Another beautiful and dreamy concert was performed by pianist Dr. Tony Karam on May 27 at Rebirth Beirut in Gemmayze within the framework of artist Wissam Melhem’s exhibition. This Is Beirut grabbed that opportunity to ask Dr. Karam a few questions.
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Dr. Tony Karam, you are well known as a physician and a medical doctor. You are also known as an extraordinary pianist who has performed since his childhood in front of the greatest personalities in the world, including queens and presidents, to mention a few. How do you manage to balance your two passions in such a professional way?
Well, it is not about balance but rather about doing what one loves to do. When you love, you do. People think they need to find time to do something; let me assure you that there is plenty of time. We are all experts at wasting it, but not me. The other condition is that when you do something, you must do it well. One has to be serious and professional about any act that they do. Otherwise, life loses its meaning because there is life in anything that one does and in any moment that one lives.
Your latest piano recital, whose aim was to raise funds for the NGO Rebirth Beirut, was a highly emotional moment for the people who could attend it. We also know it sold out very quickly. Can you tell us more about the music program you performed? How did you choose the pieces, and how did the public react to them?
The program was chosen on the spot. I had to feel the audience first, and based on that, I picked and chose from a bank of pieces in my memory. But they were all related to the “ghost-like” theme of Wissam Melhem’s exhibition. We have all become ghosts in cities with digital media eliminating pure one-on-one interaction. I had to interact with the audience, and I had to depict through music the layering of the cities and of humans as seen in Wissam Melhem’s art. The master composers had done just that hundreds of years ago, layering melodies on top of each other, each with a different mood, to create music that touches the soul. I think this is what made the audience love the performance. They were all touched in one way or another.
We notice that you would usually rather perform highly intense Prokofiev or Rachmaninov pieces than classical Mozart. You would also go for the most technically difficult musical moments to be performed, such as The Campanella of Listz, which requires a high level of expertise. Do you enjoy it more? Or is it a constant challenge you put on yourself?
I don’t challenge myself on purpose or to prove a point. I try to improve upon what I have or what I do in my daily life, even as a physician or a surgeon. The technical challenges make some of those pieces difficult to hear by the public, given the lack of performers who dare play them. I am blessed with a gift and an ability that I have worked on to sustain, so I offer people the chance to enjoy listening to those pieces. However, I recently ventured into bringing out the added challenge of showing hidden melodies in simple pieces and making those pieces interesting to listen to, even if they had been heard many times before.
We saw you pay a beautiful tribute to the people who lost their eyes after the August 4 blast by playing a piano étude by Scriabin while blindfolded. How difficult was it, particularly for this piece? And how can music touch the soul before it touches any of the five senses?
This étude by Scriabin was not very well known before the great Vladimir Horowitz brought bits of melody out in a way that was never heard before. The variation of sound between every single note is what makes it a big challenge to perform. Yet, life is also very challenging for those who have lost a limb, a body part, or any of their senses, mainly their eyesight. I did that as a tribute to them and to tell them that we feel their pain. I wanted the audience to relate that playing blindfolded for someone who is not blind, therefore not used to this, is indeed an added element they can connect with and perhaps help move them to support those in need. If that did not touch their soul along with the music, I don’t know what does.
We listened to three of your personal compositions during this concert. You depicted the inspiration you got from the melodies of cities, evident in the compositions “Istanbul”, “Barcelona”, and “Paris”. How do you feel while playing your own compositions versus performing the classical ones of the great masters?
I like my compositions, but I sure don’t compare them to the masters. Compositions are more like inspirations from tunes I hear, and I build on them. Some have personal meanings. I don’t write them nor wish them to be performed by anyone, as I add to them every time I play them. Music is dynamic and fluid and adapts to one’s mood.
Playing in front of a crowd with such deep emotions could feel as if you were performing alone in an empty room. Is this the state you put yourself in to be able to stay genuine and true to your art? Or are you aware of the presence of the spectators?
