THE CIRCUIT: Giselle Brodsky’s Miami Piano Fest

Interview by Tanya Levy (MGBH)

In this issue we are introducing a new section that we named The Circuit, dedicated to piano festivals, competitions, and other events that discover and promote piano performers in the US as well as around the world.  The first in this series is the Miami International Piano Festival (MIPF) celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.  Mrs. Giselle Brodsky (MGBH) – the Co-founder and Director of the festival shares her insights, experience, and aspirations.

 

Piano Performer Magazine (PPM): It is exciting to have such an exquisite event in Miami.  What was your inspiration for starting the Miami International Piano Festival (MIPF)?
Giselle Brodsky: The fact that the classical music business today puts a catastrophic premium on the wrong values.  What wins competitions and major recording contracts is flash and brute virtuosity. What goes begging is the individual voice, the personal statement. The encounter between artists and the public is hit and run. Overstimulated yet undernourished by heavily promoted performances that are dazzling but shallow.  I wanted to give a voice to those artists that are genuine, individual and are visionaries.

 

[…] classical music business today puts a catastrophic premium on the wrong values.  What wins competitions and major recording contracts is flash and brute virtuosity. What goes begging is the individual voice, the personal statement.

 

PPM: Did you have any experience organizing events prior to MIPF?
GB: Yes, I started a classical musical series in La Paz, Bolivia which is where I am from, and brought not only great pianists but ensembles like the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.  But, of course, nothing prepared me for the challenges I faced bringing artists that were not known in the US, but our audience knew right away that we stood by strong principles and presented great artists who had something to say.

 

PPM: Who was another co-founder of the MIPF?
GB: Edith Sorin (MBGH) one of the greatest pedagogues in South Florida and a true visionary.  She was and continues to be our inspiration. She is now 100 years old, and we hope to celebrate this year her 101 Birthday on March 19, with the great pianist, Francesco Libetta (MBGH).

PPM: Whose idea was it to start a festival and how exactly did it start? What was the exact moment when you and Edith said, “You know what? Let’s have a piano festival in Miami that is different from others”?
GB: It was back in 1997 and after several conversations with Edith Sorin, we both decided to create an organization that would identify, guide, and support great pianists.  We organized a private concert in my house and invited some of the most important movers and shakers in the cultural world in Miami and shared our dreams and plans to build our organization. Our ideas resonated with them, and we were given the first donations that enabled us to start Patrons of Exceptional Artists and later in 1998 our wonderful Festival.

PPM: Who are the artists that performed at the first festival and where are they now?
GB: The artists that performed at our first Festival in 1998 were Piotr Anderszewski (MBGH), Konstantin Lifschitz (MBGH), Gabriela Montero (MBGH), and Kemal Gekic (MBGH).  They all now enjoy wonderful careers and are internationally recognized.

PPM: How do you choose the artist to perform at the Festival?  Is it by invitation only or are pianists welcome to apply to be part of your program?
GB: As a rule, it’s by personal invitation.  However, any qualified pianist is welcome to send his or her information for our artistic committee to evaluate and see if they meet our criteria.

PPM: What is the format of the festival?
GB: The Festival is structured in three separate series covering three counties – Dade, Broward, and Miami Beach.  We offer more than 14 recitals every season, and each series offers a different kind of experience.  The Aventura Series “Classical Sundays at Five” is intimate. The “Master Series” in Broward is thematic. And the “Discovery Series” in Miami Beach is where we keep discovering new artists.

Each artist was discovered and presented first in “The Discovery Series” and has been re-invited and introduced to a larger audience through the other series.

 

PPM: What artists are performing this season and how did you meet each of them?
GB: Each artist discovered in our Festival has a story, and I met each one under different circumstances.

With Konstantin Lifschitz (MGBH), I learned about him by reading a review in the Boston Globe, the story intrigued me so much that I flew to Montreal to personally meet him and hear him live. Later I organized his debut in Miami.  He has come to Miami numerous times and is now in the Faculty of our Academy.

