WHAT MADE ME LOVE MUSIC: MATEI VARGA, PIANIST

ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

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Matei Varga, Rumanian concert pianist

I grew up in the last (and tough) few years of the Communist regime in Romania. Entertainment options were spare. My parents – in their youth – listened to a lot of ABBA and French chansonettes (Piaf, Greco, Brassens) but hardly any Beethoven or Schubert…

I remember falling in love with a famous (and very talented) Romanian pop singer by the name of Corina Chiriac. She was a big star at the time, and a constant presence on the national TV programs which were basically two hours every day, from 8 until 10pm.

I learned all her songs by heart and my mother wrote the lyrics for each one of them in a math notebook… Then I started concertizing this repertoire, either at home for my parents or their guests, or outside while taking a walk, waiting in line for food, etc.

So, I must say, my first hero was Corina, not Rubinstein!! My first piano crush was, perhaps surprisingly, not a household name but a fabulously talented young pianist whom I watched during the TV broadcast of the 1995 Queen Elisabeth competition – Victor Chestopal.

 

Published by ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Rafael de Acha has enjoyed a distinguished career in the arts as a performer, stage director, producer, and educator. He was born and grew up in Cuba. At the age of 17 he moved to the United States to study Drama at the University of Minnesota, and later Languages at L.A. City College, Music at the Juilliard School of Music, at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, and at the New England Conservatory of Music, from which he received the Master's degree. He has taught courses on the History of Music at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and at Florida International University, and contributed writings and reviews to Seen and Heard International (www.seenandheard-international.com ) and to this blog. He co-founded the award-winning New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida, where he produced and staged twenty seasons of classical and contemporary theater, including fifty world premieres of plays that went on to have international and national productions on and off Broadway, including Ana in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2002 and Tony Nomination 2003.) In 2006 he was presented with a citation from The Dade County Cultural Affairs Council for “trailblazing contributions to the arts in South Florida.”

One thought on “WHAT MADE ME LOVE MUSIC: MATEI VARGA, PIANIST”

  1. My first recollection of a visceral response to Music was being introduced to Beethoven Symphonies when in elementary school, as played by The National Symphony Orchestra in Washington D.C. My parents observed my accurate sense of rhythm when I listened to music while still in a playpen. And, like Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny, as well as Danny Kaye, I was a highly energetic “conductor “ of Rossini Overtures and Offenbach’s “Gaiete Parisienne”! Ultimately, it was Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts which absolutely enthralled me, and set me on my path towards a career as a musician, I believe. My 7th grade music teacher assigned me to write a report on Gilbert & Sullivan when I was but a lad of 13- and my fate was sealed.

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