July 1, 2009

Youth church musician plays Carnegie Hall

By Anna Maria Basquez

Fourteen-year-old Kevin Ahfat was visibly and audibly in sync with the piano music he played on a recent Sunday at Our Lady of Loreto Church in Foxfield during a regularly scheduled Mass.

His transition song into Communion time before again picking up a song of worship was a performance of Sergei Rachmoninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 5. Moving his arms, wrists and fingers in complete symphony with the sound, he gave suspenseful treatment to each note to the very last key.

It was just one week prior that New York’s Carnegie Hall recognized him as more than a regularly scheduled musician.

Ahfat, Colorado’s first, first-prize winner in the Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition, saw New York City for the first time for the purpose of performing for the honorary concert for the contest there May 17. He joined 16 prize winners from countries including Asia and Russia in his middle school division and 35 musicians overall.

“There were great acoustics and everyone can hear you, even if you were whispering on the piano,” Ahfat said of the experience. “At Carnegie Hall, you can hear everywhere and it just fills up the entire room. And you’re there, knowing you’re sitting in the same place as a lot of the musical greats. Once you sit there and collect yourself, then you realize that you’re playing at Carnegie Hall.”

“That was his dream always,” said his father, Chris Ahfat. “I encourage him to do what he loves and to stay focused. He works hard for it.”

Randy White, director of liturgy and music at Our Lady of Loreto, made the trip to be in the audience at Carnegie Hall.

“The first time I ever heard Kevin play was 20 minutes before a Mass when he came up and offered his services when he noticed we didn’t have a piano player,” White said, recalling his meeting Ahfat three years ago. “Initially, I was skeptical as he was only 11 years old and I hadn’t heard him play, but once I heard him play, I knew God had gifted him with musical talent I had never seen in an 11-year-old.”

The Canadian-born musician said he sees God’s gifts as nature vs. nurture. It starts with the gift, Ahfat said, but a person must labor to carry it through to fruition.

“When God gives you this unusual gift, and God gives everyone a gift, you still have to work hard,” said Ahfat who devotes at least two hours a day to practice. 

 Ahfat, who is Catholic and has also shared his musical talents with St. Thomas More Parish, said he hopes to enrich the Mass experience with his music. He has played at Our Lady of Loreto since 2006.

“One of the best times to play classical music is during Communion. When you’re experiencing Communion, I think it helps you think and meditate better,”  he said.

Aside from playing in New York City, Ahfat and his family enjoyed the sites of the Big Apple, wandering Seventh Avenue and visiting Julliard School of Music to consider it in his future.

“To so many at Our Lady of Loreto, he’s a great steward of his many gifts,” said Msgr. Edward Buelt, pastor of Our Lady of Loreto.

White said Ahfat was the only performer at the Carnegie Hall concert who mentioned in the program his enjoyment of playing for his church. He said he hopes Ahfat, though competent enough to go professional, stays level-headed, Christian and cognizant that his talent is a gift from God.

“I pray he continues this way,” he said. “He probably doesn’t recognize it, but he probably could play Carnegie Hall on violin as well. He’s that good.”

Ahfat is impressive on violin, flute and pipe organ, said White. He has been working with long-time pipe organ musician Kathleen Wheeler to learn the pipe organ, a historic instrument not often sought out by younger musicians to play.

At Carnegie Hall, Ahfat performed Rachmaninoff’s Moments Musicaux, Maurice Ravel’s Jeux d’eau and Beethoven’s Sonata Opus 14, No. 2.