Welcome back to another episode of the PianoPod.
I am your host, Yukimi Song.
So for this episode, I invited Dr. Priscilla Navarro, multi-award winning concert pianist,
chamber musician, educator, and advocate of Latin American pianists.
So I went to this concert in January of 2023.
It was hosted by American List Society, New York, New Jersey chapter.
And there were three amazing young concert pianists who were performing that night.
And then Priscilla, today's guest, was one of them.
And her performance really stood out.
Don't get me wrong, all three pianists were superb.
However, I don't know what it was, but Priscilla's performance took me to a different place.
I felt like I was on a journey somewhere.
And all the five senses got activated.
It's really something special to experience that when you attend a piano concert.
Since then, I wanted to invite her.
And I just finished interviewing her.
And she is not only an amazing pianist, but she has a lot of wisdom of life.
And she's doing some amazing things for the community of her native country, Peru, creating
a bridge between the classical music and then the society in a much bigger way.
So you get to hear all these amazing stories from Priscilla.
So before inviting the guest of the episode, Dr. Priscilla Navarro, I want to welcome everyone
who is listening or watching the PianoPod for the first time.
I'm a classical pianist and educator from New York City, passionate about creating a
thriving and meaningful community of the classical music industry through this podcast.
Please visit ukimisongstudio.com to find out more about my work.
In each episode of the PianoPod, I interview a guest speaker who has been breaking exciting
new ground in the industry.
Before getting started, I want to thank everyone for tuning in.
Please rate the show and review it on Apple podcasts or review it on wherever you get
your podcasts because every rating review will help people find my show.
So here we go, dear friends, please enjoy the show.
You are listening to the PianoPod where we talk to the brightest minds in the industry
about how they are bringing the piano into the 21st century.
I am honored to welcome Dr. Priscilla Navarro, multi award winning concert pianist, chamber
musician and educator who was described as the new Peruvian figure of the piano.
So welcome Priscilla.
Thanks so much for being here today.
My pleasure.
Thank you for this invitation.
Oh, of course.
So you know, I went to the concert back in January of this year.
It was a cold night in New York.
I was at the Yamaha artist services in Midtown Manhattan and I was invited by Gila Goldstein.
She is the in charge of American Lisp Society, New York, New Jersey chapter.
And then she sent me the invitation of the concert, which featuring three young winners
of Lisp International Piano competitions.
And then one was Ji Hyun Gwak and then another person was you.
And then the third person was Derek Wong.
And I was really blown away by all these three amazing young pianists and playing beautiful
list pieces.
But you caught my attention because well, I have to admit, you know, it's very rare
still unfortunately to hear accomplished Latin American female pianist, you know, winning
multiple competitions and play exquisitely.
And then but also, I think the way you presented your concert, your program, which struck me
so much and how you were able to connect with your audience, although, you know, audience
members, they were all professional musicians, mostly was attending.
But even then, I really was impressed by the way you were connecting with your audience.
So I want to know about the concert experience.
But before that, can you tell me about the competition?
Yes.
So I participated in many Lisp competitions.
The first one was in the Lisp Garretson competition in Baltimore, Maryland.
And that was way back in 2013.
And I was a winner then.
And I met Gila Goldstein there, as well as many other Lisp experts.
So but then years later in 2021, there was a New York Lisp competition, the first edition
of the New York Lisp competition.
And I won second place in that competition.
And the year before that in 2020, I was a semifinalist in the Netherlands Lisp Utrecht
competition.
But unfortunately, that competition was canceled due to COVID.
There are so many sounds like Lisp competitions.
Are they all sort of related?
Like let's say, now the one in Utrecht, Netherlands, that's like the really big deal.
The biggest almost like, you know, Chopin competition, right?
Yes.
The one that Lisp Garretson that I won way back was organized by the American Lisp Society.
And the New York Lisp competition is directed by Adam Georgi.
And the Lisp Netherlands, like you said, is probably the biggest and that is, you know,
a whole organization that puts up this competition every three years.
But yes, for a Lisp lover, it's fortunate that there is a lot of competitions honoring
Lisp and they all have different repertoire, different focuses.
So I've been happy learning all this music for competitions.
So tell us about your experiences with this competition, especially the latest one that
you won second prize.
