Aima without the adrenaline
There are people who need time to relax. I need something to make me a bit nervous. The focus is better if there is an adrenaline rush.”
Concert pianist Aima Labra-Makk thrives on tension before a performance. But as she glides through the musical repertoire, her concentration and affinity with the story that the music sings about is apparent. The intensity of Aima’s performance leaves no doubt that she understands the meaning of music as the composers once meant it to be.
Robert Schumann’s compositions are romantic, elaborate, contrapuntal (with different voices involved), stormy and alternately sad or triumphant; Franz Liszt’s “symphonic poems” soothe and inspire, and Johann Strauss’ waltzes, polkas and quadrilles evoke images of whalebone-corseted women in elaborate ball gowns gliding in grand gilt-wallpapered halls. She guides you to breathtaking glimpses of Mozart’s genius and to the disturbing, thinly veiled violence of Alberto Ginastera’s serial progressions. The performances of the globally acclaimed solo concert pianist, chamber musician and educator, Filipino-Austrian Alma Labra-Makk are so inspired. They evince such strong emotions that I once caught a friend surreptitiously teary-eyed as we watched her perform. I could only speculate that he was deeply stirred by her music and as a pianist himself, regretted giving it all up to go to the more usual professions.
Away from the concert stage, one happily discovers that Aima is gregarious, forthcoming and friendly, without the usual volatile moods and quirkiness that some artistic people have. She was born in Cebu in 1965, started piano lessons at the age of three: and although her mother was her first piano tutor, she says that it was her grandfather Francisco Briones or Tatay Kikoy who was her true first mentor. “I was Tatay Kikoy’s favorite. When I was three years old he showed me something on the piano and I picked it up right away,” she says. She joined her first piano recital shortly thereafter and her grandfather was her biggest fan. She has fond memories of that first recital. Her grandfather stayed backstage with her and urged her, “Day, lumabas ka at mag-bow ka.” (Go out and bow.) So I went out and bowed — not to the audience, but to my grandfather. And everyone saw my ruffled panties.” She laughs at the childhood recollection. The piano lessons continued and she eventually earned a Bachelor of Music degree at the University of the Philippines under the distinguished mentor Perla Suaco.
It was 1985 was when she won first prize in NAMCYA or the National Music Competition for Young Artists, piano category C. What was notable about this victory was that the judges were so impressed by her performance and did not award a second prize By 1986, she was accepted as a student at the University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Graz, Austria. She won numerous scholarships such as the Bossendorf Scholarship, Martha Debelli Stipend and the Alban Berg Foundation Scholarship.
In 1990, a unanimous board awarded her the highest honors with a concert diplomate from the University of Music. Likewise, she received an award from the Austrian Ministry of Education. Currently, Aima and her husband cellist Nikolaus Makk are based in Oberscheutzen, Austria, and she teaches at the Graz University of Music. She also conducts master classes at the invitation of music institutions all over the world.
Although Aima has performed in key cities and venues, she makes it a point to play for causes.“ Art and music are for everyone. Everyone should have access to it,” she believes. Apart from playing in some rural areas in Europe where the chance of watching world-class concert pianists perform is practically nil, she manages to perform in concerts or give master classes for music majors during her visits to the Philippines. Her dream is to expose children in Philippines rural barrios to classical music so that they may perhaps eventually develop an appreciation for it. “It is like serving caviar to someone who is more used to daing (salted fish). Exposure has to be done one step at a time so classical music can be understood.”
There is no room left for doubt that music remains important in her life as she thoughtfully states, “I know that there are basic needs, but I also think that music is to feed your spiritual component. Music is not a job; it is my life.”
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Aima Labra-Makk is currently on her annual sabbatical to the Philippines and her schedule of performances and master classes for the duration of her stay is as follows: tomorrow, master class at the University of Santo Tomas; Aug. 15, press conference in Cebu; Aug. 17, Cebu gala concert; Aug. 20, Cebu matinee performance. For information, call Aima Labra-Makk’s Manila booking office at 723-8874 or 723-7075.
