Paola Bruni....

Interviewed by MusicalOnline on August, 2003

MOL: Tell us about your musical background.
I started playing the piano when I was four years old. At home, we had a small up-right piano and I used to climb and play the keys by ear various tunes. As my grand-father noticed that I had "talent" (in his term), he started to teach me. He always looked for ways for me to practice the piano, instead of me playing with my friends. This includes, offering a chewing-gum, candy or some sticker cards. I was admitted to the Conservatory "G. Rossini" in Pesaro at 11 and a half and graduated 9 years later with First Class honours. In addition, my teacher Franco Scala created a Music Academy in Imola (his town) and I had the chance to attend Master classes with the most distinguished teachers and pianists of the world such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Lazar Berman, Nikita Magaloff, Aldo Ciccolini, Joerg Demus, Bruno Canino, etc. Today, the Academy is called "Incontri col Maestro", which is internationally recognized and many of its students won some of the most prestigious International Piano Competitions. I started attending Piano Competitions when I was 16 and for the next 6 years, it has become main musical activity. I enjoyed every moment of it. I enjoyed the way audience responded to my performances and judges complimenting about my playing. Since winning "A. Casagrande" in Terni in 1986, playing piano became very important part of my life.

MOL: Tell us about your teachers?
Well, after my grandpa and a couple of local piano teachers, my first, let’s say "professional" piano teacher and also the one who has been teaching me for quite a long time (15 years), was Franco Scala. Mr. Scala has been a very important person during my school years and the only one I was able to offer my trust and respect. He had a very distinctive way of communicating his ideas in playing the piano. I can’t quite remember details of it…but I remember that he was very demanding on the mechanics of playing the piano. For example, in the first years I was obsessed with some finger exercises trying to understand how I can transfer the mass of my arms and body on the keyboard to obtain a powerful sound without forcing the sound and making my muscles not to stiffen and not to create metallic and unpleasant sound. During these years I had the opportunity to learn, listen and know a lot of virtuoso pianists who came and visited our Academy. All of them had some unique and precious guidance to offer us and I have kept all these incredible experiences in my mind as a very important part of my artistic development. Actually I think I’ve adopted small secrets from everyone and turned into small pieces of my "playing-puzzle". After all this, at 27, I really felt the need to isolate from everything and consider all I have learned and to be true to myself. At the time, I was only imitating someone. From that moment and on, I learned on my own to take responsibility in my playing. This may sound like a stupid thing but it was a very important step for me to take… a step to becoming a strong, convincing and a performer with characteristic. I thought this may have been too presumptuous but after reading Arthur Rubinstein’s auto-biography saying that this thing should happen at 18 years old in a pianist life, I was encouraged to go on.

MOL: Your family influence in your choice of musical career...
My family has been very important for my choice for music. Actually at that age (4 years old) you can’t really choose your life, you do something that comes easy and something that fascinates you… and that is all you do. As I said before, my grandpa was a musician. He played the violin, guitar and other musical instruments. He had a small orchestra and he frequently performed in dancing-places playing pop and folk music… most music composed by himself. He also used to teach at home and I attended all his lessons together with his students. My father also played the trumpet and the trombone and he also had a small orchestra performing mostly pop and jazz. The funny thing is that he is an electrician and in the 60’s he worked during the day and performed at night. Of course after sometime he had to stop because the number of his family was increasing. He brought a small piano one day, which was used in his orchestra and that piano was my first instrument. Although they played pop, folk or jazz, at home, the favourite music to be listened was classical. My grandma was crazy about Operas and she used to sing loud most of the Arias she enjoyed and loved. I think that my father’s secret dream was to be the conductor. He loves and knows mostly symphonic repertoire. I’m the eldest daughter of three and my sister is in the field of dance and my brother plays drums in a Rock Band.

