Two months ago, Sterling Nasa was sitting in the Sydney audience of La La Land In Concert when Oscar-winning composer-conductor Justin Hurwitz came out after interval to ask if there was an amazing keyboard player in the audience who could take over for a sick musician.
The 21-year-old university student, encouraged by his friend Scarlett, stepped up and became the accidental star of the show.
An incident that sounded like it could have come from the script of La La Land, the musical romance between a jazz musician (played by Ryan Gosling) and an aspiring actress (Emma Stone), went viral around the world. An article in this masthead was followed up by, among many media outlets, The New York Times, The Washington Post, the BBC, The Guardian and CNN.
Now Nasa has taken up an invitation by Hurwitz to play piano at La La Land In Concert in Los Angeles – the real La La Land – on Saturday night (Sunday AEST).
He will perform at the famous Greek Theatre in Griffith Park, near the landmark observatory that features in the film.
“It’s pretty surreal,” Nasa said from his hotel room in Los Angeles. “You’d never think that just going to a concert at [ICC Sydney Theatre] Darling Harbour on Saturday night would lead to getting an opportunity like this. I’m incredibly grateful and I’m stoked.”
Nasa, who has been joined by Scarlett on the trip, said he initially thought Hurwitz’s offer “to do a show” meant joining one of the final performances on the Australian tour.
“I got on a call with him and he explained that, no, it was a show at the Greek Theatre in LA,” he said. “It’s the 10th anniversary concert and I’m playing the principal piano part.”
In Sydney, Nasa had to play celeste, also known as a bell-piano, for the first time within 90 seconds of arriving on stage. Nervous for the first 10 minutes, he settled to the point of improvising the difficult-to-sight-read synth solo in the John Legend song Start a Fire.
He started a fire of his own.
“People who I know from places like Nova Scotia, Boston, parts of Scotland were contacting me saying, “Oh, you were in our local newspaper’,” he said.
While he has been practising consistently ahead of the Los Angeles concert, Nasa expects to be nervous again.
“It’s a different book from the one I played the other time,” he said. “It’s the piano book, which is a lot harder. I guess there’s some level of expectation this time.
“As fun as [Sydney was] – and it was an amazing experience and you wouldn’t change anything – the crowd and the general vibe of the evening really wanted it to work. Now I want to make sure it’s a good performance.”
Nasa, who had just finished his final week studying international relations at uni before the Sydney concert, said the accidental performance had made him wonder if he might have a career as a pianist. As well as playing piano at his local church on Sunday mornings, he plays organ and teaches bagpipes at his old school, Scots College.
“I’ve certainly seen that there are legitimate opportunities out there,” he said. “I’ve definitely gotten to understand the industry a lot more.”
Part of that has been observing Hurwitz behind the scenes.
“Obviously being a part of it from the get-go and not just from the end of intermission … it shows you how these things work,” he said. “He’s someone who’s very much at the top at the top of his game, and I’d say top of the game as far as Hollywood composers go.
“So it’s cool to get to be involved in that [and] very valuable knowledge for someone of my age.”
Nasa recognises that, however surreal going from half a show in Darling Harbour to the main piano part in LA seems, he has to play as well as he can for one performance.
“I’ve really got only one shot to give it my best,” he said. “I’m the kind of person who just really wants to leave it all out there. So I want to just make sure it’s a good run.”
His hope is that it will be a great experience.
“I’m just in it for what I can learn from it,” he said. “If there are to be other opportunities that come from this, I’d be incredibly grateful. [But] it’s a really beautiful thing to come out of what was a very random, coincidental, lovely night that happened in Sydney.”
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
