PETA STEWART
Although Ingo Dannhorn began picking out jingles from TV on the piano when he was five, it was only when he was a savvy 12 year-old that he realized there were great benefits in becoming a concert pianist.
Dannhorn will be performing Brahms and Beethoven for the Richard Wagner Society on February 11.
“I had already won first prize in a couple of international competitions in Salzburg and Vienna and the opportunity to compete in Eindhoven in The Netherlands presented itself,” he says. Suddenly the world looked very different! “Travel to a foreign country at a time when you needed a passport; where the money was different; where I could meet other people with the same interest.”
He never looked back and went on to win more prizes at competitions – twice at the Beethoven Competition in Vienna; he took his passport to countries around the world (he spends nearly half the year teaching in Seoul); he may have seen the Austrian Schilling translate into the Euro, but he trades those for the Korean won and the South African rand amongst other currencies.
Dannhorn didn’t have the gift of musician parents, just a piano in the home because his mom was keen to learn, but simply didn’t have the time.
“But both my parents noticed how I tried to play those jingles, and they organized piano lessons for me. A few years later, when I was about 8, a student at the Mozarteum Salzburg heard me and introduced me to his professor. Soon I was writing, and passing the entrance exam entered the class for gifted children. We were living close to Salzburg and my father, who had retired, had fun playing chauffeur.”
Now Dannhorn lives close to Bayreuth and the annual Wagner Festival where he renews a friendship with the SA Wagner Society’s president Herbert Gloeckner every year, as well as with other people he got to know there – such as former German Consul General Hans Werner Bussmann. It was Bussmann who first invited him to Cape Town in 2011 to perform. He came back to perform for the SA Wagner Society in 2015. “I fell in love with South Africa the minute I stepped off the plane in Cape Town – there was a spice in the air which got to me! And the view of Table Mountain….”
It’s a good thing he likes mountains, for he compares the Brahms Handel Variations to climbing Mount Everest.
‘You need to climb those last steps to the summit’
“There are 25 lovely variations on a Baroque theme of Handel, variations that are exposed as in a fashion show – first a dress; then a hat; then shoes. So many different characters to reveal. At the end comes the climax, something for which you need to keep so much energy in reserve. This gigantic fugue in a Romantic style is technically very difficult with its colours and textures. You are so exposed, so naked, and then you need to climb those last steps to the summit. One misstep and you will plunge to your death.”
It’s to his credit that he plays them often, for not too many people do so. So this is a rare occasion to hear a beautiful work, coupled with Beethoven’s Waldheim Sonata.
Soiree in a home in Sea Point
Dannhorn has a penchant for Beethoven, and plays him often. “The Italian name, L’Aurora means sunrise, and playing it in South Africa where the sun offers so much energy is fitting. The music is like the sunrise, vibrant and warm.”
Dannhorn spends most of his time doing recitals but would love to work more with orchestras, “There’s a dialogue there that is missing in recitals, where you are alone, exposed and responsible for everything, good and bad.”
Although this is his second recital for the Wagner Society, his relationship with the International Wagner Society dates back to 2000, when he won a scholarship from the Wagner Society in Munich, and has been playing for mainly German Wagner societies ever since.
Who: Ingo Dannhorn
What: Piano recital and supper soiree for the Richard Wagner Society
Where: Beach Road, Sea Point, Cape Town
When: 11 February, 2018 at 6pm
Ticket price: Tickets for the soiree in a private home in Sea Point, including wine and a finger buffet R240 for members, R260 guests
Info, book tickets: jillycohen@absamail.co.za, 082 459 6225 or herbo.ct@gmail.com, 082 825 5201
WS