So you were able to perform with two other amazing artists.
How was it like to win and also perform with them?
It was wonderful.
That competition was all online on the first edition.
So I actually presented all my videos.
I am a big Lisp lover, so I always have this repertoire that I'm working on or that I've
recently performed.
So at that point, I submitted Beethoven's symphony transcribed by Lisp, the first Beethoven's
symphony, along with Sarabande by Handel.
And I believe the Weiningklig and Sorgensagen variations by Bach transcribed by Lisp as
well.
So, but that just happened to be the repertoire that I had that year from Lisp.
More recently in the recital, I actually performed different works, as you may remember.
Please, have a seat.
Hey.
Okay.
Oh, my god.
And you are at the concert at the Yamaha in January 2023, which I attended, you performed
all waltz.
So waltz by, you know, Liszt, and then you ended with this Peruvian waltz, like, which
is transcribed by you, right?
So when Gila presented us with this opportunity to perform, you know, share a recital between
the three winners of Liszt competitions, I wanted to present a program that went beyond
just, you know, good music represented.
And Liszt, one of the wonderful things about him is that he composed so many works and
he had so many different facets that you can really showcase different areas of his works.
So for this one, I chose waltzes.
Of course, he wrote many more waltzes than this, but even in the samples that I played,
you get a good sense of a wide range of Liszt compositional stages.
So I played Mephisto Waltz No. 3, which is a later work, it's kind of an exploration
of different sonorities.
It's not entirely, it is tonal, but it's not as centered as his early works.
You know, it is virtuosic, but that's not the main focus.
And then the waltz in prompto is a great example of a more salon-like piece that he might have
written in his youth.
And I also think it's severely, it's not played as often as it should.
You know, it used to be, and probably Sifra has the best interpretation of that work,
but I still feel like for young people, it's wonderful to discover, you know, things beyond
what people normally play by Liszt.
And then the Waltz from Faust is fairly popular and it's a wonderful work and it's really
an audience-pleaser and it shows this kind of superstar side of Liszt's personality.
And then I connected it to a Peruvian Waltz because it's very important to me to not only,
you know, excel in the classical music world, but connect to my roots and to people from
Peru and, you know, coming from a family and a population that where really classical music
isn't a main focus.
It's important for me to kind of bridge these two worlds and show that we have more in common
than we might think.
So the Waltz was actually imported from Europe to Peru hundreds of years ago and it became
a main form of popular criollo music.
And the work that I played is one of the most popular.
It was declared a national kind of cultural heritage and it does have a man who composed
it, Augusto Polo Campos, but it was made popular in the voice of a female Afro-Peruvian singer
who is usually identified with this piece.
So and it's a song that every Peruvian will know and will almost, you know, be able to
sing along and we had members of the Peruvian community in the recital so it was important
for me to include this work as well.
Wow, that's so neat.
Now I didn't realize it's actually a song song, right?
Oh absolutely, yes.
So criollo music usually involves a voice, a singer, then guitar, cajon, and then any
other accompanying instrument.
So it has lyrics, the title is Come Back.
You know it's kind of a love song.
Yeah, it's a very, very popular song and I made a piano transcription.
Wow, the title is Come Back.
Yes.
What a perfect title for you to arrange, right?
And you are from Peru and then you came to the States and established your life here
and your career and even artistry.
This is where we're able to pursue your career, musical career, yet Peru, your native country
says Come Back and then you came back with the arrangement of this one.
Absolutely, yes.
Do you do a lot of like transcription work or arranging or playing by ear, for example?
Oh, absolutely. Throughout my life, it started when I was a kid and I loved anime as a child back in Peru and I made a lot of arrangements of songs from that.
But what's interesting is that in many ways that helped me even with classical things.
So when I write Mozart cadenzas and anything creative that involves not only playing what's written, but adding kind of your own take.
So that all I feel like it's all a creative side that oftentimes in classical music we kind of leave behind.
So as far as Peruvian music, this was my first official transcription that I made, but I'm working on several others and I would like to continue publishing it.
Many people have actually asked me for the sheet music for this arrangement.
Can you get it? Can I get it? Yes, you can on my website.
Oh, really? Oh, cool. So your website is priscilla.nagaro.com and I can find the score and wow, I will definitely do.
