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WHEN a name is descriptive, it may not matter that it doesn't
sing. Consider the Miami International Piano Festival of Discovery,
founded in 1998. A cumbersome handle, for sure, and last month
the organizers dropped the words "of Discovery."
That, on balance, seems a pity, since from the first the
festival's presentations have been delivering on a lofty promise:
"to discover, promote and support the great masters of the
keyboard emerging in this generation, to rediscover unusual
repertoire providing audiences with a unique musical experience
and to become a resource to agents, promoters and orchestras."
This generic institutional prose from the mission statement
masks a powerful contrarian conviction. In the view of the
Bolivian-born Giselle Brodsky, 55, a co-founder and the artistic
director of the festival, the classical music business today
puts a catastrophic premium on the wrong values. What wins
competitions and major recording contracts is flash and brute
virtuosity. What goes begging is the individual voice, the
personal statement. The encounter between artists and the
public is hit and run. Overstimulated yet undernourished by
heavily promoted performances that are dazzling but shallow,
listeners rush on to the next big noise or just drop out.
"That's why classical music is losing audiences," Ms. Brodsky
said recently from Miami. "People go to concerts and are bored
to death. Always the same names. Always the same repertoire.
When does an artist grow?
"Internationally, the artists we invite are unknown, but
our audience knows that we stand by strong principles. In
the hands of great artists who have something to say, classical
music is alive and well and as exciting as ever."
Is there something you could call a school of Miami? "Each
of our artists is special," Ms. Brodsky answered. "The pianists
and I work very closely. I always tell them, `Send me a program
you would love to play.' Sometimes I'm not convinced at first
by what they propose, but if they insist, I always say yes.
Because then I know that they must have something very important
to say."
What might one expect to hear? Anything from Bach to Rzewski,
by way of Scarlatti, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt and Szymanowski.
Ms. Brodsky's goal is not to supplant the existing A-list
of virtuosos with a new A-list of interchangeable virtuosos
but to smooth a path for artists who bear messages that are
perhaps more elusive and deeper. Among the growing circle
of her admirers is Daniel R. Gustin, the director of the Irving
S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival in Kalamazoo, Mich.,
which every four years honors a pianist "deemed worthy of
a global career" with the noncompetitive title Gilmore Artist.
"Giselle is not a `professional' arts manager," Mr. Gustin
said in a recent e-mail. "God knows, we have enough of those.
In fact, this is not a business for her at all. It's a love
affair with piano music and with those who convince her they
can truly bring the music to life."
Significantly, Ms. Brodsky, who also teaches, once aspired
to a concert career but abandoned that hope while still a
student, recognizing that she did not have a sufficient gift.
Entering its sixth season, the Florida festival has two components:
the Masters Series, at the 590-seat Amaturo Theater in Fort
Lauderdale (March 6-9); and the Discovery Series, at the 780-seat
Lincoln Theater in Miami Beach (May 14-17).
The Masters Series, as its name implies, is primarily a showcase
for return engagements by festival favorites, often in unusual
collaborations or especially out-of-the-way repertory. In
March, the Italian new-music advocate Emanuele Arciuli will
present various composers' variations on Thelonious Monk's
jazz classic " 'Round Midnight," part of an evolving project
Mr. Arciuli presented to acclaim in November at the Miller
Theater at Columbia University.
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