126 years later...
The storm surrounding the 125th anniversary of George Gershwin received a final flourish on Sunday in the intimate chapel of Het Cenakel in Tilburg. Organizer-writer-musicologist-pianist Eric Schoones invited the French-Cypriot star pianist Cyprien Katsaris and thus added an extra layer to the fame of the concert series "Bewitching Pianists".
"Artist of UNESCO for Peace" and "Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres": Cyprien Katsaris can look back on more than half a century of a brilliant international career, including two concerts on the occasion of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. He can proudly display distinctions such as the Grand Prix du Disque Franz Liszt and the Franz-Liszt-Ehrenpreis 2023 from the Neue Liszt Stiftung Weimar. To freely pursue his own musical path, he established his own record label Piano21.
He enchanted, especially with a very poetic Andante con moto e poco rubato from the "Three Preludes" and with a virtuosic hammering "Rhapsody in Blue" in a piano version by Gershwin himself. Cyprien Katsaris was not alone. He had himself been captivated by the charming voice of Mélissa Arnaud, a multitalent trained in Paris as a singer, actress, composer and writer of theatrical works. She is all charm, her voice all nuance and conviction, her ability to empathize as convincing as that of Billie Holiday, but less bitter and melancholic.
Mélissa Arnaud radiated optimism and tenderness, alone, and even more in her last five Gershwin songs: with her barely three-month-old baby at her breast, "The Man I Love" and "They Can't Take That Away From Me" took on concrete form. Baby Balthazar heard that all was well and remained exemplarily quiet.
A delightful "Summertime", masterfully accompanied at the piano, made one forget that it was still the depths of winter.
- WHAT: 125 + 1 years Gershwin
- WHO: Mélissa Arnaud (vocals) & Cyprien Katsaris (piano)
- WHERE & WHEN: Sunday 21 January 2024, chapel of Het Cenakel in Tilburg
- PORTRAIT PHOTO: George Gershwin, © Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery
