“Because beauty is more than skin deep…”

Why would a company that makes beauty products sponsor music? Or donate to a charity or a good cause? Here at Paul Penders, we believe deeply that every business has a responsibility (CSR) to be a positive force for good in its home community and so we support programs like the vegetarian restaurant that provides free meals to the poor and the local charity that serves underprivileged families. But sometimes we do even more…

Our island home is a place of real beauty – a place so filled with Nature’s gifts that UNESCO has established Langkawi, Malaysia as a “Geopark.” Being on an island, we live a bit isolated from the worlds of arts and high culture. That’s why when we had the opportunity to bring the beauty of Western classical music performed by a master artist to our shores for the first time, it seemed to be a heavenly marriage: beautiful Nature meets beautiful Art – chaperoned by a beauty company!

“You could have heard a pin drop.”

Concert pianist Gary Goldschneider performed Beethoven, Chopin,
and Schubert on a 21st Century digital piano on Langkawi.

So said one of Penang’s leading producers of music events who arranged for concert pianist Gary Goldschneider to appear at the prestigious Penang Club in an intimate evening for their members. Transfixed by the beauty pouring forth from the baby grand, the audience sat very still throughout as Gary performed perhaps the longest piece in the piano repertoire, Franz Schubert’s “Sonata in B flat major, op. posth., D. 960.” The applause afterwards was thunderous!

For 10 wonderful days, Paul Penders and his family and the staff of Paul Penders International played host to the noted concert pianist, composer, and best-selling author. This gracious gentleman shared his gifts for music, the written and spoken word, and a unique understanding of people during a 10-day whirlwind visit to Malaysia.

Time to relax – Some great Malay-style meals and a lovely sunset cruise around
Langkawi added to our happy memories of Gary Goldschneider’s visit.

“Gary” -- as he asks everyone he meets to call him – flew from his home in Amsterdam to Langkawi for a week’s visit including a benefit concert for the island’s leading charity at the Westin Langkawi Resort, then on to Penang for appearances at the delightful China House and the Penang Club. One of the happiest moments of his Malaysia tour was an afternoon master class with young piano students. When everyone trouped outside for a photograph at sunset, an unusual rainbow appeared above Langkawi’s ‘Container House’ – a sure sign that this was ‘meant to be…’

A rainbow appeared above Langkawi's Container House and Kuah Harbor
Just as 'Gary' gave a master class to island piano students.

Paul first encountered Gary’s work some twenty years ago browsing through a San Francisco bookshop. Gary’s best-selling Secret Language of Birthdays had taken the publishing world by storm (to date, it has sold some 1.3 million copies). Paul bought and kept a copy through the years. When he heard that Gary was performing a piano concert in Amsterdam in 2010, Paul got on a plane from Malaysia to hear him. They were introduced and Gary invited Paul and his family home for dinner with his wife, Berthe, Amsterdam’s leading food reviewer.

“Blown away” by Gary’s mastery of classical music as well as his understanding of “personology” as seen in his “Secret Language” books, Paul dreamed of organizing a visit to Malaysia. He especially wanted to bring Gary to the small Geopark island of Langkawi where it would be the first time that a concert of classical music had ever been performed by a master artist.

A highlight of the visit was the chance for island piano students to take a master class with a world class artist.

It took several years to organize but just this past month, October 2012, Paul’s dream did come true!

And it’s just the beginning. Paul and Gary are cooking up an extraordinary project to take place in January 2014 at the “Container House” on Langkawi that Paul recently completed and has dedicated as a center for charitable activities. Tentatively titled the “Langkawi Chamber Music Festival” (LCMF), plans include several days of master classes and performances with leading violin, cello, and piano performers, and other artists as well. With Gary Goldschneider as Artistic Director, the LCMF promises to bring the highest calibre of talent to this growing tourist resort island.

Planning strategy -- Gary Goldschneider and Paul Penders plan more visits to Malaysia by world class artists.

“When is your birthday?” Gary often asked during his stay. His visit also included several lecture / demonstrations on his system of ‘personology,’ developed over years of study of the birthdays of celebrities. His “Secret Language” series of books on birthdays, relationships, and destiny look at the traits shared between those born on the same day, week, and month. In the future, we can happily celebrate this past month as the birthday of a classical music festival on Langkawi!

Many people were involved in making Gary’s visit such a success and all deserve warmest thanks!

A team formed of local professionals worked hard to make the concert a great success!

* Top Photo: Concert pianist Gary Goldschneider performed at a sold-out benefit for The Charity Club Langkawi at the Westin Resort – the first concert of classical music ever performed on our island home. Photo by Alif Emmes Abdullah.

By Teviot Fairservis.

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