Bl4 ~ Terrace Review — Whois... * Wednesday, June 26,1991 ‘ \ Jose Coosemans? by Betty Barton Jose Coosemans is a pianist, a piano tuner, a coach, and a world traveller. For the past six years, Jose has been an accompanist for the Pacific Northwest competitors at the B.C. Festival of the Aris. Over the years, Kitimat concert pianist Steffan Wegner has shared the responsibility. This year, Jose was appointed an official accom- panist at the B,C. Festival of the Arts by the provincial organizers. "I hope I can make it an annual event," says Jose enthusiastically. He .and Steffan each accom- panied a number of competitors at the festival, both in the competi- tion and at the gala, as well as accompanying participants in the alternate concert. Jose says, "It alleviates scheduling difficulties. Our festival has always been able to send an official accompanist to the provincials. It’s a great place to meet people." On the Friday even- ing of the recent B.C. Festival of the Arts, Jose accompanied trum- pet player Keith Griffiocn in the National Class competition in trumpet."I was a little nervous accompanying him because I knew there was a lot at stake," Jose recalls. "But the nervousness worked to our benefit.” Keith placed first in his class and will be fully sponsored to attend the nationals. He also accompanied provincial award winning senior voice com- petitor Tina Hovenkamp and says proudly, "She did everything right! She presented herself very pro- fessionally." Jose went on to explain that the whole time a per- former is on stage, everything the performer does is considered part of the performance by the adjudi- cators. At the final provincials concert of the B.C. Festival of the Arts, Jose was called on stage with the other official accompanists. "It was a wonderful experience to be rec- ognized,"says Jose. It was 18 years ago that Jose Coosemans moved to Terrace from Belgium and 16 years ago that he was an accompanist at his first Pacific Northwest Music Festival. Jose has established a reputation as an accompanist and coach in quite a few different disciplines. He feels proud that local band leader, teacher and instrumentalist Jim Ryan has given him all his stu- dents for accompaniment and coaching. Jose says the local festi- val is as hectic as the provincials, but the rewards are immeasurable. "I enjoy this tremendously,” says Jose, “It’s a joy to see them (the competitors) accomplish — their goals." Rachel Reay was one of the first students Jose accompanied at the Pacific Northwest Music Festival in 1973. The two later performed at the provincials in Victoria in 1978 or 1979 (Coosemans can’t remember which year.) "I used to freeze,” confides Jose, “but you learn stage confidence just by. doing it. Stage fright is caused by fear of the unknown. It’s just a- matter of focusing that nervous energy in a positive way." Jose says sight reading is where . he shines, so iasi minute calis to accompany don’t alarm him. He — does feel, though, that if soloists get together with their accompanist far enough before a competition or performance, they do much better. Whether they’re ready for it or not, Jose encourages any performer to go out there anyway, "You learn and gain from every experience." Jose’s daughters have followed in their father’s musical footsteps. Ayesha, 13, is currently taking voice lessons and plays the piano. She has also taken dancing lessons in the past. Jose is thankful to the Pacific Northwest Festival that Ayesha was chosen to attend the - B.C. Festival of the Arts as an observer. She’s interested in just about anything in the arts. Amanita, 15, is Jose’s faithful page-turner and she has attended local and provincial competitions in that capacity. She currently sings in the Caledonia choir and recently joined the Caledonia con- cert band as percussionist. Jose says, "They know what they want to learn. and how it ought to be played from listening to me instruct students. They’ve moti- vated themselves." Jose’s son Johan lives in Vancouver and is graduating from high school this year. Jose’s interest in piano drew him to China in August 1989, He set out on a four-week tour to explore the piano manufacturing industry in Shanghai and Peking. Having established a working relationship with the Nieer piano factory, Jose retumed to China in December 1989 to inspect the first prototype of a high-quality piano suited for a Canadian climate. The piano was manufactured by Nieer upon Jose’s specifications. After approval was given, the piano was shipped to Jose in Terrace. He has since worked on an improved piano model with Nicer and ordered two more prototypes to be manufac- tured, Jose did his ‘first tunings on the giand pianos at Peking University during his third visit to China. He is tentatively scheduled to do a three-week training session for piano tuners at the Conservatory in December of this year. During his first visit to China, Jose met his wife-to-be Din-Yi. After three more visits, numerous phone calls and enough ietters to keep Canada Post in business, Jose and Din-Yi were married in December 1990. Jose is still attempting to process the necessary papers to have Din-Yi join him in Canada. He visited her briefly in April, expecting she could return with him. Pending that eventuality, which will come to pass only after considerable bureaucratic machina- tions in both countries, Jose is considering living and working in China for at least a year. 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