When pianist Vitaly Pisarenko was last in South Africa in 2015 and 2018, his and the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra’s schedules didn’t match but the wait to engage him is very worthwhile, says PETA STEWART:
This Ukrainian-Russian pianist is considered by the New York Times to be an “…Immensely gifted pianist…with prodigious technique, myriad shadings and scrupulous accuracy…”
Pisarenko will be in Cape Town to bring the Autumn Symphonies at the City Hall season to a close on Thursday, 11 May. Pisarenko will perform the 2nd Piano Concerto by Liszt, a work he believes “is more original and deep than people realise, for many see only his virtuoso side”.
“Liszt was my absolute favourite composer when I was a teenager and still remains one of my favourites now. Obviously, the older I get the more composers join this list and my taste is changing as well. I have played many compositions by Liszt throughout the years and had to prepare a big programme naturally for both Liszt Competitions in Weimar and Utrecht. Winning the 8th International Liszt Competition in Utrecht in 2008 has of course changed my life giving me a lot of opportunities and exposure!” He also won 3rd prize in the prestigious Leeds Competition.
While Liszt is the concerto on the programme, the concert will begin with another Liszt piece, Les Preludes, and close with Elgar Enigma Variations. Bernhard Gueller will be on the podium.
Pisarenko is also a teacher at the Royal College of Music in London as an Assistant of Dmitri Alexeev and in 2020 started teaching at the Purcell School for Young Musicians in London.
“I love teaching and have some very talented students and although it is quite energy consuming I enjoy it a lot! I have come to terms with dividing my time between performing and teaching. Just before coming to South Africa I will perform a few concerts in the UK. Later in May I will give two recitals at the Liszt Biennale in Germany and will serve on the jury at the ClaMo International Piano Competition in Spain before going to a festival in Belem in Brazil.”
Started at age five
Pisarenko had his first piano lessons at the age of five.
“We had an upright piano at home in Ukraine because my mum played a little bit. Traditionally, in the former Soviet Union every child sort of had to learn how to play a musical instrument and while she wasn’t a professional she went to a music school as a child.
“I was constantly trying to ‘play’ something on it from the age of four and I kept on asking my parents to take me to a music school. It was just an ordinary music school, not a specialised one, but that’s how it all began. In the beginning, it was just a hobby. I didn’t practise very much until my teacher suggested I should attend a professional school. So my journey really started then, at nine, when I had to start practising much more and build up the technique.
“Into my teens, I was a big fan of Horowitz, then later of Rubinstein, Rachmaninov and Dinu Lipatti. They all influenced me, as did my teacher of course. I was really lucky with my teachers, because they inspired me throughout my life.”
Missing family and friends
Pisarenko moved from Kviv and Kharkov in Ukraine to Russia when he was 12, then he lived in Moscow until he was 25. In Moscow he attended the Central Music School and the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatoire, where he was awarded his undergraduate and Masters degrees. He also studied in Rotterdam and with Oxana Yablonskaya in Italy before moving to study with Dmitri Alexeev at the Royal College of Music in London in 2013 (he earned his second Masters degree there) so deciding where his home is tricky, he says, largely since his parents still live in Moscow.
“Especially now during these devastating times of war. I can’t go back to visit my family and friends. I have done numerous charity recitals for Ukraine donating all the money to the Ukrainian Hardship Fund and towards the Ukrainian refugees who are in the middle of this awful situation,” he says.
“All I wish for is peace, no war and no violence. Then there could be freedom of movement and freedom on speech.”
What: Pianist Vitaly Pisarenko with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra
Where and when: Autumn Symphonies at the City Hall, 11 May 2023 at 7.30pm (pre-concert talk at 6.45pm)
Tickets: Artscape Dial-A-Seat 021 421 7695 and Computicket
WS
