In concert
Jan Lisiecki Plays Chopin with the Victoria Symphony
When: Monday, 8 p.m.
Where: Royal Theatre
Tickets: $18 to $75 (plus service charges) at rmts.bc.ca or 250-386-6121.
Pianist Jan Lisiecki marks a milestone two days before performing for a near-capacity audience at the Royal Theatre on Monday: He’s turning 18.
While pop stars seem to be getting younger and younger, the child genius is nothing new to the world of classical music. Mozart made his debut at age four, Franz Listz performed his first major concert at 11, and Glenn Gould passed the Royal Conservatory of Music piano exams in Toronto with the “highest marks of any candidate,” at 12.
In advance of his performance — and in celebration of his shiny new adulthood — here are some interview highlights and fun facts about the Polish-Canadian Calgarian:
• Hates the word prodigy. “It’s like a disease, you know … ‘prodigy.’ This person is in a bell jar, cut off from the rest of the world and has controlling parents who don’t let him do anything.” (Calgary Herald, 2010)
• Says his parents never pressured him and he will stop playing when it stops being fun (Calgary Herald, 2010)
• Started high school at nine, graduated at 15 and speaks four languages. But doesn’t feel he missed much, in terms of the “normal” childhood experiences: “I don’t really hang out at malls. … I wouldn’t enjoy doing it anyways, no matter if I was a normal kid, you know, a ‘normal kid’ or not. I would probably enjoy reading way more than going and hanging out with friends.” (CBC, The Reluctant Prodigy, 2009)
• Has a thing for beauty: “I just want to always express how beautiful the music is, how beautiful the composer wrote the music, and not how beautifully I can play it or how fast I can play it. I mean, it’s all interpretation, but I feel that the interpretation is actually to make the music more beautiful. (CBC, 2009)
• Impressed by Yo-Yo Ma’s use of the f-word when he met him: “He spilled some water on his shirt. He was drinking, so he said the f-word. So I went back to the audience and I said, ‘Mommy, Mommy I went and met Yo-Yo Ma.’ So everyone was listening intently, everybody around, and my mommy says, ‘And what did he say?’ I said, ‘He said the f-word!’ ” (CBC, 2009)
• Clears his mind with Bach or Messiaen: “Somehow it gets me in the right mood. … When you work four days straight from 9 to 5, you need a palate cleanser.” (Montreal Gazette, January 2013)
• Named his canary Ludwik (Calgary Herald, 2010)
• Says his Polish heritage helps him connect with Chopin’s work. “Perhaps I know a little better where Chopin was coming from because I know the language, I know Poland quite well, I know the food, I know the culture.” (Montreal Gazette, January 2013)
Lisiecki will perform Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1. The program also includes Musica Celestis by Aaron Jay Kernis and Mozart’s Symphony No. 41. Tania Miller conducts.