I do not intentionally think that I am alone. But much like everything in life, I focus on what I do and on the person I am dealing with in a conversation, in surgery, at my office, or in public. On the piano, nothing is more important than the instrument translating my emotions through tunes that were composed after the composer poured his or her soul into the piece they wrote. That is respect, and respect is important in life. Then, the silence of the audience is remarkable and demands respect as well. It also allows me to focus even more because there are souls waiting to be touched without words, and their approval at the end of a piece means a lot. It means you connected. In fact, you can see it in some of their faces as a mark of approval, but in others, you can see a smile of contentment or a tear that tickles a cheek. Sometimes you catch a look that means a thousand words. That is the result of being focused and delivering your undivided attention to the audience.
In your opinion and knowing the depth of your music, what is the difference between playing correct notes and performing with the soul? And how could a pianist reach this mastery of doing both while conveying his music to the public?
A lot of people can hit the correct notes. One can sometimes lower the speed and hit them in difficult pieces. But “reciting” notes is not the same as “performing” them. It could be the difference between reading a text, reading poetry, or reciting poetry from memory, with a part of you being transmitted through the words. There is a huge difference between all of the above. Music is about feelings. It is not, and never will be, about playing notes. This is the mistake that students make in music: they think they just have to hit the right notes.
On another level, we also know that you are a very refined art lover and collector and that you have lately curated dozens of exhibitions in Lebanon and abroad for artists of all levels (established, well-known, Lebanese art history pioneers, and even newcomers). What is your objective for art and your message for culture in Lebanon?
I do not have a personal objective, which is something many do not even understand or believe. I have heard all the negative comments that come from those who are envious of what I do or who are not involved (by their own choice, by the way) in what I do. Envy and jealousy are diseases, and I tell you that as a doctor. I can also advise people to listen to what I say because I only tell the truth. I do this out of a passion for the arts. I do it to relay the message that art is attainable and can be seen and admired by everyone. I do not take any personal benefit from this. In fact, many times it costs me to make things happen, but that is irrelevant. People usually pay for doing things they like, and this is okay. The ultimate goal is for the artists to be happy and recognized and for people to get a taste of what can make their lives better, be it a painting, a sculpture, or music. Acquiring art is nice, but admiring art is more noble. My goal is to make this happen for everyone. And for those who think that I only help or push my friends, I tell them that yes, indeed, I do that because that is what friends do. But I also tell them I have helped many rivals, adversaries, and even enemies (although I don’t like this word), in art as well as in health and medicine. People have to remember the oath we take as physicians: we do no harm and we help everyone. I take my oath seriously, and it spans across all aspects of my life.
Do you have new art projects for the near future in Lebanon?
Of course, I do. I just prefer not to reveal them until they are solid and confirmed.
We would like to ask you once more the question you’ve often been asked: how do you manage to deal with all your responsibilities as a doctor and an engaged person in the art society?
It is easy. I just live true to who I am, and I am happy with the person that I am. Actually, it is not happy; rather, I am content. Contentment is much deeper than happiness. As such, people just see who I am by observing me and what I do. I also respect time, so I use it well. I do not appreciate people who do not respect time. They lack a true sense of one of the most intricate constants in the universe: time.
What is the advice you would give to parents who feel that their children have a particular artistic gift? How can they help them follow their passion seriously without putting an end to their academic studies?
Provide guidance. The role of a parent is to guide. A child does not know what is best for them, but parents do. Sometimes, this guidance comes with rules that children resent. It is okay to have them resent you, but do not give up. Kids today are more independent, and they think that they own the world. Well, they do not. We adults have allowed them to think that way because it is easier for us to deal with them that way. Well, the price to pay is for them to be lost when they grow up. Guidance also extends beyond adulthood. The experience that parents acquire in life has to be extended to their adult children as well, and they are supposed to respect their parents’ wishes in return. This is the key that puts a child on the proper railway of life and the proper road of a certain talent to be cultivated so as to flourish.
