To the editor:
I bet everyone who ever wanted to play piano was at the Tryon Fine Arts Center Sunday afternoon to hear the blockbuster, tour de force performance by 13-year-old Christopher Tavernier. Tavernier tossed off three major works for piano as if they were little gems from “Teaching Little Fingers to Play!”
He loosened up with Liszt’s transcription for two pianos of themes from Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni.  After a fun intro by my colleague and friend, Keith Freeburg, Tavernier sailed through a virtuoso performance of Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Niccolo Paganini was said to have sold his soul to the devil to play the violin as he did, but I am not privy to whatever arrangements young Christopher made in order to play a piece that filled its composer with trepidation when anticipating playing its premiere performance.
Then came the Tchaikovsky. The Piano Concerto that had its premiere in Boston because no Russian dared try to play it (they made excuses, but I know the real reason, right?) Every serious pianist would love to be able to play it, but as in NBA basketball, many are called . . .
Many of you know that I started piano lessons with Mrs. Mazzy when I was 17. And if you know that, you also know that I was too slow learning the simple pieces she assigned because I was busy learning much harder ones. She finally resigned herself to helping me with the trouble spots in the pieces I really wanted to play. Later I arranged the first theme of the Tchaikovsky for piano solo and learned to play it. I played it publicly on a visit to Tryon High School, and made a recording for my Mom for Christmas. Now I cannot remember any of it. Or play it.
So you see, I have a keen appreciation for what Christopher Tavernier did today. I also appreciate what his teacher, Dr. John Cobb, contributed to the day. Orchestral reductions for piano are notoriously unpianistic and hard to play, but Dr. Cobb was more than equal to his task. I was especially pleased by the way he opened the way for his young soloist to show off his abilities in bravura solos.
If you missed this, you may have another opportunity at the Diana Wortham Theater in Asheville on September 6th. But it is probably sold out, as this one was.
 
=Garland O. Goodwin      
Columbus