Constella Festival Star Stewart Goodyear: Beethoven With Elegant Style, Endurance
Of all the stars coming out for The Constella Festival of Music and Fine Art, Stewart Goodyear may be the one who performs Ludwig van Beethoven with the greatest enthusiasm, certainly endurance.
Earlier this month, Goodyear performed all of Beethovenâs piano sonatas in a single day at Torontoâs Koerner Hall. Starting on a Saturday morning and going into the evening, in three segments with intermissions he played all 32 sonatas. Heâs completed similar marathons in Princeton, New Jersey and Dallas,Texas. He has recently completed recording the complete Beethoven piano sonatas. He is also a composer, whose fanfare, Count Up, was commissioned and performed in 2011 by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
While a marathon Beethoven playlist is not on his plans for his Constella recital Oct. 19 at Memorial Hall, he will be performing the iconic composerâs âDiabelli Variations,â which has been described by internationally acclaimed classical pianist Alfred Brendel as âthe greatest of all piano works.â
The âSpellboundâ program also includes Alban Bergâs âPiano Sonataâ and âFrench Suite No. 5 in G Majorâ by Johann Sebastian Bach.
Goodyearâs âSpellboundâ will be just one of the highlights of the innovative programming and stunning roster of international soloists that will be presented during Constella Festival 3. Constella helps to draw attention to the broad palette of professional chamber music and other arts organizations that enrich Cincinnatiâs cultural landscape.
This yearâs festival, running from October 1 to November 7, includes the return of violin superstar Joshua Bell and first-ever Constella Festival appearance by the Grammy Award-winning conductor Paavo Järvi.
Constella will present 21 concerts at 15 Cincinnati venues including world-premiere music and dance works, childrenâs concerts, workshops, and master classes. Â Most Constella-produced events will feature art exhibitions and collaborations by prominent Cincinnati artists and art galleries, including the Cincinnati Art Museum, Carl Solway Gallery and Brazee Street Studios.
For more information, event calendar and ticket information, please go to www.constellafestival.org
Q/A with Stewart Goodyear
Known for imagination, a graceful, elegant style and exquisite technique, Stewart Goodyear is an accomplished artist whose career spans many genresâconcerto soloist, chamber musician, recitalist and composer.
Goodyear has performed with many of the major orchestras of the worldâincluding ten separate appearances to date with the Philadelphia Orchestra, plus the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Montreal Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Seattle Symphony, and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra. A Toronto native, he has been a frequent soloist with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
What drives this imaginative, talented artist? Here are some insights excerpted from an interview with The San Francisco Examinerâs Elija Ho:
What is your musical background ?
From the womb I was hearing the music of Beethoven. My father, who died of cancer months before I was born, was listening to many of the Beethoven and Tchaikovsky symphonies when he was ill. He wasnât a musician. I think he would have been a writer if he were still alive. He had these personal projects, wrote novels, 500-600 pages long. But this was his legacy to me, along with some other recordings of Cat Stevens, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. I come from a very eclectic musical background but I knew from the very beginning that classical music was going to be my life.
I began playing the piano by ear â I have perfect pitch - at the age of 3 or 4 and I would just mentally transcribe what I heard on the radio or on LP. I started formal training when I was seven years old and I knew that I wanted to be a pianist on the circuit after experiencing my first concert. I was born and raised in Toronto and the concert was at Roy Thompson Hall: Andre Watts was the pianist and I knew then that I wanted to be up there like him.
You attended both the Curtis Institute and the Juilliard School. What were some of the principal ideas you learned from these conservatories ?
At Curtis and Juilliard, I had teachers who were from the German and Russian schools of music. And what I learned from them was how to express myself, how to make a piece speak to me personally with the composerâs inspiration. Where this comes from, how to use this valuable information, and then to throw myself into it all, I would say these were the most important things that I learned.