MOL: Tell us about your practicing strategy...
I believe that each musician must realize what was given from God and what we must work hard to obtain it. These two things must collaborate side by side and should continue to polish it. Unfortunately I don’t think there is one practicing strategy that works all time because we change many times in the course of life. The real strategy is to understand that and be able to "adjust" ourselves to work to bring its fullest in the given circumstances so that it will lead to its highest potential. A pianist can choose the repertoire based on his/her strengths, but then, they can fail to improve their weakness. I heard many adult pianists playing in a very "naïf" way of interpreting music. Sometimes, superb technique was displayed on the instrument and nothing more. On the other side, I extremely enjoy pianists who may not be technical-perfect polished, but were able to transmit strong expressive energy and emotions to tears. What I try to do is to create a cocktail of instinct, rational, passion, energy, fantasy, interiority and mystical imagination all at the same time and being aware of what is my limit during that moment so that I don’t stumble. There is, of course, a part of this mechanism, positive or negative, that is unexpected and that I cannot control or foresee; a kind of magic that sometimes get tuned between the audience and myself, which it can promote and heightened the experience to an incredible, powerful energy. By the way, my practicing time is always very intense and I rarely get over 4-5 hours per day.

MOL: In your opinion, what is your strength in your playing?
It’s very difficult to be objective on my own playing. I think I have a strong part of natural musical intuition that always shines spontaneously during the performance; an ability to hold together the mental frame of musical form without falling apart. I was always told that my tone "sounds" like coming from a male performer, that is, powerful and round. I also feel very strong about my playing is being able to hear inner rhythm of music. It’s like a body pulsation; once it starts, it keeps on going. This, I think, turns also into an ability for me to give a very quick response to my fingers so that they can react on the keyboard; this may be possible because of my bodily shape, long and thin.

MOL: Do you like any other forms of art? Such as painting? Tell us about it.
I like all forms of art, specially figurative arts such as painting, but not to the point of getting informed about all the details that are involved in it. I got emotional to tears in front of two paintings that I saw in expositions: the first one is Gustav Klimt in Vienna, representing trees in the woods, the light in it was so magical that I was shocked. The second painting was in New York at MOMA, Monet’s "Water-lilies", the complete triptych. I was with my partner (in music and in life) Pasquale Iannone and after having been in that room for a short while in silence, we looked each other and both of us had tears in our eyes. We had to leave because our reaction towards the painting was becoming too emotional and it was embarrassing in front of the people in the room. The sensation for me was like being embraced and wrapped on 360° by all the warmth of those colours and the depth of the indefinite outline so much that I almost lost my consciousness.

MOL: In your opinion, what are the characteristics of a good performer?
Well, considering that from a performer’s point of view, he or she must be in good health, must have strong nerves, must be able to communicate to the audience. If he wants to make a career, must like travelling very often and don’t have any kind of phobia (such as flying), must be open-minded to new cultures, food and habits, should speak more than one language, should be good in public relations and choose a good manager for a good promotion, should be rich (it helps!), but above all, one must like this kind of job and be bold to stand on all kinds of stress and the hard work that follows, such as feeling lonely in your hotel room in a foreign country. The beginning of one’s career is always exciting and full of thrilling experience. However, the difficult part from all of it is to be able to maintain such life-style for a long period of time. About the audience point of view, a good performer is the one who I enjoy listening to... that’s all!!

MOL: How do you judge a good performance?
The performance must convince me, even if their interpretation does not agree with me. It must work as a whole and be able to support its logic and be able to display its construction. But most importantly, it must be able to make my soul and emotions to respond from it.

MOL: Where do you live now?
I live in the Southern Italy in a town called Barletta, on the Adriatic Sea. My family is made up of three people: Pasquale Iannone, our 3-years-old daughter Eleonora and I.

MOL: What do you hope to achieve ten years from now in your music career?
I have no idea; I consider all is given to me, in terms of career and luck. I hope not to loose, owing to any reason, the chance to perform in front of the audience.

MOL: On be half of MusicalOnline, we would like to thank you for your time and we wish all the success
http://www.webconcerthall.com/interview/bruni.htm