So no wonder your performance was memorable because probably one of the reasons was this creative side of you was really speaking loudly through your performance.
Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I really believe in creating a rich musical experience for the audience so that it's not just that they're going to listen to great classical music works,
but that they are in some way having this whole experience that is designed for them and intended to help them connect to the composer, to the performer, to the music world in general.
You know, and there are many ways of doing that. Creating a program that is engaging is one of those ways and then showing all the sides of your identity is also part of, you know, being a full artist, I believe.
Wonderful. We're going to talk more about this topic later.
So to my listeners, I want to officially introduce Dr. Priscilla Navarro by citing her brief bio. So, Peruvian pianist Priscilla Navarro performs solo recitals and chamber works and a large selection of concerti with orchestras in renowned concert halls worldwide.
Her talent has been widely recognized by winning first prize at several international competitions, including Liszt International Competition, Chopin International Competition of Texas, the Haida, Herman's International Music Competition, and more.
In addition to her career, Priscilla holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance and pedagogy from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, where she also completed master's and artistic diploma degrees as a student of Santiago Rodriguez and Kevin Kenner.
Besides her busy performance career, Priscilla is a passionate educator. She currently serves as a faculty member at her alma mater, Florida Gulf Coast University, where she received her undergraduate degree.
In addition, Priscilla is the current artistic director of the Parnassus Music Society, where she hosted the first international piano competition, an event born of her initiative to showcase and promote talented Latin American pianists.
And here we are continuing our conversation to learn more about Priscilla's adventurous life and career as a multi award winning pianist and educator, which started in Peru and trained and nurtured and flourished in the United States to become the first prize winner of the world's renowned piano competitions,
and you will hear how she is giving back the gift of music to the people and musical community of her native country, Peru.
So Priscilla, how did you discover your love for the piano and music?
Well, I was born in Juanuco, Peru, which is a city about nine hours northeast of the capital of Peru, Lima, the city that is between the Andes and the Amazon, and it's renowned for having a great great climate and weather.
Oh my god. But in my family and many of the people in the community didn't really have classical music in their environment, you know, there weren't classical concerts.
I never attended a classical concert until I started studying the piano. It was some part of our daily lives, really.
But when I was five years old, my father wanted me to learn an instrument. So I actually learned several instruments. I learned guitar. I learned cajon.
I think we were trying to go with something that could play popular music as well. But I ended up landing on the piano and I actually owned a keyboard.
And that's where I where I learned for several years. And I had wonderful loving teachers at that point. But kind of my more formal training came when we moved to the capital when I was nine.
You know, my teacher from Juanuco told me that I needed to go to the conservatory, that the conservatory was a place for me. And so I prepared for the entrance exam.
You know, my mom and I, we moved to Lima. She was pursuing a master's and I was kind of entering into all these opportunities, new opportunities.
And one of those was the conservatory. I was very lucky to be admitted. And I ended up with the best teacher for me at that point. Lydia Hung is her name.
She is actually currently the president of the National University of Music in Peru. She was my teacher for seven years.
And there I really fully discovered classical music and I fell in love with it. Gradually.
And it's just, you know, like most young people at one point, you're just immersed in this world where you feel connected to the composers, you feel like you have this higher purpose of sharing the gift of classical music.
And I trained there and she really taught me most of what I needed to know about the piano and styles. And, you know, she gave me a great, great foundation for seven years.
But I also read this article about you and saying your parents are actually engineers, your family, whole family is.
And then, and also the country, Peru is really sort of encouraging people to produce more engineers or something like that. Is it true?
Yes. Yes. So I was very geared towards the mathematical side. My parents and many of my aunts and uncles are engineers.
My grandparents were physics teachers in high school. And so I did at one point considered following that career path as well.
And when I was a child, I was kind of recruited to a program that was intensely designed to gear children towards engineering.
And when I was 13 years old, I remember was when I made the choice to dedicate my life to music.
So I left this program because it usually lasted all day and it didn't give me time to practice or do any musical activities.
So I decided to go back to a normal school. And, you know, my teacher also told me you have to you have to be a musician.
And I think she could see that I really loved it. And even the teachers at my school said, you know, they they had seen something about me on TV because I was promoting a concert.
