As distinguished American pianist Jeffrey Siegel prepares to travel to Malta as part of his international Keyboard Conversations series, he speaks to Jo Caruana about his incredible career highlights so far and what audiences should expect from this very special programme.
Jeffrey SiegelIf a picture says a thousand words, then we could argue that music speaks millions of them. Every symphony, sonata or variation conjures up myriad ideas, thoughts and viewpoints by immersing you in its world and inspiring conversation. And that’s exactly what’s so magical about music – it can’t help but stimulate discussion.
One person who knows that all too well is American pianist Jeffrey Siegel, who will be travelling to Malta later this month as part of his international tour, Keyboard Conversations. His two concerts – one focused on the Power and Passion of Beethoven, and the other on Bernstein and Gershwin – blend concerts with lively commentary, before concluding with a brisk question and answer session.
Siegel is widely acclaimed for his work as a soloist with many of the world’s greatest orchestras. These have included the Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony, Philharmonic and Philharmonia, Moscow State Symphony, Munich’s Bayerischer Rundfunk, the Amsterdam, Oslo and Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestras, Orchestra of La Scala and NHK Symphony of Japan, as well as the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics in the United States. He launched Keyboard Conversations eight years ago, and it has since toured across the US and London; Malta will be its next stop.
The concert will also feature the Malta premiere of an unpublished piano piece by Bernstein
As the son of a musician, Siegel explains that his love for music began when he was very young. “My father was a string bass player in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra,” he says.
“Music has affected me deeply from as far back as I can remember – particularly the beautiful sounds of the piano. I studied at the Julliard School of Music and the Royal Academy in London, and have been delighted to share the transforming power of great music with audiences ever since.”
As a pianist, Siegel believes the world’s piano repertoire to be a vast treasure-house of great works by great composers.
“Many seem to reach out to me with a magnetic pull and these are the works I choose to play. Our two Malta programmes are made up of just these types of compelling pieces of music,” he says.
With that in mind, the pianist explains his choices for the two local concerts, both of which will be performed in the recently restored concert hall at Palazzo de la Salle, on Republic Street in Valletta.
“The Beethoven programme on May 25 includes some of his greatest music ever, namely the Pathetique Sonata, which is filled with inner pathos and was written at a time when the composer was having to deal with the realisation that he was going deaf,” Siegel says.
“That is accompanied by the Farewell Sonata, which begs the questions: who was leaving and why was Beethoven so affected? There is also the famous Fur Elise, which every piano student (and parent of a piano student!) knows. What they might not know is that it was not written as a piano-learning piece, but that it is actually a love poem in sound. I find that fact particularly fascinating.”
The second programme, on May 27, contains the works of Leonard Bernstein and George Gershwin. They include excerpts from the popular musical West Side Story by Bernstein, an artist Siegel knew personally, and who actually inspired the format for Keyboard Conversations.
“The concert will also feature the Malta premiere of an unpublished piano piece by Bernstein that was given to me by his former biographer, Humphrey Burton, in appreciation for the Bernstein-inspired concert with commentary format – the ever-popular Rhapsody in Blue of Gershwin, which we will hear in the unusual solo piano version that Gershwin made for himself,” Siegel continues.
And with the programme firmly in place for both events, the pianist is eagerly looking forward to his concert in Malta – which follows a chance encounter with Malta Society of Arts president Adrian Mamo in the UK.
“I first met Adrian at the Steinway Pianos Hall in London. I actually played the specific piano that ended up being the one chosen for the MSA in Malta, and which is now housed in their new concert hall. Adrian seemed particularly interested in the Keyboard Conversations format because of its Q&A element. He invited me to visit and I gladly accepted.”
And both Mamo and Siegel believe the concerts will be popular additions to the busy programme at the MSA, which will also shortly launch its new exhibition, Vernacular, by Karen Caruana.
“I know there are many avid music lovers in Malta,” Siegel says. “This includes many who will have heard Beethoven’s Pathatique Sonata and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue many times, as well as others who will not have heard the stirring works being played over these two evenings.
“Either way, it will be a much-loved opportunity for me to reach out and attract both audiences to this great music and to give them a ‘gentle inoculation’ into the enriching joys of some of the greatest music ever written,” he adds.