman

The Ballroom, Ritz-Carlton Grand Cayman

Thursday 4 March

There can be a barrier between the performer and the audience in any classical concert.
It’s just how things are; the performer performs, the audience appreciates, and at the end they applaud if they like it.

It can make for a formal evening of delineated roles and whilst there’s nothing wrong with sitting in front of a master musician with your legs crossed and your opera glasses and monocles hanging out, it’s not quite the experience that Julian Gargiulo likes to give his punters.

Affinity

The New Yorker is, it goes without saying, a mega-talented pianist who has performed everywhere from the Moscow Conservatory Hall to Carnegie Hall over the years. He is renowned, and rightly-so, for having an affinity with Schumann, Beethoven and Chopin.

But being a youthful and somewhat mischievous chap with it, Gargiulo is not content to let the music do the talking. He’s more comfortable jumping up from the piano stool to engage with the audience, encouraging feedback on the music, inviting questions and providing a constantly-evolving thread of humour.

“I love the fact that the drinking happens before the concert,” he quipped in his opening monologue, but with good reason. A relaxed audience is less likely to be reticent and passive than a lubricated, interactive one.

Gargiulo’s first piece was the self-penned Waltz in Four, a woozy, jazzy exploration which, said the composer, had a particular story behind its name.

“My mother heard it and liked it very much, so she said it was for her and I called it ‘Hijacked’,” he said.

Chopin and Schumann are both celebrating 200 years in 2010, and Gargiulo paired his own Waltz in Four with Chopin’s famous Waltz in C-Sharp minor, Opus 64 No. 2. It’s recognisable for its use in many popular television series including Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry David’s spin-off of Seinfeld – a major influence on the stand-up side of Gargiulo’s approach.

Joking apart, the evocative beauty of Chopin was brilliantly served by a player with the passion and skill to put the emotions of the triple-themed piece across.

Reet Petite

Gargiulo then bounced up out his seat again to talk the audience through his next selection, another original of his in three movements called the Petite Suite.

The piece was inspired, he said, whilst he was watching the Puerto Rico Parade near his home. Regardless of its genesis, the Petite Suite’s third movement – Puerto Rican Day Parade - is full of flourishes and proudly ascending, dominant themes that first rise and then fall through modulations of key and dynamic that recall the urgency of merengue and the colour and life of San Juan’s Spanish streets, as exported to and then filtered through New York’s particularly unique kaleidoscopic crucible of influences.

Robert Schumann’s Ich Grolle Nicht and Opus 18 Arabesque followed with Gargiulo introducing them through an explanation of the sorrowful tale itself which is rich in metaphor – and death.

“It’s a typical German happy ending – everybody dies, it’s lovely,” he said, before teasing the audience that the song would normally need a singer. Thankfully, he didn’t pick on the audience member who, for a moment, looked terrified that he may be press-ganged into action.

Interestingly, Gargiulo played Ich Grolle Nicht either side of the Arabesque. Whereas the first run-through seemed a pensive sigh of a melody, following the angrier Arabesque the same theme seemed full of a slightly-more sinister regret.

It is in these moments of contextual subtlety that genius lies; a reminder indeed of the transformative power of music.

Dismembering You

How do you follow that? If you’re Gargiulo, it’s by reciting a poem which was once called Sorrowful but was renamed Dismembering You.

“I’d like to read to you if you’ll bear with me – it’s 25 pages so I hope you’re comfortably-seated,” he said before launching into an angsty piece of poetry heavy on the darker corners of New York and relationships.

If nothing else, it was brave and provided a change of pace. The piece itself that followed, he said, was in two parts and all about separation.

“You ruined the pace,” said an audience member. Gargiulo invited her to discuss things later ‘at my place, with champagne’. The crowd was beginning to get warmed up and next were two more special moments from Frederick Chopin’s oeuvre: Etude Opus 10 No.9 and Etude Opus 25 No. 12.

“An etude is basically a technical exercise but these pieces actually made it to the concert halls,” he explained.

As the pieces galloped, preened and snorted their way up and down the keyboard, the Ritz-Carlton Ballroom was filled with the sonic imprint of pieces that have graced thousands of concert halls and chambers over two hundred years.

Questions and answers

The audience’s slight reluctance to ask questions immediately afterwards in the scheduled Q&A session was borne partly from awe at the spectacle. It’s not always easy to switch from deeply-held states of musical appreciation into light-hearted banter, and Gargiulo had to work hard to get the crowd involved as a result.