And they said, you know, you really belong in that world. We have enough enough engineers and, you know, physicists and all of this experts, but we don't have enough musicians.
So that's kind of when I really made the decision to pursue music professionally. But, you know, it's a cliche to say mathematics and in music connected.
But you're the proof, right? Absolutely. I feel like I really haven't used my mathematics in years.
But I think part of the attraction in music was that it is organized in a system where everything falls in place and you can you can see the structure and all these things.
And yet it has this also meaning beyond it that can't really be put into words.
So your teacher, Lydia Hung. So Miss Hung, she was actually really the one who changed almost changed your life, like your pathway.
Oh, absolutely. I, you know, and to this day, she's been an influential person artistically, you know, every time I would go back, I would ask for her feedback.
You know, she taught me how to dress for the stage and walk on the stage and take a bow and everything.
And I think that has influenced me not only as a pianist, but as a teacher.
I would like to have that kind of mentorship towards my students and really show them how wonderful music can be, even though it is hard.
And you will many times doubt whether you made the right choice. But having that support really makes it worth it.
You also have another wonderful mentor, Dr. Michael Barron. And fast forward, you guys collaborated and performed at Carnegie.
We're going to talk more about that. But let's start with the beginning of how you met Dr. Barron.
And then he is the one who prepared your path in the United States, right?
Yes. So when I was finishing high school back in Peru, I struggled a lot.
You know, we didn't own a piano. And so I had to find many places to practice.
Lima is a very chaotic city. And, you know, even going to concerts and thinking about how I would get home and if it's dangerous and all those things,
it was just very difficult for me to pursue music. And honestly, also for my family, it was very nerve wracking to think, you know,
because there weren't many musicians who we knew that were living from music and able to support themselves.
So they were very concerned. And my teacher saw that it was kind of unsustainable for me to pursue music staying there.
So she said, you know, you should go to the U.S. You should go to a school where you can have a place to practice and have a teacher that is committed to your career.
Coincidentally, Dr. Barron had started going to Peru to give concerts and master classes and was recruiting students.
So my teacher, Lydia, she met him. I wasn't actually there. I was in the U.S. for some summer camp.
But she met him and she saw him teaching and she thought that he would be a mentor in the way that she had been and that he would be a good person for me to have as a guy
that would not only support me, you know, music wise, but that would also have understanding for all the things that I needed at that point.
You know, a 15 year old coming to the U.S. from a very different culture requires a lot.
Did you come here by yourself? I did. Yes. Oh, wow. So young. Oh, my goodness.
Yeah. So she spoke to him and, you know, I sent him some videos of like an audition on tape and he offered me a scholarship and I was able to come.
And he really was a wonderful mentor. He had this whole community of people that helped me adjust culturally, that would take me shopping, you know, you know, in Florida, you don't really do anything without a car.
And of course, I didn't have a car. I didn't even have a license. Nobody in my family drives. So it was a whole adjustment.
But he was really committed to, you know, overlooking my well being. And then pianistically, he really let me flourish and kind of grow into a bigger potential.
Wow. You know, so I when I I try not to read someone else like artists bio until after I listen to the whole concert, because I just don't want my mind to sort of disturb the really beauty of music.
You know what I mean? Disrupt the all the information sometimes like mess up my judgment. Right. Or perception of music. Then. So I listened to your concert afterwards.
I finally read everybody's bio in January, and then I saw your bio and I realized, wow, you didn't actually go to this big, big old name schools like that's something that you I usually see, especially the level of performance
you do. I was expecting the big, big name schools somewhere. Right. But I realized now that starting from I'm not saying anything bad about or negative about your school you went to, but actually the community of people are supporting you.
And it's not about going to school and then, you know, get better at piano playing. But also you have to really, especially international student. I was an international student too when I came to state.
So I know what it takes to sort of be in the society and then you have to learn. I have to learn to drive the opposite way. All these things that made me which is that's just a minor thing, but everything.
So now I understood how important it is as a young person as a young female student to have this community of people helping you and waiting for you to come to the state. Oh, absolutely.
I feel, you know, a lot of times I feel like, oh, I wish I would have at some point had that experience of being at a big school, or like at a musical the you know long established.
