Welcome back to another episode of the PianoPod.
I am Eric Hunter.
I'm Yukimi Song.
I'm Clara Zhao.
The PianoPod is a monthly podcast where we interview some of the brightest talent in
the industry.
Each episode features a guest speaker who's making bold new innovations that may change
the way we play or teach piano.
Our guest of last episode was Mike Grande, who is a creator of the pioneering video conferencing
platform called Rock Out Loud Live, which could reshape the way virtual music lessons
are taught.
If you're teaching or taking music lessons online right now, you should definitely check
it out and let us know what you think.
If you want to find out more about us and why we started this podcast, we have an extra
introductory video on our YouTube channel and SoundCloud channel, where you can also
catch up on the previous episodes.
The links are in the description below.
Today our guest is Chantal Balestri, a performer, teacher and organizer extraordinaire.
Chantal, how are you doing today?
Hello, Eric.
Hello, everyone.
Thank you.
Hi.
Thank you so much for joining.
Hi.
So nice to have you.
So Chantal is zooming in today all the way from Italy, where she has been living since
the beginning of the pandemic.
Well, beginning for Americans, basically since March, right?
Prior to that, she was in New York City here with the rest of us.
And we will get to the story of how she ended up back in Italy a little bit later.
But first, Chantal, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do?
Yes.
It's all everyone again.
So I'm a pianist, so I have a career as a performer.
I am a teacher.
I teach in different institutions, even now in New York, but also in Italy right now.
And I am also an organizer, promoter, manager of musical events.
In fact, I have my own festival.
Wonderful.
Thanks.
So now that you're back in Italy, what's life like there?
I'm sure it's a big change, right?
That's a very good question.
I mean, things are changing all the time.
And I'm not just saying that because of the situation, but because it's really like that.
Actually a few days ago, we were having again a normal life, kind of normal life, of course,
with masks, paying attention to all the measures we need to do now, right now.
But the thing that changed a lot is the closed theaters.
So again, we are in the situation like in the United States in which we cannot have
concerts anymore.
And we were like, you know, people were already going back to have concert or going to concerts
like before now.
No, anymore.
So we are not in a lockdown, but still for artists, it's a very difficult time because
things are changing all the time and it's unpredictable and it's hard to plan and to
do things.
Yeah.
I think all of us are feeling the pinch of it right now.
I don't know if it's true or not, but I saw a statistic the other day that I think 62
percent of performers may be leaving the industry because there's just no performances, live
performances right now.
But we'll get to that a little bit more later.
Let's maybe we'll focus on happier times a little bit.
Can you tell us a little bit about how you got started as a pianist and what it was like
growing up?
Yeah, I want just to say one thing about what you said, we need to be positive.
Let's look at statistics, please.
That's right.
Yeah.
So we will see and we can find a way.
And as we said later on, I'm going to speak about that.
So briefly about my life.
Well, I mean, like many other musicians, I started when I was a kid.
I started in Italy.
I mean, I'm half Italian, I'm Swiss, but I grew up in Italy.
I started like many private lessons.
I started in conservatory very early.
I was 10 years old and I started like I was practicing a lot solo repertoire.
I was focusing a lot like in Italy, there is a lot of pressure.
Like when you go to conservatory, you need to be a big soloist.
But then, of course, I always continue to think like it's important to practice and
to work on my solo repertoire.
But I start opening a little bit, broadening a little bit my mind and trying different
things.
So I started music when I was 18, which is kind of late actually, but I didn't get an
opportunity before because of this mentality.
And because of a festival and then I graduated, I started doing other experiences and with
other musicians.
And then I also moved to later on to another country, moved to Germany.
And this actually really helped me to realize that there were so many opportunities to start
working with singers, for example, other instrumentalists.
There was the Department of Contemporary Music.
So I discovered a new world there.
And after all, I came back here and finished my second degree when I was pretty young,
let's say because in Italy was allowed to take a degree very early, like when you were
still in high school.