(Regarding performing all 32 Beethoven piano sonatas in a single day). Youâve stated that you see the sonatas as an entire cycle, but why did you decide to undertake this incredible task?
I wanted to undertake this task from the moment I first heard the sonatas. I was four years old and I just could not stop listening to the sonatas. It was a box of thirteen LPs. From the first record to the last, I played all of them. It must have been on a weekend (laughs). They complimented each other so well, though each is distinctive, and I naturally felt the 32 as an entire set.
The experience of the Beethoven sonatas has changed me as a musician; it feels like a different chapter of my life. While preparing for this, my nutrition and exercise have changed. I feel that I have more stamina, even though Iâve always had pretty good stamina. But this concert speaks very deeply to me and I am very excited to be doing it.
Do you have all thirty-two sonatas memorized ?
What are your practice hours like these days ?
It varies from day to day now. I might go through one part, sometimes two, and of course, the whole thing. Itâs really a test of stamina, building up instead of wearing yourself out.
What in particular has always attracted you to Beethovenâs music ?
What draws me to Beethoven is his sense of defiance. In every sonata, you feel that Beethoven believes in himself, breaking down every door and limitation. In every sonata, he is experimenting and searching for what is beyond. You know, whenever I play his last sonata, written in 1821, I always feel that the materials surrounding me donât matter. The hall doesnât matter and the piano doesnât matter. I feel like I am in a room beyond color, beyond any substance. It is truly other-worldly, and that is what attracts me to Beethoven. Every matter of humanity is expressed in these sonatas.
Of the great pianists of the past, whose recordings of Beethovenâs works have made the greatest impression on you ?
I grew up listening to Ashkenazy, then Schnabel, then Backhaus, then Mr. Gulda. These were the complete sonatas that I grew up listening to. The pianist who might have inspired me the most, based on what Iâve read about his playing, was Beethoven himself.
Do you think itâs important for aspiring pianists to listen to many recordings ?
Not necessarily. I think every pianist should approach a piece his or her own way â as long as they learn the piece inside out and what inspired the composer to create it. Itâs like an actor who goes into the mind of the character, going so deeply that they become the character themself. I feel that a musicianâs duty is in a way to become the composer, to let the music flow organically. It shouldnât be dictated in terms of interpretation or speed. It needs to come from the inside, and I believe the public can feel this.
For the young pianist today, is the competition-route necessary in order to have a successful career ?
It is a route, but certainly not the only one. I believe that it really depends on how musicians want to be marketed. If they want to be an interpreter of every phrase, note by note, and not be a creator, then by all means, enter the competitions. If itâs about the spur of the moment, letting the vibes inspire the performance, then I find competitions to be a bit stifling. They look for the perfect interpretation, and I have no idea what that is. Itâs probably a textbook rule, but it should really only be the beginning. It is the skeleton but it is not the flesh and bones that you need for art. I think that many artists are afraid to take a chance. Everyone is so concerned about the right inflection for the right composer, and I think that this stifles the creativity, the joy of making music. Music is not robotic or dictated. It is something that is always fresh, and the audience can feel this vibe. Itâs like a first date. What makes a date successful is the energy that you feel from someone and give in return.
In your opinion, what is the purpose of Art ?
I believe that the purpose is to move, to move emotionally, physically and spiritually.
Do you have questions for Stewart Goodyear or other Constella musicians or artists?
Constella invites you to send your questions for the artists to [email protected]. Weâll be putting the names of all those submitting a question into a drawing for prizes, including a pair of tickets to one Constella event, a pass to the VIP Constella party. The best question will get two tickets to Goodyearâs Oct. 19 recital.
 Please send your questions in now, so we can get them to the artists and they can respond approaching the festival. These world-renowned performers and artists are interviewed all the time by music writers and arts critics. But how often do their audience members get that access? I think they might like the opportunity to speak directly to you.
Thanks for your support of Constella, and we hope weâll be seeing you soon!
                                                     Images: University of California/Davis Mondavi Center, NPR