But he has the gangly charisma and prism-minded ability to bring things back down to earth, and laughter was soon ringing out as he riffed about learning the piano, arranging pieces and whether the audience were on happy juice. Unguarded, Julian Gargiulo can evidently take things a lot further in terms of cheekiness depending on the situation and there were many moments of genuine mirth.

It ended on another trio of his own design – Piano Sonata No. 1, Opus 6, which went down incredibly well. Gargiulo enjoyed the moment before returning for an encore of Erik Satie’s Gymnopedie No.1 – hardly a technical challenge for someone of his calibre but requiring and demanding an enormous amount of emotional intelligence and empathy to be successful. Those are elements on which any number of stand-up performers have crashed, or flown, over the years in comedy clubs - and now concert halls, too.

Delighted

The evening was a fundraiser for the Diabetes Support Group, Grand Cayman. Treasurer and secretary of the group, Melissa McWatt, was delighted with the evening.

“Julian has such a generous heart to come from New York to support our fundraiser for this very important cause.  Because the event was completely sold out and with the generosity of our sponsors, we raised in excess of $25,000.

“These funds will go directly towards DSG Cayman juvenile programmes, including sending children to Diabetes Summer Camps and to fund educational courses. We are so thrilled with the warm reception we received from the community.  It was a great opportunity for our supporters to enjoy an exceptional performance from Julian while also contributing towards such a worthy cause,” she said.

Masterclass at First Baptist Church, Friday 5 March

Friday morning saw Gargiulo lead a group of lucky children through a masterclass workshop on classical music at the First Baptist Church. The youngsters were all high school students from years 7, 8 and 9 and they engaged with the pianist very closely.

In attendance was Glen Inanga, co-director of Cayman Arts Festival and world-renowned pianist. 

“Julian Gargiulo really connected with the kids, firing up their imagination from so many different angles to the extent that I doubt that they will ever listen to a classical piano piece in the same way again after this memorable experience,” he said.

Imagination

At the event the children variously listened, interacted, made up stories to go with the songs and used their imaginations in listening to the music. The pianist himself said that it was an experience that was challenging but ultimately very fruitful for all concerned.

“You never know your audience until you get on stage.  This is especially true when giving a workshop to students.  You have to be quick to change gears when something isn't working so you won't lose the attention. 

“I think they were very willing to participate, to learn, to laugh and play along with what I gave them.  Especially when I had them act out the different themes in a Chopin Waltz to help them better understand the form of the piece.  Particularly impressive was a high school student, Este, who offered an interesting story-line to a piece which we then produced on the spot with me playing in the background.  Kids never cease to surprise me with their fresh imagination,” he told Weekender.

Multi-faceted

The New Yorker spent the weekend in Cayman, an experience that was multi-faceted.

“The overall feeling I've had while in Cayman was like being in an incredible dream.  As I mentioned during the concert, ‘has everyone been given 'happy pills?’  Everyone has been so great to me.  I would love to return the favour by having the entire island over to my place in New York.  I have a decent sized one-bedroom on the upper west side so it should work out well if we do it in groups of three!” joked Gargiulo.

He thanked Christina Rowlandson and Melissa McWatt and said that he managed to pack in plenty during his time on-island including swimming at Seven Mile Beach, an evening boat ride to Kaibo, a helicopter ride over the island and getting to see Stingray City.

“However, at the end of the day, for me a place is much more about who to see than what to see.  And that's what I'll take home with me.  The warmth of the incredible people I met while here!

“On Saturday evening I got to meet some of the children with diabetes for whom we are raising funds, play for them and talk some more with them – it was a wonderful time of bonding,” said the pianist.

In fact, whilst waiting for the kids to arrive, he hit a creative moment which could end up as a brand-new composition.

“I was fooling around on the piano and might have an interesting new theme.  I can't predict how it will develop but it's a start – I will keep you posted,” the performer added.

(SPONSORS)

Butterfield, Caledonian, Cayman National Bank, Caymanian Compass, Crighton Properties, Deagon Bay, KPMG, Ogier, PricewaterhouseCoopers.

(DIABETIC SUPPORT GROUP)

The Diabetic Support Group is a network of persons with diabetes (and pre-diabetes) in the Cayman Islands.

The general objective is to help ensure we live a life as close to normal with diabetes – continue to work, have children and live a long and healthy life by promoting diabetes education, self-management and access to relevant care. Type 1 diabetics, many of which are youngsters, participate in an annual family fun day.

Education materials sponsored by the Diabetes Research Institute are provided freely via email or in print format for both adults and children.

