How would you describe your musical style?
The only style I try to follow is the enthusiasm of bringing classical music through my piano to all human beings. I like to give people the most beautiful pieces that speak directly to the hearts of all of us. My experience of playing these pieces all over the world, in the most incredible places made me realize that classical music was written to reach the hearts of people all over the world. It is a music that goes beyond all borders. It also opens the heart to those unfamiliar with classical music because it speaks the secret language of the Soul.
Is there a particular person who influenced your music career?
There are two people who have influenced my existential and artistic journey. The first is the legendary conductor SERGIU CELIBIDACHE who with his unique and innovative knowledge has opened a new listening awareness that allows sounds to become Music. The second person is Gandhi, who has spent his entire life not against something but in favor of something. And everything we do at the RESONNANCE FOUNDATION, the foundation I created years ago, is not against the system (free of charge, bringing music to places of solidarity) but all our didactic and humanitarian activity is a response to the need to restore the human being in a dimension of profound dignity, respecting one’s time and knowing that Classical Music is a right of all human beings to nourish the Soul.
What can spectators take away from your LIVE performance concerts?
The magic of the live concert is a gift that everyone receives to enter their own inner space. In this vibrational space we discover that there is something greater in our hearts than ourselves. An inviolable, unshakable and totally sacred space.
Is there a particular piece of music you absolutely love to perform?
Each piece the moment I play it, it always seems to me to be the most beautiful.
What is the best concert you have ever attended?
I remember a concert by the great violinist YEHUDI MENUHIN, a concert in Switzerland where he played Bach’s Chaconne which is an absolute masterpiece. Before playing, Maestro Menuhin said that when he was little, he was sure that the power of this sublime Bach music would bring peace to the earth every time it was played. Over time he then realized that things are a little more complicated but he said that he kept thinking that the goal of classical music is to bring harmony, beauty and peace to the world. I was young then and this was a concert that totally expired me.
Where do you see yourself in the next 10 years?
Learning classical music on my way has taught me that the truth is found in an eternal present that includes the past and the future. It is true that when you start a piece of music this includes the end but also the silence from where it was born and the final silence to which we direct it. So I can only plan to be in the here and now of Music.
Is there a song on your latest CD release that stands out as your personal favorite, and why?
The last album I recorded is the complete Beethoven’s 5 concertos for piano and orchestra. The slow movement followed by the third movement of the fifth concert called “of the emperor”, these two movements really struck me. They are a real initiation composed by Beethoven that allows us to live a supernatural experience because the end of the second movement is a sort of death where a sound like a very distant light remains from afar that symbolizes a hope that despite death, that light continues to shine and from there creates the explosion of resurrection in the theme of the last moment which transforms it into a piece of music where you can feel this power of resurrection. This is the gift of Classical Music, to make us all experience things that go beyond words and every
human imagination.
How have you evolved as an artist over the last 2 years during our pandemic?
I thought at the beginning of this pandemic that there was an essential thing to save: life. And that as an artist I had to do my part. So I created small structures open to all that I called minifestival. Every week I made concerts and made many artists play in these small oases where very few people were allowed at a time. We also did 4 or 5 concerts a day. In this way human relations were saved. Classical Music teaches us that relationship is life and that no streaming, no album, no technology can take the place of living experience.
If you could meet, play a gig, co-write a song, have dinner, with any composer (dead or alive) who would that be?
I would have liked to have played the Classical piano with Simon & Garfunkel in the song THE SOUND OF SILENCE. My dream would be to find myself in dialogue with Beethoven, Chopin and Schubert or imagine how beautiful it would be to play the piano for Jesus? Which in a way, I do every day.
What’s next for you?
I have three objectives that are fundamental for me: the recording of the complete Mozart concerts from an artistic point of view; bring music to places where music does not reach (elderly homes, prisons, children’s hospitals) from a humanitarian point of view and the third goal is to continue my teaching activity and transmit my method and the Pedagogy that I have developed over the years and years of study and research through my teaching platform on the web which will be inaugurated in the coming months and which will offer all my masterclasses, lessons and teaching activities that I have held over the last 25 years to all piano lovers around the world. Thank you for the interview.
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End of Interview