So I could take my master's degree when I was already 21, I mean, or just 21.
And then I was like, well, what do I do?
I like being in Italy, but I want to explore more.
And so I decided to go to New York.
And this was five years ago now, it was 2015.
So I did, of course, like many of the applications and I got in school there.
I was in New York University and New York, I got to have a lot of experiences, which
led me also later on to have more experience in the organizational side.
So to work as a promoter first and then later on, like myself creating something new.
Can I ask you, how did you choose New York?
And were there any other cities or countries that you considered at the time when you were
looking to make a change?
Well, I actually was considered first to go back to Germany because I really loved the
experience and being Swiss myself, I felt my culture was close to the German one.
And so this was my first thing.
But then something happened in my life, which made me realize that maybe another way would
have been better for me.
So basically, long story, I tried to make it a little bit short, is like I had some
friends who moved there and they start asking me why you don't want to go to New York as
well.
And I was like, no, I don't think this is something I want to do.
But then a lot of incidents happened in my personal life and knowing people also, but
we were moving to New York, also in a sentimental life, I met a person who was moving to New
York.
And then I met also in Italy, a professor from the New York University who became later
on my own professor.
So there was a lot of things which made me feel, well, maybe I should really go to New
York.
So it sounds like things were converging on New York as the most logical destination for
you.
Yes, I mean, it's just I saw that life was giving me signals and I was like just listening
to them and say, well, maybe I should go overseas and not just stay here in Europe.
So I did that.
You know what?
All the coincidences happened and then that led you to New York.
It's not necessarily you were looking into, I am in the future, I'm going to go to New
York.
Some people have that desire, but not for your case.
I didn't have that strong desire to live in New York either, but things happened and New
York was the place for me.
But as a European, what do you think about doing music in New York and Europe?
Obviously, classical music started in Europe and then Europe is the place to study.
That's what I was thought when I was a kid, but now a lot of people come to the West,
as in this continent, not just in the United States, but some people go to Canada to study
classical music.
So what do you think of that?
Well, this is a really good question and actually to reply well to this, I would need probably
the entire hour to speak about the differences between Europe and the United States and there
are many.
Surely, I can say that you can tell that Europe is where classical music comes from.
And there is a deep tension to traditions, maybe too much.
This is probably the limit sometimes in the sense that, as I say, I grew up in an environment
in which I was a pianist, I was a soloist, this was the only way.
And this is unrealistic because most of the pianists cannot reach the big career as Marta
Argerich or Kristian Zimmerman.
Of course, you can do concerts like I'm doing, solo concerts, but thinking to just play in
the most beautiful theatres, it's not realistic because this is the way it is.
So it can be good because they prepare you really strongly.
And actually the requirements when I did the conservatory were really high.
Like when I graduated when I was 18, I had to prepare two hours and a half repertoire,
dividing two days to 24 hours.
And I had to do two piano concertos.
And so, of course, when I ended this, I felt like already, you know, that I studied a lot
of it, I had already a lot of repertoire.
So this was good.
But on the other side, they don't really look at the practical life, what to do later on
in your life.
Things are changing.
I'm not saying, but still I can say that this is kind of a limit in which they are trying
to work on.
And in the United States, what I felt, I mean in New York, because I need to speak about
New York, of course, I had concerts all around the United States, but I lived just in New
York.
And my experience is I had the feeling that I could experiment, but I could meet people
with great idea and trying to do so many interdisciplinary, interdisciplinary, yeah.
Sorry, sometimes I'm losing my English a little bit.
But it's okay.
And so it's a good place to think bigger, to do some very beautiful projects.
And so I felt really inspired.
And actually, it's also easier than also to find some jobs.
It's true.
It's something to say to a knowledge, especially for us pianists, in which it's very hard also
to find a job like pianist in orchestra.
