The rhythmic piano notes flew by her fingers; first was a fast yearning pace, followed by slow contemplative but distinctive and peaceful notes. The music was Liebestraume No 3, composed by Franz Liszt (1811-1886) who was inspired by the poems of two poets ( Ludwig Uhland, and Ferdinand Freiligrath) at the time. The title of the poem was “The Dream of Love”. The number 3 was meant to be the dream of unconditional love from the Divine. The musician was talking to the Divine to offer her unconditional love to heal her ailing body and her aching soul, and and to return her vitality.
The musician is Ms. Veena Kulkami-Rankin, a professional musician with a doctorate degree in music from the University of Michigan. She is in the late 40’s, a second generation Asian American with parents of Philippine and India heritage. Because of similar ages and ethnic backgrounds of both being Asian Americans, Veena and my son, Victor are very good friends. They both are at the same church of Ann Arbor Reformed Church. Both have the same passions for championing to raise environmental consciousness and social justice for the public. Victor often leads Bird Walk with the black community at Ann Arbor, while Veena often organizes concerts to raise the public awareness for racial equity and social Justice.
We made friends with Veena in Wisconsin a few years before we moved to Ann Arbor. Veena was visiting Wisconsin at that time. Victor alerted us to her visit and we managed to have a dinner meet-up with Veena. At that time, she was vibrant and energetic. During the dinner, she told us her plans for more concerts, and more music self-improvement and continuing education.
A year after we moved to Ann Arbor, I attended a voice class students’ rehearsal of my granddaughter, Morgan. There, I saw Veena who also participated in the voice recital. I then realized that Veena, although an established pianist herself, has ventured into the voice and singing. Veena told me at that time that she was planning for more concerts that include the singing not just the piano.
Then, last year while we were in Victor’s car, Victor told us that Veena was ill. What had happened to Veena? Victor said that Veena was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Anyone who had a cancer diagnosis was unfortunate and scary. We do not know much about ovarian cancer, let alone the prognosis of the disease. But we know that Veena went through all the necessary treatments that include surgery, radiation and chemo procedures.
On April 12 of 2026, the day of the fund raising concert of Ann Arbor Reformed Church for their youth group’s mission trip to Hungary. The concert program included Veena’s solo-piano on Liebestraume. We went to the church approximately 15 minutes earlier. There, I saw Veena was sitting in front of the piano to sharpen her skills before the concert started. I managed to have a few conversations before the concert. Veena looked very pale, and had lost a lot of weight. Her head was covered with a scarf so that her falling hairs due to the chemo were hidden. I asked her how she was feeling. She told me that everything was fine and she felt excited for the music she was going to play and for the concert.
The concert started at 4:00 PM sharp. The concert included Victor-Morgan cello-violin duet and Victor-Morgan-Jill. cello-violin-piano trio. They all went through very well.
Then it was Veena’s piano solo on Liebestaume. Veena had played this piece many times before. She even won the prize for the best interpretation of this piece of music during competitions in the past. She played very well on this piece during the concert. But, this time, the performance is more than just ‘good’; it showed her own emotional level and appealing because of her illness.
I have included the recording music in this short story. I hope everyone could enjoy the beauty and the emotion that Veena had put her effort in playing this piece.
https://mediaspace.wisconsin.edu/media/Liebestraume+No+3++Dreams+of+love/1_dp3bnvw3
