Meet Saar Ahuvia & Stephanie Ho | Concert pianists

We had the good fortune of connecting with Saar Ahuvia & Stephanie Ho and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Saar Ahuvia & Stephanie Ho, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
We were spending summers in Portland, OR with family and enjoying the great outdoors. Friends in the music community were urging us to start something that would feature local musicians and new cutting edge music. We thought it would be fun to try running our own event and that is how Makrokosmos Project was born.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
We met in graduate school at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore. We started playing for fun four hand and two piano music. When we finished school we moved to New York and developed ourselves as a piano duo after doing two artist residencies at the Banff Center. Being in the classical music field is never easy. We overcame some of the difficulty by developing a niche as a performing duo that seeks out interesting music and creative ways of presenting it. We have collaborated with other musicians, actors, and organizations and created Makrokosmos Project (our own festival). We keep engaging our fans directly into what we are doing. The most important lesson that we learned is that developing great relationships with your collaborators is key. You need people that support your brand and understand who you are. Our photographer, videographer and web designer Masataka Suemitsu is an incredibly important part of our team. He creates the visual look that corresponds to what we do musically.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We are New Yorkers that spend most of our summers in Portland, OR. In New York, we would focus on all the great urban things like great parks, restaurants, theater, music and museums. Portland for us is a lot about the great outdoors – visiting the Columbia Gorge, Mount Hood, the Oregon Coast. We love trying new spots in town for food and libations and also would not miss some great wine tasting in the Willamette Valley.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
This whole endeavor would not have happened without the help and encouragement of many. The amazing Portland Piano Company, a Portland staple that sells high end pianos like Fazioli and Grotrian made it possible by donating pianos and moving them to whichever space we needed. For the third festival they sent no less than six pianos!! Larry Vollum, a major player in music philanthropy in Portland helped us organize our first fundraiser and got us in contact with important organizations and individuals to get the ball rolling. The musicians have agreed to perform difficult music for low fees to make it all possible. This one really takes a village!

Website: www.makrokosmosproject.org, www.stephsaarduo.com

Instagram: @saarahuvia

Twitter: @StephSaarDUO

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stephsaarduo

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/saarahuvia

Image Credits
Photo by Nadav Ben David