“If someone is able to play Chopin, other music comes much more easily” says Dang Thai Son, winner of the 1980 Chopin Competition and hugely popular teacher. “Pianistically speaking, we have etudes of Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninov, Scriabin, Debussy, Ligeti. All of them have very effective points, they have a certain concept, they are attractive and appealing. But they also provide a lot of “makeup”, so to speak. If you want to see someone´s real face, you have to listen to them play Chopin. Only then can you see the face. Pianistically, you cannot hide anything in a Chopin Etude”.
An outstanding artist of our time, Vietnamese - Canadian pianist Dang Thai Son was propelled to the forefront of the musical world in 1980, when he was awarded First Prize at the Chopin Competition in Warsaw. It was also the first time that a top international competition was won by an Asian pianist. Aside from his distinguished international career as a soloist, Dang Thai Son has been on the faculty at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music (USA) since 2018. Since 2020, he has been teaching graduate students at the New England Conservatory in Boston. In 2019, he was invited to be the honorary Professor at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China.
“Of course, a face also has to show emotions, and this is something you cannot teach. Emotions are largely natural, genetic. You cannot simply learn how to express them, you have to experience them, grow with them. Emotions are influenced by outside factors, by society, by education. In a competition, people are often stressed, worried, and focused on other players- not on their own playing. What should they do? At the last Chopin Competition, I told my students to visit the Holy Cross Church in the center of Warsaw, where the heart of Chopin is buried. I asked them to spend a few hours there, stay in the silence, meditate and reflect, before they went back to the competition. At some point they would understand that they were here for something higher than just for competing. For me, teaching is not only sharing knowledge, it is also showing and sharing emotions. Besides lessons, we also need communication. Only if I understand their hidden thoughts and worries, I can help them master their different problems and challenges.” Influencing and fostering the individual voice of a student is the work of every teacher. For Gary Graffman, that teacher was Vladimir Horowitz. “I played for him for one year, almost once a week” says Graffman. “This was
Dang Thai Son with his student Bruce Liu ©DR
Piano Competitions in 2025
45
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker