Piano Lightscapes – a concert like no other: soaring, polychrome, emotional

Teo Milea and Kurt Laurenz Theinert: Piano Lightscapes, 918 Bathurst Culture&Arts Centre, Toronto. Sunday 29 October 2017 (Sold out concert).

I always knew Teo Milea‘s music is cinematic. Laurenz Theinert brought those visions to life.

Fabulous Halloween lights are out on display on a cold Sunday night in the Annex neighbourhood. The 918 Bathurst Culture and Arts Centre is a former Buddhist temple and even though it hasn’t put out a visual display for the trick & treaters, there will be lights to remember in the next 90 minutes.

It is my 5th Teo Milea concert in Toronto and once again I notice the venue is sold out. The two pianos (musical and visual) are set in front of the stage, at audience level, rather than on top of it, a way to give more space to conquer to the four laser projectors.

It was my best concert in Canada so far! That’s what I felt, and so I didn’t hold anything on stage.

Teo Milea

The concert begins and Laurenz’s lightscapes conjure skyscraper jungles, cosmic vistas or the gentle flakes of a first snowfall.

Across from him, the same man behind the piano theology of Cathedral or triple-meter dance of Sarabanda expels the glorious climax of Journey, stamping at pedals like a fine-tuned piston engine. Laurenz follows closely on his own keyboard, and there are moments of levity, or near enough.

The bonds in this band of two are in music and in Laurenz’s ability to carve out the space that once served as an altar.

The show closes with an inspired encore, Momentum, from the upcoming album. Pitch-black, monochrome, or brimming with light, this was a show that was all heart.

I leave thinking Teo may play smaller venues, but he knows big time how to move people. Including his partner in resonance tonight, Kurt Laurenz Theinert. One can only hope the two will take the show on the road.