And so for example, if you're a string player, probably it's easier for you in Europe to
find a job in orchestra.
But if you're a pianist, it's not as easy.
Yeah.
I mean, certainly, there's only room for so many solo piano careers, right?
And the rest of us have to be a little bit more inventive and sometimes dabble in different
things and have multiple different jobs to make it work.
Speaking of which, I know you're a very dedicated teacher.
Can you talk a little bit about your experiences with teaching?
Yes.
So I really love teaching, as you say.
And I started not right away.
I didn't think when I was a little bit younger to do that.
And it happened naturally, casually, to start to do that when I got to teaching public school
in Italy first.
And I was very inexperienced back then, like every woman.
But immediately, I felt like it was such a privilege to be able to help the new generation
to love music and to appreciate and to not just appreciate but being able to play well
and master the piano.
So when I got to New York, I got offered, along with the scholarship, the opportunity
to be an adjunct faculty at NYU.
I was very happy about that.
And I really enjoyed the experience.
Of course, I was working with college level students, so it was different.
But I really do enjoy working with college students and also younger students as well.
And right now, I have students of any age, any level.
And I'm still maintaining teaching online from Italy at different times because of the
time zone.
And I'm also teaching right now in Italy because I had to adapt to the situation.
So I'm maintaining that and mostly privately.
And yes, so this is basically what I'm doing.
And during this time, so I work with my students, not just in piano.
But I try to take the experience I took from New York, from what I learned in New York
to put in my teaching.
So I really pay attention, not just technical repertoire side, but also try to combine also
compositional side.
And so I work a lot about composition with my students as well.
So I did a little project recently, which all my students who are in lockdown had to
prepare their own piece, even the ones who started like five, six months.
That's amazing.
That's great.
Yeah.
Wow.
So Shantel, I have a question for you.
I know you a little bit on the personal level.
And I think in certain way, I mean, I have such respect for you.
And you came here very young, you know, and I can relate.
I came here when I was 17.
And I think one time you mentioned that you also didn't come from a musical family.
How did you, you know, come up to be so driven, right?
What drives you to keep on doing all these things at such a young age?
Well, this is a very good question as well.
I mean, no one in my family is a musician, but anyways, I can tell from my, especially
my mother's side, but also some people on my father's side have a love for music.
And I anyways come from Italy in which luckily still our grandfathers, not all of them, love
opera.
So I grew up with opera like being a big thing.
And so, and actually loved to sing.
I wanted actually to be a singer, but I realized very soon I was a better pianist than a singer.
So I continue with piano.
And so what drives me, it's, I mean, I started playing piano in a particular moment in my
life.
You know, I was very young.
It was a hard moment because of a familiar situation.
And for me, music was my moment in which I could really enjoy my time with myself.
And I was simply loving what I was doing.
And so for my whole life, music has been always something for me, like this is saving me in
any situation.
And it's, it's good in any case, even the worst situation, music is there for me.
So I have this, this relationship with music.
It's really part of me because of my previous experiences.
So I just, I just love music because of that.
And then I saw later on how music can influence other people, how can it can be useful for
other people, how it can really change life in a, not just for our spirit, not just how
I was when I was a child, I was thinking music was very good for feeling better, but in fact
it can actually really help you in a practical way.
So yeah, so I'm really grateful to music and this is what motivates me to go always on
and to continue to be a musician and to be, let's say, not just a performer, but also
a teacher and then also organizer.
Yeah, I can see you're very passionate about that.
So that's amazing.
When the hard time comes, you know, we always need these passion to drive us forward, right?
Thank you.
So besides teaching in New York and performing, you said you were organizing events.
Can you tell us a little bit more about that?
Well, actually my first big experience in organizing, I mean, I always had an attitude
in a sense, like I liked organizing things, even non-musical things.
And it's something like I always enjoyed since I was younger.
So in school, when there was some project at school, I loved doing that.
Let's say the most official thing I did was actually when I was moving to New York, because
as you know, the fees are a lot higher than European ones and we don't need to worry too
much about paying university fees, but it was a different story when I had to move to
New York.
So I was very lucky because I found the right people and I was able to organize the first
concert series with some of my friends and amazing organizers in Milan, which is one
of the main cultural cities in Italy.
And so I organized concert series with my friends and we loved by experience.
First, of course, because show how much friendship can be amazing when it's connected to music
and my friends, of course, helped me to raise money to go to the United States.
So this was amazing.
But then I also enjoyed also the process of organizing everything.
And I said that this is an experience I want to do it again and continue to do that.
So when I was then in New York, I actually didn't search for particular things to do,
but I was contacted by a professor of mine from Italy who founded an international festival
in Italy.
And he asked me if I wanted to be the promoter in the United States.
And I took this challenge and it actually was very good, very successful because we
got many applications from the United States to the first edition of this festival.
So I continue another here and then came very natural to me when I decide to not me, just
me because there is another person we decided to create the first international festival
ourselves.
Which brings me to something else I wanted to talk about, which is the global leaders
program that you're involved with.
Could you talk about that a little bit?
Yes, actually, this is OK.
I tell you a little bit about the program.
So the global leaders program is a program which exists since around 10 years in the
United States, even if it was funded by the Youth Orchestra of America and the main organizers
are from Chile.
And it's very unique because it's for performers, so for musicians who have a career as performing
artist, but also are really into the social impact in the sense that they are looking
to organize or they organize events which impact the society.
So and they have every year around 40 cohort members and there is a selection process,
which is not easy to do.
And if you are selected, basically you take lessons, actually classes, weekly with renowned
university around the world.
Of course, everything is online, even before the pandemic.
So it was already online school.
And they help you, I mean, to work for your projects and they give you the skills that
you need to make this project happen.
And it's amazing not just because you have the opportunity to have these classes, but
also because they gave you the opportunity to meet and actually they have a base in Chile.
And in fact, I met all of the cohort members this January, right before the pandemic.
And I was there 20 days and we meet and we share all our ideas.
And it was really an amazing moment because you really have a chance to be surrounded
by people who really have your same goals and really think in your same way, which is
not always the case.
And then also they give you a lot of content.
So in general, around the world of associations, like one very famous LC-STEMMA in the different
states, and they are able to help you to reach your goals also through the help of these
associations.
So I was very lucky to be part of this last year, so the 2020.
Unfortunately I had to leave because, it's not I had to leave, I took the decision to
leave because of the pandemic.
I had a project, a big project I wanted for my first year to happen, but it was meant
to be in person.
So I felt like I could not comply what I really wanted to do.
So I decided to put this on hold and I'm actually back right now on it.
And so I'm going to continue with my project for this 2021, hoping that this year we can
do in person.
If not, anyways, I will do it.
If it's not even this year, I'm just waiting to continue to work on the festival.
And yeah, so, and I'm very happy to be part of this program.
Let's get to the elephant in the room, which is the pandemic, because I know it's been
very it's been difficult for all of us.
But you have a really interesting story.
So you're here living in New York, family is in Italy and tell us about it.
What happened?
Well, what happened?
It happened like, yeah, I had to make a big, big choice on what to do.
So in order to understand better why I decided to go back to Italy, I need to explain a little
bit about the situation.
So as you probably many of you know, Italy was the country most affected by the covid
after China and the first one after China.
So I was in New York, it was the end of February, basically, and I was looking at the news and
I started, of course, to freak out because I saw that this was happening and nobody knew
really what was really going on.
And I remember thinking that this was happening in a very, very small town in Italy.
And I was so surprised.
I was like, how is it possible that this is happening in such a small place in Italy and
it's not happening in a big city like New York, in which everyone comes from everywhere
in the world.
So I was just surprised and I was feeling very stressed.
