INTERNATIONALLY renowned Guyanese pianist, Dr. Ray Luck, returned to the country of his birth to host another five-day piano workshop which he dubbed a success, culminating it with a courtesy call on President Donald Ramotar yesterday. The sessions conducted in the morning and afternoon hours, targeted a batch of 40 students and their tutors, who showed keen interest and vigour in the process, much to the satisfaction of the pianist.
“As a Guyanese coming home it’s wonderful to see that within the next generation, there is so much talent. I feel that all the teachers appreciated it very much…so it has been very gratifying for me,” Dr. Luck told the Government Information Agency.
The workshop is the second such for the visiting pianist who, within the last eight years, has been engaged in similar ventures throughout the Caribbean. During his visit last year, Dr. Luck performed renditions at a Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport hosted piano recital at the National Cultural Centre (NCC).
The artiste would have loved to perform in front of a live Guyanese audience again but a fault in the piano at the venue hindered the process. A disappointed Dr. Luck highlighted the issue to President Ramotar during yesterday’s visit.
He was accompanied by workshop coordinator, Elsie Croal, Director of Culture, Col. Lyndon Ross, Music Teacher, Marlyn Dewar and Director of Music in the Police Force Band Assistant Commissioner, Cecil Bovell.
His stay in Guyana was too short to visit the recently opened National School of Music that was commissioned last November, fulfilling the dream long held for a national institution where music can be taught to children.
The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport had then outlined a progammme of activities that will see students at the school sitting external examinations, until Guyana can develop its own certificate programme.
Dr. Luck’s early schooling in music started at Queen’s College where he attended and later elevated to the Royal College of Music in London after receiving the Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music (LRSM) and the Fellowship Diploma in TESOL Education Studies (FTCL) diplomas.
He subsequently won the first prize in piano and Chamber Music from Paris’ Conservatorie National Superieur de Musique and later graduated from Indiana University of Bloomington, USA.