#369: Giuseppe Guarrera (Pianist) (pt. 1 of 2)

This week on the podcast is part one of our interview with Italian pianist, Giuseppe Guarrera. He’s won major international awards, including prizes at the Cleveland International Piano Competition, The Rubenstein and Montreal competitions, and he’s a recent recipient of the Tabor Award at the Verbier Festival. As a performer, Giuseppe’s appeared in acclaimed concert halls throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.

Join us to hear how Giuseppe’s staunch work ethic and collaborative approach helped him develop a thriving career.  https://www.giuseppeguarrera-pianist.com/

Transcript

Sponsor & Show Open

Nick Petrella 0:00

Hi, Nick Petrella here. This episode is sponsored by Volk weins Music, a full service shop that's been meeting the musical needs of musicians for over 135 years. They offer a huge selection of instruments, accessories, music, and more. They also have an unmatched instrument repair department with some of the most experienced technicians in the business. For years they've serviced my personal and school instruments, and their attention to detail is why I and professional musicians from around the globe trust Volkweins to service their gear. Head over to Volcweinsmusic.com to see what they can do for you. That's V-O-L-K-W-E-I-N-S-Music.com, helping people discover music since eighteen eighty-eight.

Announcer 1:00

Welcome to the Arts Entrepreneurship Podcast, Making Art Work. We highlight how entrepreneurs align their artistry, passion, and vision to create and pursue opportunities to capture value in the arts. The views expressed by guests on the Arts Entrepreneurship Podcast are solely their own, and do not necessarily represent the views of the podcast or its hosts. The appearance of a guest on the podcast, the venture they represent, or reference to any product or service does not imply an endorsement or recommendation by the podcast or its hosts. The content provided is for entertainment and informational purposes only and does not constitute business advice. Here are your hosts, Andy Heise and Nick Petrella.

Andy Heise 1:42

Hi Arts Entrepreneurship Podcast listeners. My name is Andy Heise.

Introducing Giuseppe Guarrera

Nick Petrella 1:46

And I'm Nick Petrella. Italian pianist Giuseppe Guarrera is on the podcast today. He's won major international awards, including prizes at the Cleveland International Piano Competition, the Rubinstein and Montreal competitions, and he's a recent recipient of the Tabor Award at the Verbier Festival. As a performer, Giuseppe's appeared in acclaimed concert halls throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. I had the opportunity to work closely with Giuseppe over the past year in the Piano Cleveland Arts Entrepreneurship Residency Program. Among the many activities they do, participants develop their entrepreneurial mindset by completing a 20-hour learning intensive and creating an income-producing arts venture. We'll wrap up the interview with his thoughts on the residency and maybe get a peek at the venture he's been working on. We'll link to Giuseppe's website in the show notes. You can read more about his career and hear excerpts from his stellar performances. Giuseppe, thanks for speaking with us today.

Giuseppe Gauarrera 2:42

Great pleasure to be here. Thank you for hosting me.

Nick Petrella 2:45

Let's start by having you give us a brief overview of how you got to where you are today, from a kid in Sicily to playing in concert halls around the world.

Doubts, Detours, And Big Breaks

Giuseppe Gauarrera 2:55

Thank you for the question. I started to play the piano when I was six years old. I don't come from a family of musicians, although music has always been part of the gatherings because my grandfather used to play accordion and my mom likes to sing. When I was six years old, one of my relatives, my aunt, asked me to go to a supermarket and to choose for a present. And she says, You have $20, $200 lire at the time was the Italian currency. And she said, You have this amount of money, please choose something. And I come from a very small town, so the supermarket didn't have a great choice. There were maybe, I don't know, 40 toys in total. And my eyes, with that price range, like laid upon a video game and a small keyboard from a Disneyland blue. I still remember with Mickey Mouse. And then I was there waiting two, three minutes. What should I do? I really would like to have the video game, but then I chose the little keyboard. And that's how I started with my mom who doesn't play the piano, who was trying to help me play by here some tunes. And then I went to the music teacher of the town, which used to teach, he still teaches actually all instruments: guitar, clarinet, piano, singing. And then from there on I started to show clearly, probably, I guess, looking at the enthusiasm of the adults around me, some talent. And I started to learn the piano later on, four years later, with a proper training started in Catania, which is the main big city in Sicily, next to my town. And then from there, I would say the most significant was the encounter with my teacher Sir Busz Gajiev, who is a Mosque originally Azerbaijani, who was teaching in Moscow in the central school for talented children, and then moved to Gorizia, North Italy. And there I was 11 when I met him, but I started to study with him properly at age 16. And that was a sort of like the big step forward in my studies. And then around 1819, when I was years old, when I was already studying with him, I was doubting after high school if I should continue with music or go into the professional path as a musician. And I was very much considering studying medicine, especially medical research. And that same year I won the prize which is for the best graduate, basically the best graduates of all conservatories. Only the ones which have 10 or 10 cum laude, which is the maximum score, are invited to take part to this competition. And then I won that competition, which gave me a huge scholarship and around 25 concerts. So in the next two years, I couldn't, simply I couldn't enroll at university. And then again, like I after this finished, I was considering still, shall I go into a different direction professionally? And I studied in Berlin, and then it was again sort of difficult times after the master's studies because I didn't have much. And then all of a sudden, I was uh accepted at the newly opened Academy of Barenbäum. And there was such a great chemistry, he's like one of the greatest living conductors and pianists. It was such a great chemistry, and I got so much out of it, both artistically and also professionally, that then this again put me in the path of remaining and continuing pursuing the profession as a musician. And then I kept I won some competitions and so on. So it wasn't a straight line, it was always like a little detour and then going back and then a longer detour.

The Role Of Competitions

Nick Petrella 6:52

But it sounds like competitions were a big focus.