And I remember I was speaking with my roommate and with some friends in New York saying this
is very wrong.
I don't know if I can say very wrong, but there is absolutely something that I don't
understand because probably this virus is already here.
I'm pretty sure the situation is like that.
So I started feeling very uncomfortable going around taking the subway and see so everything
like nothing was happening.
And I started feeling scared.
And so I didn't enjoy anymore going to work.
I didn't feel like it was right what was happening.
So many ways I didn't think back then to leave until I saw a discussion by the president.
It was in the middle of March saying that in two days he would have closed the borders
with Europe and people could not come to Europe anymore.
And from Europe, sorry, could not come from Europe anymore.
And so I was like in the beginning I didn't really react.
But then the day after I woke up feeling, okay, I think things are getting bad, even
because of course New York University closed.
So I had to do lessons online.
I had to have a concert and they didn't want to cancel it.
And I was the one pushing to cancel.
And I was sure things were going to close very soon.
They had no other possibility.
And I was like, well, the president is going to close the borders.
I will be blocked here.
Do I want to stay here and not be able to see my students in person and being alone
here in New York or is it better to stay in Italy with my family?
So in less than 24 hours, I bought a ticket and I was on a plane and leaving.
And I honestly didn't expect to be so long.
I thought like I will be back in one month and one month and a half.
But actually now it's seven months.
I cannot even believe seven months have passed.
And the fact is that I'm not back in New York simply because I'm not allowed because all
the visa for worker right now from Europe are not allowed in the United States.
So even if I would like to go back now, I cannot.
And that's our loss, isn't it?
Yeah.
So it just makes me think that during that time, it was a very scary time because nobody
knew what was going on.
And we were missing pieces of the story that we have now.
Maybe you were lucky to get out when you did.
What has it been like living in Italy since you got home?
Well, first, like I think for many people was like, what's bad?
I was in New York in the middle of so many things.
As I said, I was organizing and organized.
I was going to perform in a concert.
I was doing so many things in New York.
And then the day after, I'm in lockdown in Italy in the middle of nowhere because really
my house, it's in the nature, there is nothing around.
And so I was like, no, this is a very strange situation.
And so in the first two weeks were very hard.
But then I started doing the activities I told before and I started finding energy.
And then I was very, very stressed about my own festival because the festival would have
been in the summer.
And I was like, should we go do that?
Should we not do that?
And so then we decided to cancel it as first reaction because it sounded like there were
no other ways.
And this was like in April.
But at the end of April, I decided that, no, I need to find a way.
I cannot let all the work I did because you work all year to make it up in a festival
of 10 days, really.
So I didn't want this to be thrown away.
And I said I need to do something.
And so I took advantage of the lockdown because the fact that I was blocked home, I could
not do anything else.
And I worked really so many hours all day on making it happen.
And in two weeks, a new version of the festival was ready online.
This happened so in the middle of May.
Yeah, I think that's really incredible.
I mean, now, many months later, we've kind of gotten used to the idea of doing everything
musical online.
But in the beginning, when Zoom wasn't even an established platform and everybody was
kind of transitioning and musicians were just standing around with their hands in the air
being like, what do we do?
Basically most of the summer festivals were canceled.
So I feel like you were really a pioneer in figuring out how to move things online and
keep going.
I want to know what good, what's the positive of this whole experience?
I feel like that's going to be so inspiring for the younger artists.
We are always trying to drive, drive ourselves and work so hard.
And it is hard.
It is so hard.
But for you, you're still working so much and motivated.
So what is the positive of all this experience?
Positive, you mean?
Yeah, the positive experiences.
I mean, of this pandemic, the positive was the festival.
Because honestly, I think that we didn't realize back then, but because of this online edition,
I think we upgraded, if I can say that, we reached a next level.
And how?
Because this was the challenge to move up on a festival online.
I had to change things.
Okay.
They could not happen like normal life.
