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West Vancouver teen takes musical talent to TV audience

Augustin Wright recently went on TV to perform a magic trick of sorts.
Augustin

Augustin Wright recently went on TV to perform a magic trick of sorts.

His actions essentially told the audience “look at what the right hand is doing because it’s playing a lot of notes while the left hand does something important and plays what’s supposed to be heard.”

Augustin was actually playing piano in front of a live audience as a contestant on the French-language CBC TV show Virtuose. The song he performed was called “Winter Wind,” and host and coach Gregory Charles helped him interpret the piece by telling him to think of it as a magic trick because it’s essentially a tune in which the right hand plays a lot of notes and the left hand plays a melody in the lower part of the piano. Charles also helped him envision various scenes to interpret the theme of the music, such as picturing an empty sidewalk with snow.

“It just helped me interpret it and play the piece better,” explains Augustin.

The Mulgrave School student and West Vancouver resident plays both piano and cello. He has participated in and won many competitions, including three that resulted in performances at Carnegie Hall in New York City, the latest performance in February.

Augustin was selected to be a contestant on the TV show because of his musical abilities and also because he speaks fluent French (his mom is French).

He described the show in this way: “It’s basically like Survivor but for music.”

Augustin filmed the TV show in multiple parts in Montreal in the late summer and fall, and although he reveals that he appeared in the premiere episode he wouldn’t provide any more details about the show since it was a competition and he didn’t want to give away the results.

Filming a TV show was a fun and interesting experience, notes Augustin, and he looks forward to more live stage performances and maybe even more TV appearances.

He also suggests B.C. should host a performance competition show for young musicians to offer a broader and bigger  showcase for home-grown talent.