By Andrew Poretz . . .
Mia Vassilev, who goes by her first name, made her 54 Below debut with her retro, high-energy Keys on Fire! on December 9. The pianist extraordinaire has performed throughout Europe, Asia, Latin America, and the United States, and has played piano since childhood. A small-town Kansas native, she is now based in Miami Beach.
Though Mia has worked as a chamber musician and opera accompanist, among other things, her particular piano forte is more in the spirit of Liberace. While the virtuoso’s personal stage attire is far more elegant than Liberace’s famously over-the-top look, she brings a similar kinetic energy to her performances. Mia is tall and stunning, with a warm, friendly approachability. Her playing is fairly unrestrained, though her stage presence remains comparatively subdued.
Though her touring shows typically include a full band, Mia was accompanied here solely by percussionist Gary Weiss.
She opened the set with “Brazil” (Ary Barroso), a samba, before launching into what she called “Liberace Boogie,” a boogie-woogie in the key of F. She asked for – and received – audience participation in the form of a shouted “Hey!” at her signal. Boogie-woogie would recur several times throughout the evening.
For a bolero selection, Mia performed “Bésame Mucho” (Consuelo Velázquez), first recounting the well-known story of its composition by the teenage Velázquez in 1940. Mia is engaging, funny, and down to earth. While she can tear through lively pieces at high speed as if she had four hands, she showed notable sensitivity and restraint on this number.
Mia cleverly took the most famous melody from the opera Carmen, “Habanera,” and transformed it into “Carmen’s Boogie.” Similarly, she reworked the “Intermission Flight of the Bumblebee” – from Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tale of Tsar Saltan – turning the magical bee’s frantic flight into a rollicking boogie-woogie showcase.
Turning to what she described as Parisian pop, Mia played “L’amour est bleu” (André Popp), which became a major Unitehit in 1968 as “Love Is Blue,” delivering it with great energy and at breakneck speed. She then showed off her rock chops with the Jerry Lee Lewis classic “Great Balls of Fire” (Otis Blackwell and Jack Hammer).
The biggest highlight of Mia’s set was her “Moonlight” segment, pairing an American moon – Moonlight Serenade” (Glenn Miller)—with a Parisian one, “Clair de Lune” from Claude Debussy’s Suite bergamasque. The latter, one of the most familiar pieces of music ever written, is typically heard in recital settings, making its inclusion here particularly effective.
Mia closed the set with a lively “Beer Barrel Polka.”
This short set was fun, if somewhat heavy on boogie-woogie, and might have benefited from a guest singer or instrumentalist to vary the texture. Still, Mia is a talented and delightful showwoman. It would be especially rewarding to see her return with a full band—or even an orchestra—the next time she is in New York.
Mia Vassilev: Keys on Fire! played on December 9 at 54 Below, 254 West 54th Street, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues (www.54below.org).
Photos: Andrew Poretz
