HONOR. (R-L)Rosevale Foundation President Dr. Nestor Lumicao, Rosevale Foundation Chairperson Annabelle Pizarro Brown, and Rosevale School Executive Director Emma Rose Quimbo congratulate Franco and his parents, lawyer Antonio Paolo Lim and Katrina Collantes Lim. (Photo by Jack Biantan)
MindanaoToday.com | Rosevale School boy genius mesmerizes Oro audiences
By: Jack Biantan
CAGAYAN DE ORO — Eleven-year-old piano prodigy of Rosevale School Franco Collantes Lim recently mesmerized the classical music audience in this ‘City of Friendship’ with his rendition of 13 musical pieces of great Polish master Frederick Chopin.
Chopin was a child prodigy himself when he was growing up in Warsaw, Poland. He learned playing the piano at a very young age while listening to his mother and elder sister.
He started playing in concerts at age eight and then composing his own style of music.
In contrast, Franco Collantes Lim, does not have any musical roots from his family. His elder brother Santino, a Grade 11 Senior High plays the piano just for fun. His brother might have influenced him in playing the piano.
Santino and professor Jonathan Arevalo Coo accompanied Rosevale School teachers Candeliza ‘Kenny’ M. Loy and John Walter Juat rendition of David Foster’s ‘The Prayer’, during the invocation.
‘The Prayer’ was immortalized by superstars Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli. They recorded the song in 1998 for the film ‘Quest for Camelot’.
Franco’s his parents are not musically inclined. Lawyer and Assistant Secretary to the Office of the President, Antonio Paolo Lim and Katrina Collantes Lim attest that they do not know where all Franco’s energy and talents come from.
“Our house is like a music lounge of the five star hotel,” said his mom Katrina. “Classical music resonates in the house all the time,” she added.
But what really ignited Franco’s obsession with the Ebony and Ivory keyboards was his boredom during the COVID Pandemic. His brother plays the piano but once Franco started touching the keyboards when he was eight-years-old, he was hooked.
He then helped himself learn to play the piano from YouTube and then taught himself to master Frederick Chopin’s music.
Most of audiences probably do not understand what they heard in the almost two hours concert of Franco playing music of Chopin. Classical music is not a fad these days and very few people enjoy the genre.
The teenage girls behind me were all talking and giggling the entire show. I could not blame them. Chopin music is not for them. If it was Taylor Swift music then they could have danced the entire concert.
The fans of classical music enjoyed the entire concert. Real fans of classical music they say would doze off in every piece played but would clap their hands in appreciation every end of the piece. That’s what happened to me.
But watching Franco play the piano was just enough to enjoy the entire show. Franco just like most of the children his age is still shy but once he was in front of the piano you could see the ‘genius of the boy’.
He began his concert with Chopin masterpiece ‘Bolero in A Minor Op. 19’ and followed it with six more masterpieces ‘Nocturne Op 27. No. 2 in D-Flat’ , ‘Waterfall, Etude Op. No. 10 No. 1’, ‘Nocturne 20 C-Sharp Minor. Op. Posth.’, ‘Aeolian Harp etude Op. 25 No. 1’, and’ Waltz in E Minor, Op. Posth’.
Franco then ended the first part of the concert with the ‘Ballade No. 4 in F. Minor. Op. 52’
The consistent honor student at the Opus Dei run Rosevale School looked exhausted in the second part of the concert but he persevered and continued to be relentless with his fingers on the piano.
He continued to pounce on the ivory with more Chopin masterpieces starting with the ‘Heroic Polonaise Op. 53 in A Flat Major’, he then followed up with ‘Barcarolle in F Sharp Major, Op. 60’, and ‘Nocturne No. 48 No 2 in F Sharp Minor’.
Franco’s rendition of ‘Mazurka Op. 33, No 2 in D Major’ while ballet dancer Karlyle Regencia of ACD Dance Studio was spotless.
Regencia, a young ballet dancer under the tutelage of of Kay Aimee Camille Dabuet, flowed on the stage like water and danced to Chopin’s music like a butterfly hopping around the flowers.
He played the entire 13 musical ensemble of Frederick Chopin without any notes, all just coming out from his brain and then connecting to his fingers.
As if a young Chopin was playing in front of the Rosevale School community at the Rodelsa Hall in Liceo Cagayan de Oro University.
What was astonishing was that when Franco and his violinist teacher Jonathan Arevalo Coo were accompanying the duet between Kendy Loy and John Walter Juat. Franco did not have any notes on the piano to follow.
He had already played at least 11 of Chopin’s masterpieces but the ‘Boy Genius’ was still fresh while his violinist teacher was all eyes on his notes on musical stand as Kendy and John serenaded the audience with the song ‘No other love’, made into a song from Chopin’s masterpiece ‘Stude Opus 10, No. 3 Tristesse’.
He ended his concert with an encore of another Chopin masterpiece ‘Sonata No. 2, Op. 35 in B-Flat minor, 1st Movement’.
When asked how did he memorize all those 13 Chopin masterpieces without even a guide of a bunch of notes in front of him. “I do not know. Everything just flowed from my brain to my fingers when I start playing the piano.’’ he said. Well, if we can’t call that genius then what is he?
His mom Katrina admits her son has received scholarships offers from abroad but as of the moment they prefer him to stay in CdO and continue his education at the Rosevale School.
After the concert, Rosevale Foundation President Dr. Nestor Lumicao, Rosevale Foundation Chairperson Annabelle Pizarro Brown, and Rosevale School Executive Director Emma Rose Quimbo, came up the stage to honor and congratulate Franco and his parents, lawyer Antonio Paolo Lim and Katrina Collantes Lim.
The concert was a project of the Rosevale Foundation to raise funds for the building of the St. Josemaria Escriva Chapel inside the Rosevale School campus in Xavier Estates, Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental. (jackbiantantambok@gmail.com)
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