On a recent warm autumn evening in Porto, the Russian-Armenian pianist Eva Gevorgyan performed before a crowd so spasmodic with coughing fits it may yet prove to be a locus of the next pandemic. The barking did nothing to quell Gevorgyan’s performance of Chopin, Brahms, and Schumann. Dressed in a Celedon-green sequined dress, a silken […]
Tag: Keyboards
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Bodies in Orbit
Etsurō Sotoo arrived in Barcelona in 1978, a classically trained Japanese sculptor who became captivated by the Sagrada Família. He began working there as a stonecutter, and over time, the eccentricity he initially perceived in Gaudí’s forms gave way to a sense of coherence. What had once seemed merely decorative revealed itself as the outward expression of […]
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Serious Fun
In late February, I watched Lukáš Vondráček perform Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 15, with the Prague Symphony Orchestra in that city’s Smetana Hall. He attended the piano like a Victorian surgeon, leaning over the keyboard—a consequence of poor eyesight, I later learned—with a kind of furious concentration, hacking and slashing […]
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On Track
On the Sunday before Christmas, a friend invited me to church in Llano, Texas. Music poured from a classic Allen electronic organ, the go-to of small congregations everywhere. Unexpectedly tasty registration, flawless playing—how did this tiny town come by such a good organist? But the bench was empty. Invisible hands finished the intro and the […]
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Inner Necessity
In March, pianist András Schiff announced that he would withdraw from all his concerts in the United States for the 2025–2026 season, citing “recent and unprecedented political changes.” He has a good eye for the danger of such developments: His native Hungary, where he hasn’t set foot for over a decade, is an oft-cited roadmap […]
Posted inEssay
Between the Sky and the Earth
A house not in the sky and not on earth(Čardak ni na nebu ni na zemlji) A country not in the east and not in the west It is important when writing, they say, to state three facts at the very beginning. It establishes trust and allows connection. I will start with three lies. My […]
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The Truck in the Nave
Earlier this month, Notre-Dame opened its doors after five years of construction work. The two-day reopening ceremony saw the cathedral filled to the brim with thousands of people, including celebrities, politicians and heads of state. Even Olivier Latry, titular organist at Notre-Dame, had to do his usually solitary work surrounded by film crews and security guards. […]
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Liquid Continuum
The first time I saw Charlemagne Palestine play was in a forest clearing on the grounds of a 17-century palace just outside Milan. It was a little after half-past eight in the evening in early July 2016 and the sun was just starting to set. The air was thick with weed smoke and mosquitoes. Wearing […]
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Wonderful Chaos
On December 8, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was swiftly toppled from power after 13 years of oppressive rule. Syrian communities around the world celebrated the sudden shift in power as Assad was granted asylum in Russia. What does this mean for Syria—and for Syrian musicians? I caught up with Aeham Ahmad, a pianist and a […]
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Testimony
One Sunday afternoon last month, I attended the benefit concert Make Freedom Ring at St John’s Waterloo, an Anglican church near London’s South Bank. Under a striking painting of the crucifixion—one of many intensely colored murals painted for the Church of England by Jewish refugee Hans Feibusch, who fled Germany in the 1930s—the pianist Jayson […]