A YOUNG Polish pianist known for her dynamic, energetic virtuosity is coming to Australia both virtually and live as the guest of Canberra’s Friends of Chopin Australia.
Polish pianist Aleksandra Swigut… “Even though I’ve learnt to hide it, I’m still that young, introverted girl, but somehow I have learnt to be an extrovert – it’s a mask you have to put on.” Photo: Bruno Fidrych
Thirty-year-old Aleksandra Swigut teaches at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, but keeps up a cracking pace as a touring concert pianist, also performing in duo with her sister, violinist Agnieszka Świgut.
She’s just finished performances at the Chopin and His Europe Festival, one of the biggest in Poland, and recently won second prize, the audience prize, and the orchestra prize at the 17th Edvard Grieg’s International Piano Competition in Bergen, Norway.
Here in Canberra we’ll first see her on September 30 as part of the Friends’ first annual Australian Chopin Festival, appearing via two-way livestream from the Chopin Museum in Warsaw to the National Gallery’s James O Fairfax Theatre to perform Grieg, Liszt, Schubert, Chopin and Karol Szymanowski, and to talk about Chopin as part of a virtual tour of the museum.
Then on November 9, also at the NGA, she will be here with the Orava Quartet, performing Chopin’s Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor.
When I caught up with Swigut by phone to Warsaw, she told me she’d never been to Australia.
Originally from southern Poland, she moved to Warsaw to study at the university where she now teaches, then later at Katowice Music Academy, Guildhall School of Music in London and Gdańsk Music Academy, where she did her doctorate.
She believes that her experiences as a student who struggled with her art has put her in a good position to help her students understand the nature of her profession, and how to embrace technical improvement while also understanding the historical context of the music that they play.
Unusually for a showcase pianist, Swigut revealed that she had found her piano studies less than easy.
“I was lonely as a student, I was looking for my own style of playing,” she tells me.
“It’s a blessing when you get the opportunity and you find the right teacher.”
But she didn’t find the right teacher at first: “I had many teachers with very high professional qualifications, but I was struggling as an individual to work with them.”
One outlet was her introduction to the harpsichord that, in turn, led to an interest in historical pianos. She won the silver medal in the International Chopin Competition on Period Instruments in Warsaw in 2018 and is very pleased to learn that the ANU School of Music holds a collection of such instruments.
Swigut describes her interest in historical piano as “a huge branch of music, where people are becoming interested in discovering the real sound of Chopin’s era”.
Portraying herself as lonely and shy when young, Swigut describes a period where she had to actively study how to communicate with the public.
“Even though I’ve learnt to hide it, I’m still that young, introverted girl, but somehow I have learnt to be an extrovert – it’s a mask you have to put on.”
It’s a mask she wears very effectively.
“I am a person who is very active, and it’s really necessary, you need to know how the classical music market works from an economic point of view,” she says.
“Many teachers have had superb careers and are very wise, but are not across contemporary culture… Now you have to be capable with social media and be prepared to be self-exposed, which is not natural as I am a very discreet person and don’t like to open up about my life.”
Besides, she asserts, in classical music the chief project is to reflect the intention of the composer.
“We are presenting the composer’s ideas and we should be completely devoted to the music, rather than exploring our egos… we are only the servants of the composer,” she says.
“Older classical musicians are living in a world that is changing fast, where pop culture is dominant, but in order to stay active in the profession you have to learn how to present yourself and it has to be authentic.”
Source: Shy pianist’s ‘just a servant’ of Mr Chopin | Canberra CityNews