With Piotr Anderszewski (MGBH), a friend of mine had introduced me to his unique art.  After listening to his CDs and reading about him, I knew that he was an individual, a truth seeker, and had a tremendous creative talent.  In 2002, I nominated him for the Gilmore Award, which he won, and that jumpstarted his career worldwide.  Piotr is very much a part of our piano family in the Festival and has delighted our audiences several times.

With Kemal Gekic (MGBH), it was Prof. Frank Cooper (MGBH) who introduced me to his astonishing genius, after hearing him live in a Festival.  I listened to his Listzt’s Transcendental Etudes CD and felt compelled not to only invite him, but to find a way of keeping him in our community.   His debut in 1998 took place on the same day that Nato was bombing Novi Sad during the Bosnian war.  That was where he taught. Because he was unable to go back to Serbia, I persuaded Fred Kaufman (MGBH), then the Dean of the Music School at FIU to invite Kemal to teach as the Artist in Residence where he was offered the position which he holds till today.

Each artist was discovered and presented first in “The Discovery Series” and has been re-invited and introduced to a larger audience through the other series.  The Aventura Series is presenting Fabio Martino (MGBH), Pietro de Maria (MGBH), Kotaro Fukuma (MGBH), Francesco Libetta (MGBH), and Mishra Dacic (MGBH).  The Master Series – Kemal Gekic and a two piano concert with Ilya Itin (MGBH) and Zlata Chochieva (MGBH).  The Discovery Series will introduce new artists: Mishra Namirovsky (MGBH), Julien Libeer (MGBH), Florian Noak (MGBH), and a prodigy Leonid Nediak (MGBH).

PPM: Who determines the repertoire? Do you make any suggestions to your artists?
GB: The repertoire is strictly chosen by the artist, and we never get involved.

PPM: Now, let’s talk a little bit about you.  How did you enter the world of piano performance?
GB: I was introduced to the piano at the age of 7.  When I was 12 years old, I studied with a composer Gustavo Navarre (OBM) who was also a pianist, and who had a tremendous influence on me.  By the age of 14, I started to perform and realized that I wanted to be a pianist.

PPM: Do you also teach?
GB: Yes, I do teach in my private studio, and it has been my passion. I feel blessed to have been surrounded by the most astonishing pianists over these past 20 years.  I feel that they not only had a strong influence on me as a pianist and teacher, but also helped me discover my own insights.

PPM: What teaching style/method do you adhere to and what is the most important thing you learned from your piano teacher(s)?
GB: While I was studying at the Manhattan School of Music, I realized that my relationship with the piano was not one of Love, but, in fact, was the one of Fear.  And it is not until I met Dorothy Taubman (OBM) that I realized that it was really possible to have a love relationship with the piano.  It is because of her invaluable contribution to my understanding of how technique really works that I began connecting the dots. She helped me realize that in order to make music and play with absolute freedom, one needs to understand that there are physical laws that cannot be broken and that the body hand and arms have to be perfectly aligned and work perfectly to enable the brain to communicate the sounds it wants and transfer them to the hands.  Mrs. Taubman (OBM) is the only pedagogue who was able to decode piano technique this way connecting always every movement to the musical idea.

 

Dorothy Taubman developed her own approach to piano technique and as a teacher was the biggest influence in my life.

 

Dorothy Taubman developed her own approach to piano technique and as a teacher was the biggest influence in my life.  Her approach completely changed the way I heard, felt, and understood music.  It is this new awakening that later on played a big role when I selected the group of pianists that would perform at the Miami International Piano Festival.

Spending time with so many great artists during all these years created a renewed sense of awareness in me and helped me discover the truth and logic in music. By simply watching them play or discussing music I developed my own insights and followed my inner instincts when I taught.   The results were extremely successful.

My approach is not the same for every student, but, instead, individually tailored for each one. Through my experience I realized that every student understands and hears music in a slightly different manner, and I feel it is important to enable them to understand the score in a completely different way decoding its DNA, creating an awareness, and seeing how different patterns of notes translate into movement and then into sound.   The results are immediate, and their progress astonishing.

 

For me teaching is an art form, a shared creative process between the student and the teacher and a constant fountain of discovery.

 

For me teaching is an art form, a shared creative process between the student and the teacher and a constant fountain of discovery.

It is because of my own personal journey of discovery by being exposed to so many extraordinary artists that I was eager to start the Academy, so pianists interested in a concert career could benefit from the insights of different artists. I am thrilled beyond words that has now became a reality, and that for the third time this summer we will host gifted pianists from all over the world.

Teaching is my TRUE passion an I spend my days teaching in my private studio not only guiding many gifted pianists but also constantly developing new insights.

 

PPM: Please, tell our readers about the Piano Academy.  When does it take place and how long is the program? Who are the teachers? Who are the students? What is the value the students get from the program?
GB: The Piano Academy will take place for the third consecutive year at the beautiful campus of Nova Southeastern University from July 9 – July 30, 2017 attracting professional pianists from all over the world.   The creation of the Academy is the result of my own personal journey of discovery through 20 marvelous years of inspiration at the Piano Festival, where I had the privilege of being surrounded by some of the greatest pianists of today .

All of the faculty members are regular performers at the Miami International Piano Festival.  They have been selected for the academy faculty because they are exceptional artists who also have the motivation and skill to share their knowledge and experience with younger pianists.

The three week session will bring an exciting program and an incredible group of international performing artists that will provide inspirational experiences for participants through exposure to a variety of valid sources of information and instruction directed toward achieving artistic freedom – in the tradition of great pianists of the past.

Through this program, pianists will have the opportunity to take part in intensive Private and Open lessons with these master artists and teachers and participate in technique clinics, discussions with the faculty, explore the world of different composers and specific repertoire, and learn to improvise to strengthen their skills as performers.

In addition to the three week session for professional pianists, we will be running a parallel program for aspiring young pianists interested in following the path of a concert artist.

 

(left to right ) Kemal Gekic, Zlata Chochieva, Fabio Martino, Pietro de Maria

 

PPM: What sets Miami Piano Festival apart from other festivals across the US?
GB: It is a true a festival, as stated by Matthew Gurewitch (MGBH) in a wonderful article in the New York Times, Born To Be Contrary, “a Festival that is not there to supplant the existing A-list of virtuosos with a new A-list of interchangeable virtuosos, but to smooth a path for artists who bear messages that are perhaps more elusive and deeper.”

 

It is important to surround yourself with people that understand your mission and to follow your dreams with passion to get the message across and get people to support you.

 

PPM: This year, you are celebrating a 20-year anniversary of the festival. Looking back, what were the main challenges when you first started vs. today?
GB: The main challenge is finding creative ways of raising money and motivating donors to support us.  It is crucial and important for our sponsors to support our efforts and recognize the powerful impact of this Festival in the lives of our artists and now the Academy, which will inspire aspiring pianists creating a smooth and clear path of success in their careers.   The other challenge is to break through internationally and make sure that the activities of the Miami International Piano Festival are starting to resonate far beyond Dade and Broward Counties.  It is important to surround yourself with people that understand your mission and to follow your dreams with passion to get the message across and get people to support you. This is what we have been trying to do for the past 20 years.

PPM: What audience does your festival attract?
GB: A wonderful and sophisticated audience in love with the piano and classical music.  Our audience is mixed.  We have, of course, the older classical music lovers, but also an impressive number of young students and even children that come to our concerts.  Among our attendees we have professionals, amateurs, tourists, people that travel to hear our concerts from Miami to Palm Beach, several piano lovers from Canada who have become regular attendees and many piano lovers that come from all over the world and make our Festival a destination.

 

 What Kemal did that night was quite astonishing and very much within the spirit of the Festival.

 

PPM: Are there any interesting stories that happened to the artists during performances or in-between as they traveled to Miami to perform?
GB: In 2015, we had scheduled a tribute to two great composers – Scriabin an Rachmaninoff.  The artists to perform were Zlata Chochieva, Ilya Itin, and Misha Dacic, with a Grand Finale including all the three artists.  Ilya Itin suffered an injury and was unable to practice for many days. He came to Miami and felt that he could only play his solo recital and that performing the final concert was simply unrealistic for him given those circumstances.  So I immediately called Kemal Gekic. I explained the situation and asked him if he could replace Ilya on such a short notice and possibly play the same program.   He immediately replied that although he had never played that repertoire before, he felt confident he could do it. He was happy to help and participate in this tribute with music that was also very close to his heart.  What Kemal did that night was quite astonishing and very much within the spirit of the Festival.  Personally, that was very meaningful to me.

