Peta Stewart
Luis Magalhães is one of a kind – a great pianist, funny, charming, and a happily married family man. So when this pianist, bringing the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra’s Winter Symphony season to an end at the Cape Town City Hall on June 29, says: “I am so angry with my wife,” you sit up and take notice, especially since “angry” wasn’t quite the word he used! His wife is Nina Schumann, who apart from being part of the TwoPianists Duo, is also, with him, the co-founder and co-presenter of the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival, which opens on June 30.
I hold my breath before asking … why?
“She programmed some chaotic pieces for me to play in this year’s festival!”
Then he goes on to explain that actually he is really looking forward to the challenge of the Kapustin Piano Concerto No 2 and Schoenfield’s Café Music for Piano Trio, both having their South African premieres.
Who better than Luis to cope with these pieces …. His quirky nature and sense of humour make him well placed to tackle the unusual!
An award-winning Yamaha artist
Not that Prokofiev doesn’t appeal to him. He loves it and is only grateful with his full workload that it is the 3rd and not the less accessible 5th he is playing with the CPO under the direction of Bernhard Gueller. He really looks forward to it. “I am so excited about playing with Bernhard again – we made such good music and had such fun when we played together in Johannesburg. He is a great accompanist. ” Gueller returns the compliment: “Every time I hear him in chamber music I am amazed at his musicality, and I so enjoyed our last orchestral collaboration. He is really a fine pianist that I know it will be a great interpretation!”
Magalhães has recently returned to South Africa from his native Portugal, which he is happy to return to see his family (He has been living here for 12 years). “Old friends like violinists Daniel Rowland and Alissa Margulis, violist Gareth Lubbe, cellists Julian Arp and Alexander Buzlov joined up to play a benefit concert for the Oncology Institute of Portugal,” a concert he calls a jam, “Korngold and Beyond”, one which featured the Korngold Piano Quintet and an arrangement for nonet of Romeo and Juliette by Tchaikovsky.
After the CPO concert, which also features the South African premiere of John Simons’ “Seeing Stars” (performed with the support of Concerts SA and the SAMRO Foundation) and the Franck Symphony, the CPO, Magalhães and Gueller are off to the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. Here Magalhães will play the Beethoven Piano Concerto no 3 on July 7 which the orchestra will play Franck and the Marriage of Figaro overture. The orchestra remains in Grahamstown to play in a gala symphony concert with Richard Cock on July 8, while Magalhães hot foots it back to PE to catch a plane to Cape Town and rush to Stellenbosch to get back into the festival.
Magalhães, an award-winning Yamaha artist celebrated for his “wonderfully full sound” (American Record Guide) and “polished, refined technique” (Allmusic.com), is also an associate professor in Stellenbosch. He cannot stress enough how good it is to work in an environment which supports the performing arts. “They allow us to continue to perform around the world, knowing that our students never suffer. We do more than make up every lesson in return.”
After a short break at the end of the festival, Luis and Nina will be packing their bags for a short tour of South Korea with some teaching, and then he returns to Portugal to be on the jury of a chamber music competition again.
He also has very forgiving children … Antonio (10) and Lia (8) who understand why their parents are always on the go. Antonio plays piano, cello and drums, while Lia plays piano and violin. While Luis seems to have listened to his parents, they don’t listen to him! “They seem deadest on becoming musicians,” he says, “despite my telling them to choose another career! ” Good advice? He doesn’t regret his choice. “My parents were not musicians but had a piano and they noticed that I used to wander over to it. They probably wanted some spare time so they sent me off for lessons at the age of 5 and by the time I realized that music was a job it was too late to change!”
Luis and Nina met when they were studying in Texas with Vladimir Viardo, and six months later they were married (in Portugal). “There’s not much to do there,” he says, “except get married!” That was 18 years ago and they are together, happily!
Who: Pianist Luis Magalhães
What: Cape Town Philharmonic’s Winter Symphony Season
Where: The City Hall, Cape Town, 29 June, 2017 at 8pm
Tickets: R230 to R90
Book: http://online.computicket.com/web/event/ winter_symphony_season_concert_4/1134630432/0/79332115
Web: www.cpo.org.za
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