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Piano Passion
All this is happening here, rather than in centers like
New York, Los Angeles, Boston or Chicago, because South Florida
has an unusual wealth of presenters with a passionate interest
in young piano talent - and most of them, not incidentally,
are women.
Says Dranoff, whose protégés consider her a kind of den
mother for duo - pianists, "Women have a nurturing, mothering
instinct that probably plays into part of this, and they've
been supporters of all the arts - symphony, opera, ballet
- from the start."
Here in South Florida, the piano craze began when philanthropist
Blanka Rosenstiel, originator of the American Chopin Competition,
invited dozens of young pianists to compete here in 1975,
then brought in Saxon to develop the contest.
Saxon came from New York, where she'd founded the prestigious
Dimitri Mitropoulos Competitions for pianists and conductors
in the 1960s. Of course, there were already musical activists
here like impresario Judy Drucker and Miami - Dade Community
College's Ruth Greenfield, who'll be honored Tuesday for creating
the school's once-thriving Lunchtime Lively Arts Series, which
promoted new talent for years. Doreen Marx of Temple Beth
Am, Agnes Youngblood, Brodsky's collaborator, and Rosalina
Sackstein of Miami Civic Music also are pianists - boosters;
Sackstein has a fun-raiser for young pianists slated at the
University of Miami Feb. 27.
But Saxon's work, even in New York, has proved important
for South Florida, too. Her Mitropoulos Competition helped
spot this area's first brilliant young conductor, Alain Lombard,
and her input regarding pianists has often been valuable to
others locally.
Even now, at 88, she can be found each morning in her Miami
office at the Chopin Foundation trying to figure out how to
help the deluge of pianists who have no concerts. "There are
fewer and fewer solo recitals and series, and it's extremely
difficult to get orchestras to accept young pianists." She
says.
Nevertheless, in addition to awarding Chopin Competition
winners $42.000 in prizes and sending the top four to Warsaw
this fall to compete in the International Chopin Competition,
Saxon has assembled a 20 - concert tour for the first-prize
winner, including a Carnegie Hall debut. "But you can tell
from most of the concert dates we're giving how hard it is
to maintain a career," she says. "They're not on regular recital
series, but at the Polish Consulate in Honolulu and the Ashlawn
Music Society in Charlottesville, VA."
Solo Woes>>
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