CONCERT pianist Gustavo Romero (pictured) – who has a reputation for both technical brilliance and the interpretive depth of his playing, as well as his commitment to in-depth exploration of individual composers – is taking on the challenge of performing both the Brahms Piano Concertos in a single performance, twice this weekend.
It is an exceptional feat which doesn’t lie within the abilities of many pianists. But this is not the pianist’s first performance at Pretoria’s Brooklyn Theatre – and his past recitals have been popular.
He will be performing with the theatre’s resident orchestra, The Gauteng Philharmonic, who is most excited by the prospect of such unusual programming.
Says artistic director Willem Vogel: “I don’t think this has been done anywhere on the African continent before in one performance – certainly not in this century.”
Brahms worked on the First Piano Concerto for years. After a prolonged waiting period, it was first performed on January 22, 1859, in Hanover, Germany, when Brahms was just 25. Five days later, in Leipzig, an unenthusiastic audience hissed at the concerto, while critics savaged it. Today it is a standard concert work and adored by music enthusiasts and connoisseurs alike.
After interval, Romero will be performing one of the most substantial romantic piano concertos in the entire repertoire, the 2nd Brahms Piano Concerto, Opus 83. Brahms wrote this work 22 years after the first one and in contrast to the first concerto, the première was given in Budapest in 1881 with the composer as the soloist. It was an immediate success. He proceeded to perform the piece in many cities across Europe.
“I came to Africa for the first time in 1996 when I went white water rafting on the Zambezi,” says Romero. At that time he met Lionel Bowman, the concert pianist and teacher at the University of Stellenbosch. Since then he has visited South Africa almost every year and performed across the country. “I played at the Brooklyn Theatre on New Year’s Eve last year,” he says about his local performances. “I was delighted to be invited back to play Brahms 2 with the newly formed Gauteng Philharmonic Orchestra.
“Brahms 1 is a particular favourite of mine which I played at Carnegie Hall so I offered to play it as well. This will be the first time that both concertos will have been played on one night in Africa. I’m delighted to be performing them at The Brooklyn Theatre.”
This will be the second of such skilled performances. Romero has also played all the Beethoven sonatas in a cycle of seven recitals in Cape Town and Joburg in the past.
A native of San Diego with heritage in Guadalajara, Mexico, Romero discovered his love and gift for the piano at the age of five.
He gave his first public performances at the age of 10, when he also won his first piano competition. At 13, he performed with the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta. He was recognised by Rudolf Serkin, and at the age of 14 moved to New York to attend The Julliard School.
He has won many prizes, including first prize in the prestigious Clara Haskil International Piano Competition in Switzerland, The Avery Fisher Career Grant and The Musical America Young Artist Award.
He has performed with the world’s leading orchestras including The New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony, Houston Symphony – the list goes on. For the past 16 years, Romero has performed a series of concerts featuring music of one composer each year. He has presented the works of Chopin, Bach, Schumann, Schubert, Brahms, Mendelssohn and again, he runs through almost the entire classical repertoire. In the 2014/15 season Romero will also be performing in China, Korea, Taiwan, Italy and across the US. He is a professor of piano at the University of North Texas.
• The local concerts are on Friday at 8pm and Sunday at 3pm at the Brooklyn Theatre. Tickets from R260 to R300. Bookings at Brooklyn Mall (012 346 3474), iSalon Shop 10 or Brooklyn Theatre (012 460 6033), Greenlyn Village Centre, c/o Thomas Edison and 13th Streets, Menlo Park.