Few can resist tinkling the ivories, but many are those who fail to tame the beast. Alex Vella Gregory speaks to pianist Florian Caroubi about the occupational hazards of piano playing.

“The piano is a very treacherous instrument.”

The piano is an individualistic instrument and does not really give you the opportunity to experience making music with other musicians

How many times have you heard that phrase before? That majestic instrument with its shiny black-and-white smile is nothing but a death-trap for innocent music lovers.

Maybe I am being a bit too dramatic, but Florian Caroubi certainly thinks that to master the emperor of all instruments you need to do a lot more than just press the notes.

Caroubi started piano lessons when he was just five, but was more inclined to pursue the guitar as a main instrument. At 16, he entered a conservatory and decided the piano was his instrument. Teenage crises don’t come better than this.

Of course, this is not some teenage fantasy come true, but rather a very mature decision from someone whose interests in life include literature, art, theatre and nature.

After all, by the time he was 16 he had already accompanied his aunt Andrée Caroubi, who is an opera singer, in more than 100 recitals.

Caroubi is what one could refer to as a typical European musician. He started his musical education through a cultured family background, went on to join a conservatory, and specialised in what is essentially a Western musical repertoire. So it comes as no surprise that his most formative musical experience took place in… Malaysia.

“Last July I was in Malaysia to accompany a series of vocal master classes with Italian soprano Michela Bertagnolli. I had, for the first time in my life, a full immersion in the crazy world of opera in a geographically and culturally distant country... where opera is not in the local traditions. I realised how fundamental and universal music is as a human language.”

This universal approach to music is reflected in Caroubi’s approach to his repertoire. For his Malta recital, he will start with a Mozart sonata and then take the audience through the development of the piano repertoire from the classical into the romantic period by way of Beethoven, Chopin and Schumann.

“I owe a lot to Nadine Palmier, my piano tutor in Marseille. She taught me the strictness required when you approach a score and the importance of going beyond a superficial reading of a musical text to develop a personal interpretation, though always respectful of the composer’s intentions.”

Caroubi is a very versatile musician. Apart from being a solo artist, he is also a composer and accompanist. His schedule includes working on La Bohème in Frankfurt and Kuala Lumpur, performing Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in November, and having his works performed by the Quatour Syrah in Marseille.

This versatility probably comes from his varied musical education, including his studies on the guitar.

“The piano is an individualistic instrument and does not really give you the opportunity to experience making music with other musicians, like other instruments.” That is why Caroubi is constantly seeking to expand his musical horizons.

Although still very young, Caroubi is certainly not inexperienced on the concert platform. He belongs to a generation of musicians who want to see and do things differently.

“I firmly believe that any kind of music, if played with depth of expression, intensity and subtlety, can be beautiful and pleasant to listen to and to play.”

Not everyone has the privilege to enjoy playing music, but everyone has the chance to enjoy listening to music thanks to musicians like Caroubi.

Florian Caroubi will be performing on Thursday at the Manoel Theatre at 8pm.

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