SOTA – State of the Art – is treating Hyderabad with a first of its kind event. The City of Nawabs and pearls, true to its culture of throwing its doors open to a wide variety of cultures, will host a classical music festival that will showcase artists of international stature. SOTA aims to invigorate the cultural landscape of the city by introducing its music connoisseurs, amateurs and enthusiasts alike to world-class performers who will showcase their mastery through solos, ensembles and orchestras.
On October 5, as part of this festival, it will be the turn of child-prodigy-turned-master-performer Alessandro Deljavan, a famed Italian concert pianist who will allure the audiences with a wide variety of offerings from the meditative works of Bach to the Waltzes of Chopin.
The concern is part of an initiative which was the brainchild of Timothy Marthand, SOTA founder. A global performer who has played with members of the Nizam’s Symphony Orchestra, Timothy is the only Indian to be represented at the prestigious International Piano Foundation in Lake Como, Italy. His vision of curating musicians of the highest calibre and exposing the cosmopolitan audiences of Hyderabad to such international virtuosity has culminated in this music festival. It aims to give music lovers the feeling one can experience only in hallowed places such as the Carnegie Hall and the Musikverein, Vienna.
Of an Italian and Persian descent, Alessandro Deljavan was introduced to the piano before he turned three and at the age of three faced his first audience. At the tender age of nine, he won the First Prize at the prestigious Concours Musical de France in Paris, in 1996. He has garnered top prizes in reputed competitions, including the Hummel Competition 2005 in Bratislava, the Gina Bachauer Young Artist Competition 2005, the Isangyun Competition 2010 in South Korea, and the Cliburn Competition in 2009 and 2013. As a soloist, Alessandro Deljavan has performed with orchestras such as the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra of St. Petersburg, the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, Orchestra Sinfonica Leopolis and the Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento in Italy, Israel Camerata Orchestra, Wu Han Philharmonic Orchestra in China among others.
Alessandro’s chamber music partners have included the Takács Quartet, Quatuor Sine Nomine and the Brentano Quartet. He is also a prolific recording artist with a discography of over 40 albums with albums of Liszt Sonata and Mephisto Waltzes and the Bach Goldberg Variations waiting in the wings. However, he feels playing to people is definitely more challenging, because an artist has to evaluate what may or may not work with a particular group of people and that can be tricky. “I normally know only ten minutes before the concert what I am going to do with the music. It’s not really conscious. But it is there. It happens just when you think it won’t,” Alessandro says when asked about his preparation ahead of a concert.
Asked about whether one should start learning piano early, Alessandro says, “I think it is very important! Music is a language. You have to start young and allow the language to sink in deep and become second nature. The child has to have enormous curiosity. It is important to have the right teacher who could help the student think straight. That takes talent on the part of the teacher - to be able to help the student identify problems and choose the right process to work them out.” Alessandro hopes that the high school systems around the world play their part too because “in classical music, ideas and melodies will not often be handed to the listener on a silver plate.”
Alessandro also has kind words for the audiences of Hyderabad who he feels ‘are thirsty for great music and possess great talent.’ Selected as one of the young artistes to attend the International Piano Academy at Lake Como, Alessandro Deljavan is currently Professor of Piano at the Giordano Conservatory of Music in Foggia, Italy. He will also conduct a masterclass in the city, on October 6 at 10 am at The Music Gallery, Saptaparni.
