Sold-out halls, extremely well-attended masterclasses and a collection of young emerging to thoroughly professional internationally renowned talent, even the arrival of piano builder Fazioli: the city of Sint-Niklaas transformed for three full days into the piano capital of Flanders.
Two years ago, the first edition of what was already a very successful Pianofest took place in the hospitable Sint-Niklaas, a city that has more to offer than just the largest Grote Markt in the country. On a musical level, it is no less than the larger cities. Think of the boys' choir 'Flanders Boys Choir', the Goeyvaerts Trio and the Van de Velde brothers. It is an offshoot from this family, one of the Four Brothers On One Piano – the 'Ros Piano' – Yannick, who took the initiative to organize a biennial piano festival in his hometown. Where the first edition was an unexpected success, the second edition enjoyed a real rush. Weeks before the closing concert, many interested parties had to be disappointed because everything was sold out. We understand that the mayor, the alderman for culture and the director of the cultural center were beaming. To have something like this literally dropped into a city's lap, it's like a gift from heaven.
By the way: we don't stop to think about it enough, but such a festival brings a lot of cultural tourism with it. Not only are halls sold out, the people who attend such a weekend as participants or audience members find the local hospitality industry, book hotels, traverse the city in their free hours. A whole economy gets going. That's how cultural experience works. It is an important economic factor. Something that still receives far too little attention.
Closing concert with vision
Klassiek Centraal had a busy schedule that weekend and chose to attend the closing concert.
Yannick Van De Velde, the 'godfather' of the Pianofest which should become a solid biennial tradition, explained it in detail: the closing concert was literally built up, like a house so to speak. Four concertos with the piano as the main player, but assisted by the orchestra and other solo instruments.
Félix Mendelssohn's Concerto for Violin, Piano & Orchestra with pianist Nicolas Van de Velde and violinist Hugh Desmond opened the festive concert in a packed Stadsschouwburg, a hall with moreover tasteful acoustics. A rarely programmed work that was rightly performed because this festival not only puts the pianist and the teacher in the spotlight, but also compositions that deserve more attention. This concerto has a lot of velvet in it, completely different from Dimitry Shostakovich's Concerto for Trumpet, Piano & Orchestra. Here the Ataneres Ensemble, a young string ensemble, accompanied pianist Yannick Van de Velde and trumpeter Roeland Henkels. What an explosion of musical impressions!
From Ludwig van Beethoven came the listening to the famous Triple Concerto in an arrangement for string orchestra by Freddy Van Goethem. It does require some getting used to the small string ensemble when you know this profound work. The three soloists, Madelene Berg (violin), Amélie Denal (piano) and Jonathan Van de Velde (cello) bring an ensemble and interpretation that may well be more graceful than Beethoven himself envisioned it, but that does not diminish their vision. The orchestra follows closely and grows in tonal color. Musically the highlight of the evening.
Unique in itself is the performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's Concerto for Four Harpsichords and Orchestra, here in the transcription for pianos and string ensemble under the expert direction of Erik Desimpelaere. Three brothers Yannick, Nicolas and Samuel Van de Velde and a fiancée/almost sister-in-law Amélie Dendal who together play four pianos on stage, just that fact alone is unique and makes the experience for the artists and the audience more intense, more involved, more exuberant.
It is understandable that after each work the audience stood up and gave a standing ovation.
General observations
Pianofest is a powerful player in the training of young pianists with impressive masterclasses given by no lesser piano pedagogues. The names in a row: Bernd Goetzke, Klaus Hellwig, Mi-Joo Lee, Jozef De Beenhouwer, Vitaly Samoshko, Yannick Van de Velde and Eliane Reyes.
Concerts for musicians who have proven their talent and will continue to do so, young and older together on the program. Think of the concerts on Friday, March 15 with Yuzuko Horigome (violin), Bruno Philippe (cello), Nicolas Dupont (violin) and Yannick Van de Velde (piano) on the program; on Saturday with composers of local soil performed by Annelies Buyens (violin) and Erik Desimpelaere (piano) and in the evening a recital by Mi-Joo Lee.
The Pianofest is not a Van de Velde show as some malicious people might claim, it is what it should be: a three-day event that puts the piano, as a musical servant, center stage. It is a concentrate where the impressions are so intense, especially at the masterclasses, that a lot of knowledge and experience is picked up and carried for a lifetime. The sharing of Beautiful Art Experience, the driving force of so many talented musicians, is also what inspires Pianofest and thus leads to great quality.
- WHAT: Pianofest 2019
- WHERE & WHEN: Sint-Niklaas, March 15, 16 and 17, 2019
- WEBSITE: Pianofest
- PHOTOS: © Klassiek Centraal