Xavier Piano Series – janellesnotes

The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music announced yesterday the death of renowned pianist André Watts on July 12. The artist was 77. Mr. Watts, a frequent guest artist in Cincinnati, was distinguished professor of piano and the Jack I. and Dora B. Hamlin Endowed Chair in Music at the university. He joined the faculty there in 2004.

Mr. Watts was a brilliant statesman of the art form and a piano superstar, celebrated across the globe as a musical genius. At age 16 in 1962, Mr. Watts won a competition to play in Leonard Bernstein’s televised “Young People’s Concerts” series with the New York Philharmonic. A year later, he stepped in to play for Glenn Gould with the New York Philharmonic, launching a performance career that would span more than 60 years.

“André was first and foremost a gentleman who had a profound understanding of the human experience,” said Eugene Pridonoff, emeritus professor of piano at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. “His humility was genuine and he never let his fame define him. This was reflected in his music making that was always in service to the music and never about him. He will be greatly missed!”

Mr. Watts was beloved by Cincinnati audiences. He appeared in 17 subscription weekends with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, beginning in March of 1970, when he performed Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor. He also appeared with the Cincinnati Symphony at Carnegie Hall in 1977, performing Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 under the baton of Leonard Bernstein.Read More »

Stephen Hough doesn't believe in coddling potential young audiences — Stephen Hough doesn’t believe in coddling potential young audiences

It seems as if many arts groups — from museums to symphony orchestras — are trying to attract Millennials and Young Professionals with all kinds of perks, from parties, wine tastings and backstage tours, to offering them positions on boards. Concerts may be shorter, and sometimes with beer tastings attached. (See the new Chamber Orchestra season.)

But star pianist Stephen Hough, who performed last week on the Xavier Piano Series, believes that the arts are bending backwards way too far to attract new audiences. The result, he says, is dumbing down the art form. Here are some of thoughts that did NOT make the interview that ran here.

Hough: “If an elder person thinks they know what a younger person wants, they’re always going to be wrong. I see people in their 50’s who say, ‘We’re going to do this in a young, groovy way’. But young people have changed styles twice since you’ve said that.

“Yes, let’s have the accessibility, and make it affordable. But tell people that these composers were not from the establishment. They were usually poor, often rebels, and not the stuffy thing that people think.

“I wrote an article about this not so long ago. Classical music is difficult to listen to. You can’t say, ‘Come in, it’s really easy.’ No, tell them to come in, and you’d better be intelligent. You tell them that it may be difficult to listen to this music. The analogy I made was, if you say to a teenager, ‘This is the hardest mountain to climb in the country,’ then that’s the mountain he or she will want to climb. If you say it’s really easy, they’re not going to listen.

“So why are we saying to people, ‘It’s easy, we’ll just play one movement, because you haven’t got the concentration for more.’ No, tell them, ‘This is tough, and I hope you’ve got the energy to listen to this.’

“I really think that’s where we’re going wrong. Rather than dumb down and dilute everything, instead say this music is the highest achievement that humans have had. Let’s go for it.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

André Watts remembered as ‘a pianist’s pianist’

Are the arts dumbing down to win YP’s? Yes, says Stephen Hough