IN A sudden twist of fate, Ysabela Beatrice "Bea" Austria needed to hang her ballerina shoes temporarily despite her success in the field.
This after she was diagnosed with a benign bone tumor on her leg when she was 14-years-old which prompted her parents to let her undergo surgery.
As a ballerina, she participated in national and international ballet competitions and received the Philippines Dance Cup Joy Coronel Award for Exceptional Young Dancers in 2018.
She also won third place in the World Ballet Art Competition (WBAC) in 2019, a premiere international ballet competition connecting young dancers from different cultural backgrounds.
She earned the right to be a finalist in the WBAC Grand Prix in Canada.
While recuperating, she devoted long hours of training to play the piano, relishing her fondness to practice and mastering some intricate musical pieces.
She used her time to learn the piano amid her temporary inability to dance.
It was how she discovered her love and passion for the piano although discovered her love for playing the piano when she was seven years old.
On Sunday, she performed at her premiere recital held at SMX Convention Center in SM City Bacolod.
Aside from being a good pianist, the 19-year-old is also an academic performer as she finished her senior high school with honors at Lamblight Catholic School.
Austria aimed at pursuing a degree in music, majoring in Piano Performance at the College of Music at the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman.
She was also among the five applicants from 180 who were accepted to the Keyboard Department.
This opportunity may be the beginning of realizing her dream of becoming a concert pianist.
Austria is the daughter of nephrologist Joseph Peter Austria and multi-awarded visual artist Moreen Austria.
Sylvia Ocsio Javellana, the founder, and director of the SOJ Music Studio in Bacolod City, is her mentor in her piano lessons.
During her recital, she played several impressive piano pieces such as the Prelude and Fuge No. 6 in D minor, BMW 851 by Johann Sebastian Bach; Sonata no. 6 Op. 10 No. 2 by Ludwig van Beethoven's Allegro, Allegretto, and Presto; Ballade in G minor Op. 118 No. 3 by Johannes Brahms, Pantomime by Moritz Moszkowski; Waldesrauschen Concert Etude No. 1 by Franz Liszt; Jeux d’eau by Maurice Ravel, Luha by Francisco Buencamino, Sr.; Prelude in Eb-flat Op.23 No. 6 by Sergie Rachmaninoff and Liebesfreud (Love’s Joy) by Kreisler - Rachmaninoff.
She made a standout performance during her premiere recital that made her parents, mentor, and friends proud of her.
During her recital, she thanked her parents and those who came to witness her progress in playing the piano. It was a night filled with love and gratitude in her heart, where she ideally reduced the interpretation to the melody of her musical selections.