Latest news with #pianist
CTV News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- CTV News
‘It's unreal … a dream come true': Edmonton concert pianist performed at Carnegie Hall
An Edmonton concert pianist still finds it somewhat hard to believe that he had the chance to perform at the famous Carnegie Hall music venue in New York. Emilio De Mercato was born into music in Italy, his mother is a pianist and passed her love of the piano on to her son. De Mercato has performed in many venues, including a number across Alberta since he moved to Edmonton in 2012, but none quite like Carnegie Hall. 'This is a legendary place … so for someone like me, who devoted his life to learning the piano, becoming and pursuing a career as a concert pianist, it was definitely a milestone,' he said 'To be on the stage of one of the most important venues in the world … it can be scary, it can be intimidating.' Emilio De Mercato Emilio De Mercato playing at Carnegie Hall on Friday, May 9, 2025. (Dan Wright Photography) He performed several pieces on May 9 in the Weill Recital Hall, including Après une lecture du Dante and Pictures at an Exhibition. 'I sat at the piano, I started playing, then I was immediately immersed in the music, and there was a great sense of relief and joy because I kind of forgot where I was, I felt at home,' De Mercato said. 'The audience was responsive, warm and loud, so they made me feel great. 'It's unreal … I'm still, sometimes, in a sort of dream, realizing I did it. This was definitely a dream come true.' Like many musicians, De Mercato is often critical of his performances, but said he was 'pretty happy' with this show. 'When you're working at recording, you want to get the perfect product, but the beauty of a live performance is giving life to music at the moment, with the emotions that you feel at the moment, every time is different,' he said. 'It's a compromise, a balance between control of technique, playing the right notes, and at the same time feeling free to convey and deliver emotions and connect with the audience.' Emilio De Mercato Emilio De Mercato playing at Carnegie Hall on Friday, May 9, 2025. (Dan Wright Photography) De Mercato said his favourite moment of the show was the encore after seeing the crowd, which included friends and family who travelled from Italy and Canada to see his performance, give him a standing ovation. 'That was incredible, to receive this honour at Carnegie Hall, it was totally unexpected, and then to perform an encore … I truly enjoyed it.' De Mercato said the concert may be the highlight of his career, but he doesn't plan to stop performing any time soon. 'It's about being satisfied and happy with what you achieved and then trying your best to continue to grow … so we'll see what happens next,' he added. 'I like to think that I can continue to perform anywhere, hopefully at the beautiful stages in Europe and America. I still have many dreams.'
BBC News
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Family of Newcastle pub pianist 'over the moon' to see lost clip
Matty Gray had been scrolling on Instagram when he came across a video he had been trying to find for more than 30 was an old TV report of his late grandma, Peggy Fullerton, playing the piano and being interviewed by BBC Look North in Fullerton was a well-known pub pianist in Walbottle, in the west end of Newcastle, but all of her family had missed the original she died in 1995, Mr Gray, 51, said they had been searching for any footage of her playing, and to find one randomly was "absolutely mind-blowing". The clip was posted by BBC Archive on Fullerton had been on the regional TV news programme after being nominated as one of the UK's best pub pianists. "We knew the film existed, but we never found it," Mr Gray said. "Then all of a sudden, there she is in all her glory playing the piano."It was absolutely mind blowing." Mr Gray said his Granny Peg was a musician and played in the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) during World War Two where she entertained the the war she had a dance band and would play in pubs and working men's clubs where things like Go As You Please parties were held, seeing her being asked to play a song while someone sang."So if she knew the song that was great, if she didn't she would get them to hum it," her grandson said in the 1980s, him and his sister would hum songs from Top of the Pops at his grandma and she would be able to play along, but had to pour her a whiskey and water first."It was absolutely superb," he said. In the clip, Mrs Fullerton said her family had wanted to be a concert pianist but getting claps from the audience meant more to her "than all the money in the world"."She was a really talented musician, she was only ever happy when she was playing a piano," Mr Gray said."I'm not saying she was a miserable old so-and-so, but she was more confident and more happy sitting on the piano stool."He added that his dad - Mrs Fullerton's son Bill - was "over the moon" to finally see the footage. Not only did the video allow Mrs Fullerton's family to hear her play again, it also gave them the chance to hear her voice."It's dead funny because obviously we want to hear her play, but hearing her voice after 30 years", Mr Gray said."Having said that, that was one of her voices, that was her television or plain voice, that wasn't her 'at home voice'. "That was definitely Peggy two voices there. But still, it was nice to hear that voice, all the vowel sounds had been a bit poshed up." Follow BBC Newcastle on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
ABC News
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Vincenzo and Elaine's 50-year love story rooted in music and devotion
"Real love comes over time. It comes from all the things you share throughout your life." In 1971, Vincenzo Pandolfi was at a restaurant in Italy when a casual suggestion from his dad changed the path of his life. "I was there with my father and [he] said, 'Go and talk to the English girl behind you. She can't read the menu,'" Vincenzo recalled. "She looked absolutely gorgeous, but turned out to be from Australia. "She was a bit taken aback — I had very long black hair — so I helped her with the menu. "Then she said, 'I'll buy you a beer.'" A chance meeting brought the pair together. / It sparked a decades-long love story. That 'girl' was a woman named Elaine and, as it would turn out, the love of Vincenzo's life. The pair hit it off immediately, particularly over their shared love of music. "Elaine was a pianist, I played keyboards, so we both had that in common," he told ABC iview's The Piano. Three years later, in September 1974, Elaine and Vincenzo married. A year later, they made their way back to Australia by ship, where they spent decades building a life and family — all with a piano and music at the heart. The couple's chance meeting led to decades of love. ( Supplied ) Vincenzo and Elaine's love story began in the '70s. (Supplied) Elaine and Vincenzo saw the world together. ( Supplied ) Vincenzo and Elaine met in the early 1970s in Italy. ( Supplied ) Elaine, Vincenzo and their family. ( Supplied ) Vincenzo and Elaine, and their granddaughter. ( Supplied ) Elaine and her granddaughter ( Supplied ) Almost 40 years later, though, their love for one another was truly put to the test. In 2014, Elaine had a stroke. "As a primary carer, when someone you love is afflicted with a life-changing event, it's devastating," Vincenzo said. "Because of the illness [there] is that [feeling], you know, that you have something special that you might lose soon. "You do the best you can to be strong for her sake and to be the best you can and … to make sure that what's left of her life, it's a good life." After Elaine's stroke, Vincenzo became her primary carer. ( Supplied ) Elaine was able to receive care at home and Vincenzo made sure one of the constants in their shared life — music — was with her every day. "Music is an integral part of our relationship," he said. "The piano is downstairs in our living room, and Elaine is upstairs in the bed and she can hear the piano. "I hope that when I play it, it brings her joy." The piano played an ongoing role in Elaine's life. ( Supplied ) Elaine, like Vincenzo, was an avid piano player. (Supplied) Vincenzo Pandolfi and wife Elaine ( Supplied ) Music was dear to both Elaine and Vincenzo. ( Supplied ) The 'light of my life' Vincenzo was one of a small group of people chosen to perform on ABC iview's new series The Piano, while legendary pianists Harry Connick Junior and Andrea Lam watched on. Before performing, Vincenzo gave a heartbreaking update: Elaine had died a few weeks earlier, at the beginning of September. "We took [Elaine] into hospital at the beginning of the month … the last six nights we spent in the room with her holding her hand while she passed because we didn't want her to die alone," Vincenzo said. Vincenzo said Elaine would want him to keep playing piano and performing. ( Supplied ) "Elaine was one in a, not in a million, but 100 million. "She could sell ice to the Eskimos, even as ice was melting," he joked. Vincenzo dedicated his performance to Elaine. "She was the light of my life," he said. "All the moments that you spent together that are special, the lives you share together, the memories that you share together, contributes to forming a, wonderful, wonderful bond. "She really did make me a better person." Vincenzo and Elaine spent decades in love ( Supplied ) Vincenzo and Elaine had a special bond. (Supplied) After his first performance, Vincenzo was hand-picked by Connick Junior and Lam to play at a special concert for The Piano's finale. Even though he and his family were awash with grief, Vincenzo shared that the opportunity was a welcome distraction. "It's tough, but Elaine will want me to keep going," he said. "Fortunately, you know, music has helped me. Participating in this has helped me, 'cause it's given me something to focus on. "[The concert is] giving me more incentive to keep playing and … I wish she had been here with me to be able to witness it." On the night of the concert, with his children sitting in the crowd and his fellow performers cheering him on, Vincenzo performed as a montage of he and Elaine's life played behind him. "I'm just so proud of Dad," his daughter Cassandra said after the performance. "That was amazing, and Mum would've been really proud. She'd be so happy." An emotional Vincenzo said he "couldn't think of a better tribute" to his partner in life. "I think Elaine was sitting right next to me." Vincenzo described Elaine as "the light of my life". ( Supplied )
CBC
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Billy Joel cancels all concerts after brain disorder diagnosis
U.S. singer-songwriter and pianist Billy Joel said Friday he is cancelling all his scheduled concerts — including a stop in Toronto — after he was recently diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus, a brain disorder. The 76-year-old singer is undergoing physical therapy and has been advised to refrain from performing while he recovers, according to a statement on social media. "I'm sincerely sorry to disappoint our audience and thank you for understanding," Joel said. Joel's condition was exacerbated by recent concert performances, leading to problems with hearing, vision and balance, according to the statement. The condition, which is more likely in people over the age of 65, occurs when fluid builds up inside the skull and presses on the brain, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Its symptoms resemble those of dementia and can sometimes be reversible. The tour, which had 17 stops in the United States, Canada and England, had been due to start in February, but it was initially rescheduled to July due to an undisclosed medical condition. Joel, known for hits like Piano Man and Uptown Girl, ended his record-breaking monthly Madison Square Garden residency — which had begun in 2014 — last year.
The Guardian
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Scriabin: Vers la Flamme album review – Sudbin masters and humanises fourth and 10th sonatas
One of Yevgeny Sudbin's first discs for the BIS label in 2007 was a Scriabin recital. It included three of the piano sonatas alongside a selection of miniatures that ranged right across Scriabin's composing career, and, for his 25th release on the label, Sudbin has returned to the same composer and the same programming scheme. Though it's the very late, intensely compressed poem Vers la Flamme from 1914 that provides the album's title, it's the two sonatas here, the fourth and the 10th, that provide the weight and focus, with a selection of smaller-scale pieces – selections of preludes from Scriabin's Op 11 and Op 16, and études from Op 8 and Op 42, as well as the B minor Fantasie Op 28. The disc plots out the creative journey that Scriabin made, from its Chopinesque beginnings in the preludes, to the rarefied world of his final works, in which he forged his own utterly original brand of modernism. Sudbin's mastery of every technical challenge that Scriabin's piano writing throws up is hugely impressive, the colours he finds in the music always beguiling. But sometimes he does seem temperamentally more comfortable with the earlier pieces rather than the more acerbic later style. His treatment of the preludes, each one a tiny Romantic jewel, is exquisite, the account of the two-movement fourth sonata teasingly elusive, and though he builds tension remorselessly through Vers la Flamme and negotiates the thickets of trills in the 10th sonata with wonderful clarity, neither work quite reaches the extreme levels of expression that other pianists have found. On disc, at least, no pianist has come closer to conveying that intensity than Vladimir Horowitz, whose Scriabin recordings remain unequalled, let alone surpassed; Sudbin humanises this music where Horowitz makes it forbidding and alien. This article includes content hosted on We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as the provider may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'. Listen on Apple Music (above) or Spotify