But I feel like my education was just as rich. It was just different. And the fact that I had to do all these things on my own, and I had to really fight for my place, you know, even in competitions I was always the only one from my schools in this big competitions
I was always the only Peruvian from in competitions, and I really feel like I had to forge my own path. And I got this whole community of people that helped me and enabled me to do that and I think that that's wonderful and I feel like as a teacher, you know I can tell my students
that it is possible, and that it is, it's all a matter of determination. Your determination is quite admirable. This episode is presented in collaboration with our good friends at Forte, a free alternative to zoom purpose built for music teachers,
and offers features optimized for classical music lessons, including audio quality far superior to existing platforms and allowing you to hear every nuance of your students instrument. Their colleagues at the Royal College of Music, Aspen Music Festival, Curtis Institute and
the Royal College of Music have even used Forte in their own programs. Forte's mission is to radically expand access to high quality music education worldwide. Forte always puts teachers and their students first.
You can use Forte with your own students for free forever. And Forte will soon introduce paid features, allowing you to connect with new students around the world. Sign up for free today at ForteLessons.com or click the link in the description.
So, after so many years, fast forward, you formed a deal with Dr. Baron and recorded and released an album. Right. It's a piano four handed do it. It's both four hand and two piano. So we have a piano duo we play, you know, a lot of times it's difficult to find a stage
with two great pianos. So we do a lot of four hands, but we also have two piano repertoire. And this the album that we recorded, it was difficult to choose because we'd played almost every everything in the two piano repertoire.
But we wanted again to find a program that made sense and that had linearity of a narrative. So we chose French music for piano duo. So we have works by Cezanne, Debussy, Ravel, Poulenc.
Oh, wonderful. And then is this album available on music streaming services?
Yes, yes, yes. It's everywhere. It's on Apple Music. It's by the actual physical CD on Amazon or on the website of the recording company.
And what's the name of the album?
The album is French music for piano duo.
Oh, okay.
But if you look Baron Navarro duo, that might be easier to find.
Oh, great. Now what it's like to come to the point where you get to perform with your mentor. That's special.
Yeah, so we started playing actually when I was a student. I was you know I was kind of the student that was doing the most as far as you know concerts and all of that.
So we started playing together. Then I feel very lucky because he had all this experience of playing in piano duos. It's really a very specific ability, especially forehands.
You know, you would think that you have fewer notes and it should be easier.
But being able to balance everything and share your sonority with someone else, it's really completely different and very difficult to do well.
So he had already all this experience. He had a duo with his former teacher.
So he had visions of how he wanted each piece and I feel like we just complemented each other really well.
And we've had this wonderful long, long relationship of first I was a student, then we started playing together.
Now I teach alongside him at FGCU. Yeah, it's wonderful.
Also you performed with him at Carnegie Hall last year?
Yes. So part of our we wanted to do a premiere recital Carnegie Hall.
So we got to do that in March of 2022 and we had a great reception.
Again, we had members of the Peruvian community there as well as members of the FGCU community.
So it was a wonderful experience.
FGCU is the Florida Gulf Coast University where you are teaching.
Yeah, wonderful. Now we're going to go back to where we were.
So then after you graduated from your undergrad, now you went to study at the University of Miami for School of Music.
Of course, when it came to my master's degree, I auditioned everywhere and I consider a lot of teachers.
There are so many good teachers, but I wanted someone who really fit my personality and would help me find my own personal voice in music.
Because at that point I was a good pianist. I was a very professional pianist.
I had all the foundation that I needed, but I was still I hadn't found my own personal contribution to music.
So I met Santiago Rodriguez at that point and I spoke with him and I just felt like we really had a connection where he would help me grow and find who I was as a musician.
And not just a good pianist, but me, you know, an irreplaceable voice that made me feel like I needed to play because nobody else could do that.
Yeah, I just really connected with him and I decided to go to Miami. I first went for my master's.
I did my master's with him. Then he said, you know, yeah, we do so well together, but you should get other other experience from other teachers.
And he sent me to the new teacher at that point, who was Kevin Kenner, who had just joined the faculty.
And he was also a wonderful person. I actually had the honor and privilege of bringing him to Peru for his kind of South American debut.
