Piano teacher comes home for recital

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

SHIMABUKU METZ: Gave private concert at White House Masaki Studio recital 6 p.m. Saturday Honolulu Academy of Arts theater Recommended donation, $10; will benefit Honolulu Symphony Orchestra youth programs 593-9395

The event, a Masaki School of Music benefit for the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra's youth programs, also will showcase island keyboarders now studying under Masaki.

"She was outstanding, extremely musical," Masaki said of Metz, now 30, who studied piano with the notable local teacher for nine years about 20 years ago. As Sueanne Shimabuku, she was a Honolulu Symphony soloist while in intermediate school and graduated from Kalani High School in 1989. She has given a private concert at the White House.

"She was easy to work with and she had talent, earning full scholarships ($24,000 annually) for four years at Oberlin Conservatory of Music," Masaki said.

Indeed, her devotion to sharing her interest and skills in piano is making Metz, who began teaching privately in 1997 and who still has family in Hawai'i, the Ellen Masaki of Chicago. "She's teaching music full time, just like me," said Masaki. Like Masaki, Metz's pupils have won numerous local, state and regional keyboard competitions.

Metz, reached in Chicago where she maintains a full-time teaching regimen with 43 students (14 of whom are coming here), said Masaki "was like a second mother to me, always there with support and advice. Basically, I could count on her for everything, even when I was in college. I think the world of her. I would not be here without her."

She said she turned to teaching ("for money") after tiring of the competitive nature of contests and performances, and has no regrets. "I believe in helping young students develop technique and discipline," she said, elements she learned from Masaki.

"This idea to bring her students here was in her mind for years," said Masaki. The 14 students, ages 5 to 13, come with a contingent of parents, brothers and sisters, cousins, aunts and other siblings, said Masaki. "It's a huge group. The academy (theater) holds about 280, and maybe we should have booked a larger hall."