A few surprises at our last concert!

by Scott

Our concert earlier this week in Abbotsford was especially memorable for a few reasons. One of them was that my childhood teacher, Carole Pollard, from Winnipeg, flew in to BC for two days to attend the concert! We hadn’t seen each other since Clare and I last visited Winnipeg in 2019, and we had a great time catching up. It was also very nice to meet Carole’s sister, who lives in Abbotsford, and is the one who told Carole “would you like to come to hear the Meeks Duo with me?”!

I studied with Carole from ages 8 to 18, and she has been the greatest influence on my musical growth, in her attitude towards musical expression and communication through performance, and her letting me explore and discover on my own, among other things. She taught me to be independent at an early age, so when I went through university, I was often the one choosing what to play and deciding what to do. (Hopefully my professors didn’t mind!) I learned to enjoy performing from Carole, and was also inspired by her dedication to the world of collaborative piano, which is a path that I started in university and continued intensely after graduating. Thank you for everything, Carole!

Another surprise was at the end of the concert - we knew that pianist/arranger Mel Bowker from Abbotsford would be in the audience, so we decided to play his own piano 4-hand arrangement as an encore without telling him beforehand! We had learned it a few years ago and thought it would make a great encore to a fun program. (see video below!)

With Carole

With Mel Bowker