According to the World Health Organisation, diabetes is a chronic condition that occurs when the pancrease does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. Hyperglycaemia and other related disturbances in the body’s metabolism can lead to serious damage to many of the body’s systems, especially the nerves and blood vessels.

There are two main types of diabetes. Type 1 is also known as juvenile-onset or insulin-dependent where the body stops producing the insulin hormone that enables the body to use food glucose. People with Type 1 diabetes require daily injections of insulin to survive.

Type 2, adult-onset or non insulin-dependent, is when the body does not produce sufficient insulin and/or is insulin resistant, being unable to use insulin properly. This can occur in people over the age of around 340, those who are overweight or with a family history of diabetes. It is increasingly prevalent in adolescents.

People with type 2 diabetes can sometimes manage their condition with lifestyle measures alone, but oral drugs are often required, and less frequently insulin, in order to achieve good metabolic control.

Most people with diabetes have type 2. Many of them have no symptoms and are only diagnosed after many years of onset. As a consequence, almost half of all people with type 2 diabetes are not aware that they have this life-threatening condition.

The diabetes blue circle pin is the global symbol for diabetes and represents unity in the fight against the condition.

"Butterfield is committed to supporting initiatives associated with health issues, the arts and youth programmes and this event uniquely captured all three.  We were very pleased to be part of such an inspiring evening and to know that funding will be going to a very worthy cause."       

Mike McWatt, Deputy Managing Director, Butterfield

"As an organisation we are pleased to support such a cause in the hope that children with this disease will benefit from the opportunities to become better educated in order to have a better understanding of how to manage and to live a normal life in spite of the challenges that comes with juvenile diabetes.” - Claudia Welds, Corporate Communications Manger, Cayman National

"It never ceases to amaze me how Cayman can attract first class performers from around the globe. It was truly an amazing performance." - Jim O’Neill, Managing Director, Caledonian Bank Limited

“It was very entertaining and his humourous interjections rather humanised the more esoteric world of classical piano music.” – Brian Uzzell, Cayman Free Press

“An incredible evening! We expected to enjoy a talented concert pianist and we were not disappointed! But we were not expecting the humour and wit....an absolute entertainer!  The night was fantastic!"

Paula McCartney, Crighton

"Unbelievable performance. Julian’s passion in his music leaves the audience spellbound -sinfully romantic."  - Tyson Chavez, Dragon Bay

"KPMG was very pleased to help support the DSG.  The concert was well organised and tremendously enjoyable". Kevin Lloyd, partner, KPMG

"A magical evening of exquisitely performed music, wit and humour. Julian Garguilo is seriously talented - let's hope he returns to Cayman soon".

 Peter Cockhill, Ogier

"PricewaterhouseCoopers is honoured to have been able to assist the Diabetic Support Group of the Cayman Islands in putting on such a wonderful event for such a deserving cause. Those attending from PricewaterhouseCoopers were truly enthralled by Julian Gargiulo's performance and PricewaterhouseCoopers looks forward to being part of other Diabetic Support Group fund-raising events in the future." - Charles Bolland, PricewaterhouseCoopers

"Julian's performance raised awareness of type 1 diabetes in the Cayman Islands and Diabetic Support Group has also raised much needed funds for interventional programming.I would like to thank Dr Rachna Chowla (a London-based GP) for being the key link in helping make this happen.

“The Diabetic Support Group already assists parents and their children with referrals to qualified diabetes care providers in Miami and sponsor participation in diabetes camps but with the funds raised we will be able to help more of the young persons affected.  In the future we would like to achieve a lot more so the community will be hearing more about us in the coming year.

“Our programme interventions will help in the prevention of complications and also help unite young persons in fighting diabetes. Diabetes affects many persons here in Cayman and is a worldwide epidemic.

"I would like to thank all the Corporate Sponsors for coming on board to help make this performance happen and for helping a cause that is so close to the heart of the Caymanian people" - Christina Rowlandson MSc DIC, Diabetic Support Group, Cayman Islands

"Diabetes is a complex problem that every year affects an increasing number of people. It taxes health care systems; it strains families and can limit life’s enjoyment for sufferers. It is part of the largest epidemic we are facing today which is the one of chronic non-communicable diseases.

“But unlike for the flu and other viruses, there are no vaccines for these. Instead, prevention lies in education and the only way to protect ourselves from their impact is to choose to live healthier lifestyles.

“I therefore commend the Diabetic Support Group Cayman for taking on this silent disease through education and support projects. I am especially pleased with their latest drive to establish juvenile diabetes programmes." - Mark Scotland, JP, Minister of Health, Environment, Youth, Sport and Culture