But instead of doing the same thing, we try to find the opportunities which normally we
don't have.
For example, one thing I was really happy about the festival was that we could include
guest artists that usually are so busy with their solo career that they cannot even accept
to participate in a festival as guest artists.
So I reached these people really carefully.
And I asked them if they want to join.
I was so happy to hear that all of them say yes.
So we had a really big name since this is for pianists.
I can say that we had Beatrice Rana as one of our guest artists.
We had other two Italian pianists, but are really well known, especially in Europe.
One is Filippo Gorino and Federico Colli.
It's casual, but they are Italian.
The other ones, they are European and from other countries around the world.
But the pianists were Italians.
And they usually are really busy with their, as I said, with their solo career.
So it was great to have them as part of the students.
And also, I included also the series of people speaking about how to be a musician and entrepreneur,
how to be a musician and be an organizer in general, and how to manage the time and doing
everything, how to include social empathy, music.
So I took all the knowledge I acquired in this last year and I tried to put in the festival.
And I could do this just because it was a line, because it was impossible to invite
all these people to Fivizzano.
Fivizzano is the main town where we do a festival.
And so we decided to do a line.
So why I'm saying all of this, that there is always a way.
And we are extremely lucky to live in this era in which we have internet right now, like
you're doing this amazing podcast.
We could not do that.
We just need to find the best way to do this.
And also, you can always find a different opportunity on a personal side.
I'm here, I'm in Italy, and it's hard because in Italy in general, it's very hard finding
jobs.
And if you find jobs, it's also not really rewarded, let's say that.
So it's hard.
But anyways, what you can do, I'm applying to as many jobs as possible.
And right now I applied to conservatory.
For example, in Italy, there are many openings, luckily, there are many openings.
So I'm also in Europe.
So I'm trying to readapt because I would like to go back to New York, but I'm not sure everything
is so unsure right now.
So you just need always to search for some plan B, but doesn't mean that is something
that you don't want to do.
It's just something different.
You're expecting and this is so never, never think, oh, there is no way there is always
a way.
You're such a fighter.
It's very inspiring for so many people, I'm sure.
Yeah, that's great.
So I hope you will come back soon, right?
Is that the plan still?
Yeah, I mean, as I said, I would love to, but it all depends on how this travel ban
is going on.
I mean, it's changing, it's staying the same.
I have no idea about this.
So this is why I don't want to just wait, because I actually did this mistake.
I think many did this mistake, not just me, about people from other countries who doesn't
live anymore in the United States.
And to just, okay, let's wait one dot, but makes no sense.
So business will not find too many jobs.
And then I will take a choice.
Whenever I get the chance to go back, I will decide then.
Amazing.
Just keep on taking actions.
If there's a dream, there is a way, right?
So perfect.
And do you have any advice for young artists coming up?
Oh, wow.
Yes, I actually have many, and many I think they are from just what I just said to Clara
right now.
I mean, my advice is, of course, to be dedicated musician if this is, of course, your goal.
If you want to be a musician, of course, you need to focus on practicing and practicing
is the first thing.
But to be open, to try new experience and not be afraid.
If you don't feel comfortable, it's fine.
It's fine.
Every time we try something new, you are never ready for real.
So just go with it.
And try also to, I know that it's hard if you're shy, but if you see something interesting,
don't be afraid to go to the person who think it's organizing this event or to speak with
someone you think might be interesting for you to know.
The worst thing might happen is someone saying no or not really replying to you.
But it's almost never the case.
I learned a lot from my experience that every time you ask something and that you think
it's important and it's meaningful.
Most of the time people replies positively to that.
And so just present yourself for who you are and really try to see what to explore and
see what you like the most.
And yeah, trying something new.
And both on the performing side, which means with repertoire, explore with repertoire,
explore with playing with other people, explore with playing different ensemble and also with
dancers, with artists in general.
And also explore outside of just the performing.
And then of course, everyone is different and will find what's the best.
