Pianist Ines Irawati to perform free concert at Rancho Bernardo Library

Favorite short pieces that represent meaningful times in pianist Ines Irawati’s life will be featured in a free concert on Tuesday evening at the Rancho Bernardo Library.

“I am calling (the concert) ‘Souvenirs,’” Irawati said. “These are short pieces … that are very dear to my heart, representing different parts of my life.”

First up will be two pieces by Franz Schubert — Impromptu op. 90 no. 2 in E-Flat Major and Impromptu op 90 no. 3 in G-Flat Major.

“I learned these in high school, after I arrived in America,” she said.

The Indonesian-born pianist came to the United States at age 15 to study in the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Young Artists program, which was designed for high school students.

“The kids lived in the dorm with college students,” Irawati said. “We attended high school in the morning, then studied music later in the day.”

After graduating, she remained at the Cleveland Institute of Music to earn her bachelor’s degree in piano performance before earning her master’s in piano performance from Yale University.

After the Schubert selections, Irawati will play three movements from Maurice Ravel’s “Sonatine” — Modéré, Mouvement de menuet and Animé.

“I learned these at a difficult time of my performing (career) when experiencing stage fright,” she said.

The remainder of the hour-long concert will feature music by Franz Liszt. The first section will feature three pieces — “Un sospiro” from “Trois Concert de Etudes,” “Sposalizio” from “Deuxieme Année de Pélerinage: Italie” and “Isoldens Liebestod” from Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde.”

“I love (Liszt’s) music very much,” she said. “The one of ‘Isoldens Liebestod’ I worked with at the San Diego Opera singers. It is one of my favorite arias.”

Irawati is the former musical and artistic director of the San Diego Opera Young Artist Training Program. It was through the program that she worked with many singers, and the aria was a frequent selection.

Irawati will conclude the concert with Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody no. 2 in C-Sharp Major, which she said many in the audience will likely recognize from a “Tom and Jerry” cartoon.

The piece was featured in the 1947 short “The Cat Concerto” and is among the cartoon’s most famous short films.

“This is very new for me,” Irawati said. “I have wanted to play it, but was afraid because it is so hard and everybody knows it because of ‘Tom and Jerry.’”

Frequent attendees of the Friends of the Rancho Bernardo Library concert series will likely recognize Irawati, who has performed at the library several times as a founding member of the Aviara Trio. She is also a member of the Hidden Valley Virtuosi and founder of MusiKamar, a music series that brings chamber music performances to smaller and intimate spaces.

“(The RB Library) is one of my favorite places to play because I love the people, they are like family to me,” she said. “I try to do (a concert there) every year.”

Irawati said she will talk a little about the composers and selections because that is one of the ways she connects with her audiences.

A traumatic experience at age 3 led to Irawati’s career as a pianist, she said.

After being hospitalized to have her tonsils removed she became very clingy with her mother, she said. To help her overcome that behavior, her mother put her into several activities, including  gymnastics, swimming and group music lessons, so she could form friendships with other young children.

“At some point, I had to pick and choose an activity and my music teacher said I was very talented and needed real piano lessons,” Irawati said, noting she was about 4 ½ years old at the time.

As for her continuing with the piano, Irawati said some of her enjoyment comes from the meditative aspect playing brings to her life.

“It is a form of art where you can express yourself fully, as it involves the body, mind, feelings, emotions and creativity,” she said. “It involves your whole soul, body and mind when you play and there is a connection with people.”

Realizing the benefits of music, Irawati and her husband, an “amateur” pianist whom she met at a concert where she performed, have encouraged their two children to play. Now teenagers, their son is a violinist and daughter a cellist who are considering following in their mother’s footsteps by pursuing music careers, she said..

The couple has lived in San Diego since 2003, previously in Rancho Peñasquitos and now in Del Mar. It was initially the weather that attracted Irawati and her husband to California, she said.

“At first it was hard here (as a pianist) because the music scene was not as vibrant as it is now,” Irawati said. “But then I met a few wonderful people who said ‘you can make something of yourself here and contribute.’”

Her solo concert will begin at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 25 in the library’s second-floor community room, 17110 Bernardo Center Drive. Seating is on a first-come basis.

The concert series is geared towards adults and teens. Admission is free, but donations will be accepted to support the Friends’ concert series. For details, call 858-538-8163.