Sixteen-year-old immigrant plays piano solo at the Schnitz

Published: Saturday, November 14, 2009, 5:35 AM     Updated: Friday, November 13, 2009, 10:55 AM

Black-tie symphony performances are hardly the norm for Kai Talim.

As a boy, the music lover's parents tried to quench his thirst for music, but on a budget. Instead of orchestra concerts, they checked out music from the Beaverton City Library and took Kai and his sister, Kelly, to free community recitals.

Kai's family emigrated from Japan in 2003, and his parents, Jimmy and Keiko Talim, struggled to make ends meet. With two children interested in music, access to it became a luxury and a necessity.

Tonight, the junior at Beaverton's Sunset High School will take the stage at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland for a solo performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4. Kai, 16, won a piano competition earlier this year to perform his 35-minute piece as well as play with the Portland Youth Philharmonic's student musicians.

And on this stage, the story of a boy and his piano will come full circle with his one of his biggest performances to date.



After six years of playing the piano, 10-year-old Kai Talim had to say goodbye to the family instrument.

Kai Talim in concert

What: Portland Youth Philharmonic's fall concert

When: 7:30 tonight

Where: Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 S.W. Broadway

Tickets: $11-$37, www.ticketmaster.com, 503-223-5939 or visit the concert hall's box office beginning at 5:30 p.m. today

Jimmy Talim's business sculpting custom furniture was suffering in Japan's poor economy, so he and his wife moved from a town near Kobe, Japan, to Oregon in hope of more job opportunities. The piano would remain behind, an ocean away.

In Oregon, Kai soon realized how much he missed the piano.

"Maybe because I didn't know anyone, and it kind of felt like the piano was something I knew," Kai says.

It was unrealistic for the family to spend thousands of dollars on a new piano. But Kai itched for one.

"During that time he really missed it," Keiko Talim, a pharmacist, recalls.

The family filled rainy days listening to classical music at home, but it would be six months before a live piano melody would fill that void.

During a chance conversation with a DMV employee, Keiko Talim remembers sharing her story. They got to talking about music, and she remembers saying, "We cannot afford a piano." The stranger told her about the Piano Santa Foundation, a Portland-based nonprofit that places loaned pianos in students' homes.

Keiko Talim went to work immediately, and, after paperwork, parent essays and an audition, Kai was accepted into the program.

On delivery day, Kai returned from school and swung open the door searching for the new oak piano. His face lit up and his lips creased upward.

And then he made his way to it and slid his small palm across the shiny surface.

"I just wanted to touch the keys and just hear the notes," he says.

•  

Kai was in middle school when Beethoven's poetic and mysterious Piano Concerto No. 4 first caught his ear.

"I just thought it was so beautiful," says Kai, who has shaggy black hair, dimples and speaks softly. "I just wanted to play it."

He repeatedly asked his piano teacher if he could play it. "Just wait," he heard over and over.

"It's a difficult piece," Kai says. "It's challenging and ... yeah, I think they just wanted me to get more experience."

But his former and current teacher say he has a knack for this type of piece.

"Beethoven's No. 4 Concerto is a little more thoughtful than some of the other concertos," teacher Kelli Stephens said. "It's a little more sensitive. That's how I see Kai."

Maria Choban, who worked with Kai for several years, says her former student is not pompous and has the ability to feel music.

"He actually brings sincerity to music," she says. "A lot of times you get into, 'How fast can my fingers go?' 'cause it's fun. And 'What does a teacher want?' 'How does this sound?' With Kai, it's so evident that there is artistry in his personality."

If people close their eyes and listen to him play, he sounds different, Choban says.

Kai remains cool about tonight's concert. He shows no stress because he views this as any other of his performances, including his three years playing trumpet with the Portland Youth Conservatory Orchestra. Most of all, he looks forward to what he can share with the audience.

"Performing is kind of like getting paid in the sense that you work a lot at home for yourself, but to perform for everybody, it could really give people joy."

Kai, who wants to pursue a career in music and medicine, impressed judges in the philharmonic's biennial competition because "he was brave enough to choose the piece and was able to pull off the gentle nature of it," says David Hattner, conductor and musical director.

Hattner said people will get to meet Kai and understand his personality through this performance.

"It's good to have a soloist for the program," he said. "It gives the program more balance, and it gives the audience more variety. It gives the audience someone to root for."

-- Melissa Navas