Music student finds passion in piano playing

LIBERTYVILLE – He is only 12 years old, but Vernon Hills resident Finley Lau already has performed on one of the most respected and sought-after stages in the world.

A student at the David Adler Music and Arts Center in Libertyville, Lau won the opportunity to play Carnegie Hall when he was in fourth grade. Years of practice and professional guidance from his instructor, Olga Bornovalova, helped him play the world-renowned venue in New York, N.Y.

“I was really happy, and it was really fun,” Lau said of his noteworthy performance. “I didn’t make any mistakes.”

The accomplished pianist – who also enjoys drawing, golfing and practicing martial arts – started taking piano lessons at Adler about five years ago.

Prior to that, his mother, Monica, had given him lessons at home. But it wasn’t long before the young student outgrew his mom’s level of instruction.

“I got too busy, “ Monica Lau said, “and he got too good.”

Though Lau originally started on the piano with another instructor at Adler, Bornovalova eventually became his regular teacher.

Since then, the two have spent many hours together tackling the works of Mozart, Beethoven and other composers.

Lau is probably – if not definitely – the best of Bornovalova’s 14 or so students at Adler, the instructor said.

“I love him,” Bornovalova said. “He’s very musical. He’s very expressive. And that in itself is a lot of talent.”

Musicality and passion are what have made Lau stand out from other fledgling musicians, Bornovalova and Monica Lau said.

The seventh-grade student at Hawthorn Middle School North practices the piano about an hour every day. His skills and desire to excel as a musician led him to enter and win the video-based American Fine Arts Festival competition in 2008. The prize for that competition was the prestigious honor of playing Carnegie Hall.

“He was so excited when he found out,” Monica Lau said. “He was one of the youngest musicians who played.”

The piece that Lau played for the competition was “Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum” by Claude Debussy. From there, he has gone on to enter and place in other competitions, including the 2009 Chicago Duo Piano Festival Competition hosted by the Music Institute of Chicago.

Lau practiced an entire summer for the contest, even memorizing the three pieces he performed with fellow student Nathan Metz: “Jeux d’Enfants (Children’s Games) Suite, No. 4 Merry-Go-Round” by Georges Bizet; “Petite Suite: En Bateau” by Claude Debussy; and “Sonata in B-flat Major K. 358” by Mozart.

The hard work paid off, and the duo won first place in the contest.

“They played very beautifully and were very precocious, especially for their age,” said Ralph Neiweem, artistic director of the duo competition. “The jury felt they were quite advanced players and really good, young artists.”

Playing with another person in a duo format presented its own set of challenges, Lau said.

“You have to listen to each other and make sure you stay together,” he said.

With six years to go before he has to make any serious decisions about his adult future, Lau has no concrete plans to pursue professional piano playing or to become a teacher.

But that doesn’t mean he won’t.

“Considering what he can play now and what he will be able to play six years from now ... I do have hopes for him,” Bornovalova said. “I think he certainly can continue on.”