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Hagen returns to Musical Mornings in Coquitlam as guest

Sarah Hagen’s fingers will be tangling with fellow pianists Marcel and Elizabeth Bergmann’s when the trio perform in Coquitlam next week.

Sarah Hagen’s fingers will be tangling with fellow pianists Marcel and Elizabeth Bergmann’s when the trio perform in Coquitlam next week.

Their Musical Mornings’ show, titled Three’s A Crowd… Not!, will include pieces for two and three pairs of hands — compositions from the likes of Franz Schubert, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Marcel Bergmann himself.

Hagen, who founded Musical Mornings and has since handed off the salon-style touring series to the Bergmann duo, said the energetic recital “seems to be the right balance between the performing arts and entertainment” with up to six hands tickling the ivories at the same time. 

Three pianists at one keyboard is common for kids’ numbers, she said; however, for their Coquitlam event, Hagen and the Bergmanns will each sit on three tiny benches — sometimes with an arm behind their back to make room.

The March 29 show at the Evergreen Cultural Centre will officially signal Hagen’s departure from Musical Mornings, at the Coquitlam location. 

The Comox Valley native now lives Toronto and, since last summer, has performed Rachmaninoff and, ironically, at three fringe festivals in a one-woman comedy act called Perk up, pianist!

“It’s been a funny year because I’ll be doing that and then I’ll turn around and do a heavy Rachmaninoff program,” she said, “but I think it’s okay to be like that as an artist when you have two art forms and you pursue them at the same time.”

Meanwhile, the final Musical Mornings recital is April 19 when flautist Paolo Bertolussi will perform with the Bergmanns in a program called L’histoire du Tango at the Evergreen Cultural Centre (1205 Pinetree Way).

jcleugh@tricitynews.com