You know, he's a huge, huge superstar in Europe, Asia, the United States, but he hadn't really performed much in Latin America.
So my organization Parnassus did his organized his debut there and I learned so much from him. But he's also just really inspiring because he's a wonderful, caring, compassionate person.
Anyways, and then I did my doctorate and I also studied with Dr. Naoko Takao, who was my pedagogy teacher, and she made me passionate about benefiting from the research and wealth of knowledge that comes in piano pedagogy.
And at that point, before I met her, I liked piano pedagogy, but I thought that piano pedagogy was about teaching children only. Yeah, I had a wonderful time in Miami. I made wonderful connections.
I played with many of the teachers there, and I still keep in contact with them.
Hey TPP friends and listeners, the PianoPod is in its third season. Thanks to all of you for watching or listening to every episode since its launch in 2020.
I started this show with a simple question I had in mind for quite some time, which is, how can we as classical pianists and music educators present the beautiful classical music tradition to the 21st century audience in a fun, contemporary and engaging way.
It's been an incredible journey for the last three years. I love what I do through this podcast, providing a platform for pianists and educators to reflect and discuss freely how we can keep the classical music industry thriving and relevant in this rapidly changing
world. Now more than ever, I need your support so that I can continue my work by bringing you highly valuable content bi weekly by interviewing ground breakers in the industry. Your support will go directly to all the costs of the PianoPod, such as a yearly subscription to the podcast
hosting platform, the software I use for high quality recording sessions and tech gear, as well as all the hours I spend researching and audio and video editing.
You can make a one time donation or monthly pledge by clicking the PayPal link in the show notes or going to TPP website at the piano pod.com.
As a thank you, you will receive the PianoPods fun logo sticker in the mail. So please support my show today and don't forget to subscribe. Continue listening and tell your friends and colleagues about the PianoPod.
Let's continue with the episode.
Now, before getting into more into your contribution to the Society of Peru, I want to talk about your passion for piano competitions. One of the competitions you did, it's the International City of Vigo competition in Spain and it was you won this special Bach prize and the jury presided by Martha Argrich.
What is that?
Yeah, so I've entered competitions throughout my life. I can't say I really enjoyed them always you know it feels like you're giving all of yourself and not necessarily seeing the return right away.
It really helps you to be at that kind of top top level of accuracy and where you feel you're completely in control. And, and then I just love the opportunity to travel, you know, I got to do so many competitions in different places, I ended up attending the Imola
in Italy, after I won a competition there in Imola in Italy. I, you know, got to know so many cities around the world through competitions. And also as a young person it often seems like the only way to further your career, because it's so difficult to be creative you know people are like oh you can do anything now you can do whatever you want but there aren't many obvious ways of increasing your career so competitions was one of the main, main ways to do that.
Yeah, so in 2019, I was surfing the web for competitions or events, and I found this Vigo competition in Spain and I love Spain, I play a lot of Spanish music.
And, and then I saw you know Martha Argerich edition, and that she was going to be the head of the jury, but not only she but there was going to be Nelson Freire, oh my goodness, Sergio Tiempo and Tomas Vasari and Pablo Caldo who is the director of the competition.
And so I said wow you know to play for Martha Argerich, of course, growing up, you know and discovering her videos and just her whole figure she was such a historical person for everybody of course but especially for us, Latin American girls, seeing that this
Argentinian woman had basically you know taken the world in her hands and just gone like all the way to the top and become probably one of the best living pianists.
So the idea of playing for her, or even you know that she would know that I exist was very, very motivating. So I decided to enter and of course there were like 400 people who entered, because who wouldn't want to be, you know, go and play for Martha Argerich.
So I went and you know in the first round I played some of my Bach, I love Bach, and I was fortunate to be one of the five finalists there. Oh my goodness, and some of the other winners I later met at like Leeds competition or other, you know they've gone on to win, you know all these other competitions,
but I received this special Bach prize, and it was very meaningful to me because I love Bach and I'm very passionate about the way that I feel I play Bach, I feel reflects, at least to my interpretation, kind of this deeper more human side of Bach, that is not always just you know correct baroque playing,
but the fact that she would give me this prize. It was almost like, if she's okay with my Bach, then nobody else can criticize my Bach.
