Review by Angela Schreiber from Comunidade News
American Pianist Reveals a Passion for Music by Villa Lobos: Playing Brazilian Music for the United States is one of the Wishes of Marcel Rominger
Playing for the first time at Carnegie Hall in New York, is a weighty responsibility. However, it is also a pleasure to listen to classical pieces by Beethoven, Liszt and Brazilian Heitor Villa-Lobos by the hands of pianist Marcel Rominger, 30, son of a Swiss father and Brazilian mother.
The presentation at the famous home of concerts happened last 17thof Janaury. It was not only the opportunity itself which left Marcel animated, but the fact he could show different styles in which Villa-Lobos is included. For Marcel, to show the public this side of the Brazilian musician is a great honor.
However, he wants more, revealing the urge to play works by contemporary Brazilian musicians. This interest in culture, history and especially Brazilian music happened due to his mother. Yet the more detailed knowledge of samba and bossa nova he learned on his own. His preferences include the musical maestro Antonio Carlos Jobim and poet Vinicius de Moraes.
In New York, where he lives, contact with Brazilian music is maintained through interaction with fellow Brazilian composers. “I do not have as much connection with the Brazilians as I would like,” said Marcel, who was born in the United States. Citing the new Villa-Lobos, he emphasized that the Brazilian musician knew, oddly enough, how to show the country through music, with simplicity and beauty. “I think when you listen to Villa-Lobos, you hear Brazil.”
Marcel became interested in classical music at 5 years of age, when he was presented to musicians such as Mozart and Beethoven. He expressed the desire to broaden horizons. “I want to explore more contemporary works.” The young musician would like to give a concert in Brazil and has confessed to two other ambitions. To “play Brazilian music for the American public, and to play American music for the Brazilian public.”
Member of the Conservatory of Music in Staten Island since 2005, Marcel also teaches music, a reason to explain why he has such ability with other instruments. Currently, he is getting his Doctor of Musical Art in Piano Performance with Hugo Goldenzweig at the City University of New York (CUNY). In his CD, that has his own name, he includes Villa-Lobos, with A Prole do Bebê: O Polichinello.
The full career of Marcel Rominger can be seen through his official website at www.marcelrominger.com. Contact with the artist can be made by e-mail: marcelrominger@yahoo.com.
Angela Schreiber
Communidade News