Teaching while performing
Sue Wade for Florida Weekly
Grand Piano Series is willing to bet you’ve never had a music appreciation course as engaging as this.
In his role as the Grand Piano Series director of education and community engagement, composer/pianist Konstantin Soukhovetski has a unique platform for presenting classical music to audiences of all ages.
He’s spun the stories behind the scores in countless masterclasses, interactive lecture/performances and residency programs at worldwide institutions from the Juilliard School to Singapore’s Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.
Those lucky enough to have seen his previous Narrative Musicales know what to expect this summer in Naples: hour-long, intermission-less, immersive multimedia performances featuring audio, video and a one-of-a-kind emcee.
When presenting a guest pianist, Soukhovetski becomes an impresario. But he’s arguably at his best when presenting himself, solo.
“I’m a one-stop shop,” he said, “performing the music while I teach about it. This format delivers music history in such a palatable, entertaining way, for both music lovers and those just beginning their journey in classical music.”
According to New York lifestyle publication Dan’s Papers, Soukhovetski’s “act continues … for one glorious hour: story, song, story, song. Soukhovetski’s charming personality, interesting anecdotes and mastery of ivories hold the audience in a trance, never once letting go until his standing ovation.”
Not only does he interpret his chosen program using words, visuals and keyboard. Piano transcriptions are also part of his stock in trade. Short of staging full operatic performances in a space as intimate as Ubben’s, he transforms them into stunning piano arrangements.
“The piano is the only instrument that’s a chameleon capable of impersonating even the human voice,” he said. “You can make the piano sing.”
July 16’s Narrative Musicale is the first of two dynamic solo productions, this one tracing the revolutionary evolution of musical theater from 17th-century Florence to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Broadway. Soukhovetski’s second solo act comes in August, pairing Rachmaninoff and Scriabin.
But first, opera.
“In an alternative reality, I might have been an opera singer,” Soukhovetski confided. “I always thought some of the best music was written for opera. Then I took matters into my own hands and transcribed my favorite operatic scenes, never before been touched by an arrangement.”
Each of the pieces in “(R)evolution of Opera” is a duet or more, acoustical impressions of full original orchestral and vocal works — agonizing mother and son in Handel’s “Son nata a lagrimar” from Giulio Cesare; forbidden lovers in Massenet’s over-the-top St. Sulpice scene from Manon; and more Parisian love story medleys from Puccini’s “La bohème” and Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera.”
“I have a thing for duets,” said the composer. “Two different voices to impersonate, but double the challenge for composer and performer. And I also get to play all the parts!” ¦
Narrative Musicale – (R)evolution of Opera: From the Medici Court to Broadway
· When: 3:00 p.m. July 16
· Where: St. Leo Auditorium, 28290 Beaumont Road, Bonita Springs
· Tickets: Single tickets are $46, or $50 at the door. Students are free.
· More Info: grandpianoseries.org or call Grand Piano Series at 469-333-3231