Concert Review: Forte@40 By the Piano Teachers Guild of the Philippines

I was invited to witness one of the most unique concerts ever. This is the first time I’ve ever heard that there will be no orchestra to create music, only pianos, and 40 at that on one stage! 

I immediately became interested to see the concert called Forte@40 by the Piano Teachers Guild of the Philippines (PTGP). Just the idea of that many pianos on stage, I wonder how would things would turn out. I was curious about how they’re going to synchronize the sounds to form graceful melodies.

My mom, brother, and I arrived at CCP early and I noticed that they were a lot of Filipino-Chinese audiences. The concert started on time and, indeed, there were 40 pianos up there on the big stage of the main theater. The piano players range from 40 to 80 per number. 

They started with recognizable songs from nursery books and classical music for begginners. I was surprised that they sounded like a combination of realistic orchestra and MIDI format sounds.

The second set was really good. It sounded very peaceful and became my most favorite of all the performances. The least of my favorites were the songs performed by the kids. I don’t know, I think I’m just not a fan of performing children performing. They need to practice more and improve because I honestly was not impressed. 

After the intermission, I recognized some songs like the tunes from the Harry Potter movies and the theme from Super Mario. The latter sounded weird and the combinations and blending were not that good. Plus, I also noticed a few mistakes. 

Some of the pianists played one of my favorite songs from a band called Nirvana. The good news is that I liked it. Maybe because all I saw performing were middle aged people who probably play the piano professionally.

The finale was again played by 80 pianists with two players per piano. It was a good way to end the performance despite the problems during the earlier parts. Overall, I rate the concert as average. Perhaps, it was because I was expecting a group of highly professional pianist around the Philippines and instead, it turned out like one of those school programs with 40 pianos, children, teenagers, and adults who can play piano.