And you will also recognize your limits and what are your qualities, which is very important
because knowing your limits is important.
As I mentioned before, I love doing composition with my students, but if I will see that they
reach the level which they need to continue and to go on, I will not fit for that.
I will find someone else.
So you need to be humble also to know everything and how you know these things by doing these
things and you will see then later what suits best for you.
So maybe to sum it up, you might say experiment freely and try a lot of things, but then focus
on your strengths for your career.
Exactly.
And yeah, don't be afraid.
Meet people and speak with them.
Even if I know that not for everyone is easy, but with practice it gets easier.
I'm just curious, sorry.
Go ahead.
What are you working on?
I see the score on the piano.
So what are you working on?
Well, that actually it's a Chopin waltz because the last student I had was playing a Chopin
waltz.
It's on my repertoire right now.
Oh, okay.
Yeah, right now, actually, right now it's a good question because I was planning to
have some concert with Just Got Canceled and this is like a little bit changing of a plan.
So sometimes it's hard for me to find like for everyone, I think the motivation.
So I'm actually in a moment in which I have some repertoire I want to work more like a
Schubert.
I did a concert this summer on the Van Der Fantasie.
I have some Schubert Lists.
I'm working some Lists, Chopinitudes.
And I wanted to decide right now what to do next about some contemporary new pieces.
And I was watching out some more about it.
And but right now, yes, I'm practicing, for example, sorry, I'm interrupting sometimes
and just saying that for fun, just for fun, but I don't think this is fun.
It's Prokofiev's third concerto.
I'm just practicing myself.
My favorite.
Yeah, it's fun.
Yeah, just do.
But I don't have any performance.
The first performance that should happen and it will be in February, March.
We still are looking for the date to be with orchestra.
And so and they gave me freedom for the concerto.
So I need to decide what to play.
Let's see now.
But it's a working process.
I don't have a clear idea because of a situation.
So I sometimes practice something like just because I want to and then I go next without
focusing too much into it.
I tend to when I don't have a fixed goal to not be completely dedicated to practice piece
until it's completely ready.
I prefer having a goal.
I know I have a concert and so I need to be prepared for the concert.
Which orchestra are you playing this?
Actually, is that the secret?
No, no, no, no, it's not.
Actually, I think the person will be very happy to hear the organizers.
Daniel Montes is a conductor, Bolivian conductor, and he's managing a school in Honduras, Victoria
Nolopet.
It's very nice and they have an orchestra there.
So it's actually this is connected to the global leaders program, actually.
And so it's so I will go there to perform with orchestra, but also I will be teaching
the piano students and doing some concert with them.
I'm thinking already to do some four and six and things together.
So this is the plan.
It all depends on the pandemic and actually this would have happened already.
I don't remember now with data, but should have already happened.
We had to yes, in September, you see, I'm forgetting right now because so many things
got canceled and we postponed and other things are going to be postponed, but still they
are not able to provide me any date.
So I'm here waiting for that.
As a woman, as a female professional.
So what do you feel the difference between on this continent, currently where I am in
Europe, but even in Europe, you said you studied in Germany.
So Germany and Italy, a complete different in terms of that gender dynamics, traditional
versus modern, but contemporary.
So what do you think?
What do you think this gender dynamic contrast in the United States and where you are right
now, let's say?
Wow, this is a very important questions and I need carefully to, it's not easy to express
carefully what I would like to say.
Okay, there are differences.
I need to say, but as an introduction is I always try to fight this my whole life in
a sense that I try not to think when I'm working as a professional, that there are gender differences,
which doesn't mean that there aren't.
Of course, I'm not saying that, but I just say that I never find found that there are
ways in which woman should act and men should act.
I just be myself.
I don't mind if I'm a young woman.
I always did what I wanted to do.
And if someone was a little bit like talking to me in a sexist way, like you are a woman,
well for me, that person disappeared right away.