PPM: Please, tell our readers about the secret weapon of MIPF – the man who gives an introductory lecture and sets the tone for the concert.
GB: We are so fortunate and honored to have Prof. Frank Cooper as the Lecturer in Residence at our Festival since 1998.  He has been instrumental in our development setting an amazing tone in each concert with his illuminating comments creating and intimate and very special atmosphere for the artist and audience.  Frank Cooper is known and admired for his ability to communicate the pleasures of any subject in the arts to his listener.  He is a Research Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of Miami and has been called by the Miami Herald “South Florida’s cultural maven” and “a Renaissance man.” He sets the tone of every recital by creating a mood, setting up the stage, so to speak.  You have to be there, in the audience, to fully experience his magic.

 

I strongly feel that parents have to make more of an effort to expose their kids to such music by bringing them to concerts, so they can be in touch with their thoughts and emotions while they listen to great artists.

 

PPM: As a music educator, what do you think are some of the ways to implant appreciation for classical music into the psyche of today’s generation distracted by technology and pop culture?
GB: It is important to first educate the parents of small children and make them aware of how vital and important it is for them to support the learning of a musical instrument.  Research studies have proven again and again that kids that are exposed to classical music, perform much better in school and professionally. I strongly feel that parents have to make more of an effort to expose their kids to such music by bringing them to concerts, so they can be in touch with their thoughts and emotions while they listen to great artists.  Some time must be given to good art and reading. Unfortunately, in today’s world too much time is spent in front of computers, iPads and cell phones.  These activities should be complimentary, but not exclusive. There should be time for everything.

 

PPM: What piece of advice would you give to the pianists who are just starting their music career?
GB: They have to follow a path and work as hard as they can to be ready when opportunities present themselves. Not to wait for patrons and sponsors to jump start their careers, but to prepare and be ready when the opportunities will come their way. In today’s world, artists need to be more proactive and find creative ways to share their vision and their thoughts about music through social media and approach their careers as a business always re-inventing and investing in themselves.

PPM: You project an image of a successful, goal oriented business lady who gets things done with class. What does Giselle do when she is off duty? What are your hobbies?
GB: My life is music, and my passion is the piano, but I love people, children, my family ,and my great artists and try to always connect on a very personal level.  I give unconditionally, and I feel that everyone around me does the same.

Everyone involved in my life and my projects is very close to me.  I don’t think I would have been able to accomplish so much alone. One really needs a village to realize a dream.

I adore animals, especially dogs. I have two poodles at home.  I enjoy authentic food from different countries, and I am interested in all forms of art.

 

PPM: What are some of the lessons that you’ve learned over the years through working with artists and organizing the festival?
GB: I have learned to trust and believe in our artists and convey our message about them with great passion.  Unfortunately, sometimes our passion and intentions don’t resonate with some presenters who are only interested in bringing artists that will secure ticket sales because they are known.  But I will personally never give up championing those great artists that deserve great success and recognition.

 

 

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3 thoughts on “THE CIRCUIT: Giselle Brodsky’s Miami Piano Fest

  1. What a meaningful interview. I hope it gets wide exposure as you exemplify such a high standard for all pianophiles to strive for, each in his or her own way.

  2. Wonderful and informative article! We are fortunate and priviledged to have Mrs. Giselle Brodsky and her mission in our community. Brava!!!

  3. Congratulations for your great interview with and about Gisella’s wonderful implication into Music and talented performers’s careers.
    I was lucky enough to meet her during the Dranoff’s Int’l two Piano Competition many moons ago and I am happy to realize that she is still there with the same passion and now, great success.
    I hope that next time she comes to Montréal, she will contact me !!! We have still a lot to share!!!
    Your Interview was very well made with intelligence, efficiency and generosity to your readers.
    Thank You
    Courage and please don’t stop!
    Dominique Morel, pianist
    Montreal, Québec

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