Yes, a lot of times people will be like oh it's too romantic, or, oh it's because you're Latin America, you know it's too passionate or whatever.
So I feel like now that if Martha Argerich was okay with my Bach, then everybody should be. Right, well you have the stamp of approval but also you know we should not forget that Bach is a musician, was a musician, he composed music so we have to be musical,
it's not just about this accuracy of playing Bach or, you know counterpoint and it dots, but it's really the music that drives his composition too, right? So but which Bach pieces did you play at this time?
At the Vigo competition I only played the Fantasy and Fugue in A minor BWV 904, one of my favorite pieces. In fact I'm playing it again this summer. But you know throughout my life I played I played Goldberg variations at semi finals and several competitions.
You have a wide range of repertoire. Do you play like most like all four, five different periods?
Yes, it's very important to me, and that's partly due to my teacher Lydia. She kind of showed me the richness of Baroque and early classical and you know I know everybody loves, has to love Mozart and Bach and Haydn, but you know seeing that there is a different richness there that is not just you know we see everything through romantic lenses now.
And we see things you know as pretty and this and that but in during the classical era music was more like speech and being able to see all those little details and find more in that light is very important to me.
So I love all stages of music I play Baroque, classical. I can't really say that I play a lot of Baroque besides Bach, because I feel Bach is so there's just so much to do there, but I do play occasionally Escarlari or Antonio Soler or other Baroque composers.
Speaking of Baroque music, instrument was very different. So basically we're playing sort of like a piano transcription although we're not changing much.
So what do you think about all the articulation issues to phrasing even now that now that you have the stamp of approval from Martha so you get to say this.
Well I think that you know I did a research once in my masters about how piano students perceive Bach.
And I found that a lot of my colleagues and a lot of people you know all around wouldn't choose to play Bach.
If they could choose their own program, they wouldn't include Bach. And that's that's evident you know even from really really famous people, unless you are you know Anders Schiff or Mora Peraya or you're not regularly performing or hearing Bach in big concerts you know we hear Rachmaninoff, Liszt.
So, I feel like John Elliott Gardner one time in an interview they they asked him you know what's the purpose of historical informed performance, or the hip movement.
And he said, it's really about just making this music more relevant today, because the problem is that when we perceive that music through the lenses of romanticism, there's only a little we can see we only see that it's a structured, we only see that it's perfectly made.
We only see that it might be beautiful at times.
But that is so limited. When we bring in this articulations and we realize that, you know, it's basically like speech, there are forms of articulations.
So it just becomes so much richer.
You're able to bring to life.
A lot of this music and it isn't that there is one right way to do it.
Because as you say it's a transcription.
And we can use kind of common sense in finding ways to make the music as rich as possible in the modern piano. So obviously the modern piano is heavier, we can't, you know, play all four voices as loud because we just wouldn't be able to hear them we have to make a lot of things lighter.
We also have dynamics so besides articulations, we can distinguish the functions of the voices by giving them different dynamics and giving them different colors.
And we don't use as much a gothic because we don't need to, you know, we use a little bit because it needs it, especially if it's a dance it needs to breathe, but not nearly as much as we would on the harpsichord because the harpsichord doesn't have dynamics and colors.
So, I feel like there is a way to a reasonable way to compromise that as you say, still makes it music. That's the main point, it's music, it's human. It's fun.
It's, you know, it's even Bach you know you might think oh he was such a religious man and always talking to God but it was it's this human side that he was talking to God, but about regular daily life things.
I'm sure I'm sure, especially with with this him being the father of how many children and I'm sure he was helped me right there very practical man in many you know many ways he was always complaining about not having enough musicians in his, in his choir
and you know these people not being as serious as they should be and one, I think he was just a very practical person that made this amazingly perfect amazingly structure music made by a regular man.
That concludes the first half of this fun episode of the piano pod with Dr. Priscilla Navarro, Liszt International Competition winner, concert pianist, educator, and the new Peruvian figure of the piano.
If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review it wherever you listen to your podcasts. You can also watch this episode on the piano pods YouTube channel, and don't forget to follow the piano pod on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
The links are listed in the show notes. Tune in next Tuesday, May 16 at 8pm Eastern to hear the rest of the interview with Dr. Priscilla Navarro.