So I honestly, but always very confident with myself.
I never really care about that dynamic.
This doesn't mean that things didn't happen and happen.
Actually I had quite bad experiences and I'm sorry to say, sad to say that in Italy, especially
in Italy and with Italian people.
So in the United States happened to me and I was in bad situations.
For example, in the United States, there is this strict way in which professors should
not date or have anything with a student.
I know it's a comfortable topic, but in Italy this is actually happening or a lot of professors
flirt with students and something that's still happening now.
And I had this experience with more than one professor, more than once.
It's just bad.
And unfortunately it happened more in conservatory, in the music school than in my school, normal
school.
And this is bad.
And I hear the stories happening all the time.
I just have a friend who shared with me about it and what happened now to her with a professor
in conservatory.
And the thing is that if it happens, it's very hard to find a way to protect yourself.
I would say that because there is still not culturally a way out to say that this is not
okay.
People still don't think it's not okay.
And in the United States, I think this is stronger on the opposite side, which means
that of course there is a lot of attention to that and I'm very grateful to that.
And so at least these things doesn't happen, let's say.
So I'm speaking now when you are a student.
This is the risk when you're a student.
Then regarding for job, I need to say I was, as I said, pretty lucky in that, which means
I always went in my direction.
Whenever I saw a situation which scared me, it just took away and eliminated the person
from my life.
And I thought about it a lot and I say how can I help in this way?
And some people suggest to me, for example, I have a competition in my festival for composers.
And I could give a prize for a woman.
And I was saying, no, I don't want that simply because, I mean, for sure, it's amazing.
Woman was amazing with this sort of a prize.
And we don't need that.
I just wish we don't need that.
This is my opinion.
I know it's maybe unpopular.
But I don't want to have a special prize because I'm a woman.
I want to have a prize because I'm a good composer.
And she should deserve that anyway.
So we decided to make it anonymous.
OK.
And of course, one of the winners, three winners was a woman because simply because she was
just doing great.
And we didn't have to do anything for this to happen.
And I realized that actually there are other countries in the world in which the situation
is a lot worse.
So at the end, even if I see that things are not good and can be a lot better, and they
should better in terms of wage, sorry, no wage income being paid fairly and other things,
there are situations which are worse in and around the world.
So one of the projects I'm working on right now is trying to collaborate with some association
like in Afghanistan and Dubai to bring women in music here.
Amazing.
Because that's different to the situation.
It's sad to say, but just because it's harder for them to get opportunities.
So for me, it makes sense to empower them more and to help more with this woman from
this country.
For the rest, I just hope that and I'm fighting this every day just by showing what I do and
I could be a man.
I don't know if I can say that.
I just love what I do and I don't feel like I need to prove anything because I'm a woman,
just myself.
And I just wish that everybody would acknowledge that.
Salam!
Chantawa, what's the name of your festival again?
L'Unigiana International Music Festival.
It's the name of, L'Unigiana is the name of the region
in Italy in the North Tuscany where this is happening.
And it's called L'Unigiana because we literally go
all around the region to the concerts with our students
from around the world and teachers that perform together
and in 10 days.
And we actually have 18 concerts in 10 days.
So it's pretty intense.
And it's just amazing because it's all in the nature.
We do concerts in the caves by the castle,
in the castle actually, by the sea, lake by the mountains.
So it's just very, very, very beautiful for the audience
but also for the students themselves
to perform in these places.
And then of course we get lessons.
And it's not just pianist, piano and chamber music too
with string players and voice students.
So this is basically a festival.
It sounds absolutely magical.
And the link to the website will be in the description
for the podcast.
So unfortunately I think that's all the time we have today.
We wanted to thank you so much Chantal
for joining us today.
And thank you to our audience for listening.
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Bye everybody.
Bye everyone.
Bye bye.
Thank you for watching.
Thank you Chantal.
Thank you.
Bye.
After- pushes