Giuseppe Gauarrera 6:58

It was a big focus, and I think it's still one of the easiest way. Well, easiest. It's uh it's a surely I would say it's one of the most democratic way to enter the music world because it's open to everybody, uh everybody can apply, everybody at least has a chance. Then we all know that there is, of course, always politics behind, and it's never like a fully transparent, as much as I think we are everybody's trying to make it as transparent as possible, and many competitions, and this I said it also publicly when I was in Cleveland. They did such a wonderful job to make it first of all transparent and very welcoming. I think there is now a lot of stress, uh they are trying to really focus on offering not only great great performances, but offering a how to say an ambience which is welcoming and nurtures the well-being of participants? So I would say yes, competitions were very important to be more known.

Choosing Which Opportunities To Chase

Andy Heise 8:14

Yeah. And so you've can you've competed at the top level and performed in elite halls worldwide, and in a field that's as competitive as you know uh concert piano. Um, how do you decide which opportunities are worth chasing and which ones to pass on?

Giuseppe Gauarrera 8:34

It's a mixture of things. I would say that first of all, there is a the natural instinct of everybody is to copy what already works. So if I already see that through the Tchaikovsky competition, a young pianist like Trifonov has a worldwide career. Obviously, I will try to apply for the Tchaikovsky competition. And there is also a level of I would say advice, there is a lot of advice from mentors and teachers in which path to take. And I definitely was raised in with the Soviet system of education, even though I experienced this system not in the Soviet Union. And this was very much based on the fact that you will practice six, seven, eight hours every day and you will try your best and succeed in a competition. It's a like sort of very standard, there is not so much room for discussion, you just do it and and uh you do it at the maximum level of quality. And you know, this is still the system I think that is very much in place in uh in certain countries which are not necessarily Western countries, and so this this level of like high discipline and training, then of course uh makes the level of the young competitors going up and skyrocket. So I would say I I mostly used this system, I didn't invent anything, and then sometimes when I was left on my own in the decision making after I was 25-26 and still kept participating to competitions, I used a certain degree of intuition, what I already knew, advice from uh advice from teachers, looking around for what colleagues uh what colleagues were doing, especially successful colleagues, but also unsuccessful. It's very important to learn from unsuccessful experiences, including my own unsuccessful experiences.

Andy Heise 10:48

Sure.

Giuseppe Gauarrera 10:49

And so this gathering of information, and then of course there is a matter also of luck. You you you try your best, but then you have to throw the dice and see what the result is.

Nick Petrella 11:01

You know, just a follow-up question. I know you recently won a teaching position, and I I don't remember the name of the conservatory. Um but do you teach the way you were taught, or did you modify that in any way?

Giuseppe Gauarrera 11:21

I will give you a I would say I will give you the honest answer. I will give you the the most honest answer, which is I tried as much as I could to teach as I was taught, but the level of intensity and the level of directness of that system in the contemporary times in which we live, in institutions, for example, in Germany, are not anymore tolerated. So there is like now there isn't the necessity of uh framing things in a much more positive way and making sure that everybody feels uh like that the student feels secure and safe, and this wasn't necessarily the way I was taught. And I'm you know, I I I find anyway that there is also I would say everything is uh it goes like yin-yang, you know there is always a counter-counterside to it. I would say that the the the system, the Soviet system which I have experienced was very harsh during the lesson, but extremely supportive when there was then the real moments of need. And I would also say that my teacher has been omnipresent for my whole life. So it's really like sort of like a fathery figure, which of course is uh it goes beyond the university and it goes beyond uh rules. At the same time, I can say also that the other aspect is that now I'm much more mild, but maybe there is also less less involvement. So, you know, of course, I'm trying to adjust, and that's not easy, and that's not easy because you need to adjust not only um from a I would say from a geographical point of view, like as an Italian which was raised in like in a sort of Russian way, how to teach in Germany or how to teach, let's say, in the US, if that would happen, will happen, but also generational, like the generations are changing, and the experience that I had receiving the education from somebody who is now 75. I cannot translate directly in this with somebody who is now a day six. The world has changed. So the importance is how to preserve, how to how to maintain the essence while changing the form, but that's very, very difficult.

Nick Petrella 13:57

Oh yeah. And you you certainly bring a probably a broader world view than your teacher.

Playing For Competitions Vs Recitals

Giuseppe Gauarrera 14:07

Different, I would say. I don't know if it's broader, but it's definitely it's it's definitely different. And everybody, you know, everybody needs to bring whatever speaks to them and can help others. I think if the intention of helping others is uh is there in the forefront, and it's very important to remind ourselves of this: that teaching is a service. Once we understand this, then I think everything naturally falls into place. Whether you are sometimes even a little bit harsher than the norm would accept, or this doesn't matter if the intention is to help, I think that's extremely extremely important.

Nick Petrella 14:52

Perfect. Do you prepare and perform differently for competitions as opposed to as opposed to how you approach recitals? And if so, why and what are those differences?

Giuseppe Gauarrera 15:06

I try not to prepare things differently because I I feel and and hope that the competition is rather than competition, it's a festival where there are like no 24 pianists which are displaying what they can do, and then of course, like some of them will advance and will keep displaying more of their work, some will not. But for the audience who just comes there and listens to concerts, because for them it's a concert, this shouldn't make a difference. It's not that I will play safe or less safe because I'm in a competition. Said that, unfortunately, I would say that subconsciously, anyway, there is a huge impact. You know that there is a jury with a score which is going to is there for judging you. And this will automatically somehow put an extra level of pressure, which anyway then changes a little bit the way we play. The competitions has a huge role in the shaping of the musical aesthetics of our century, I'm pretty sure of this.

Nick Petrella 16:13

Yeah. Great.

Turning Prizes Into A Career

Andy Heise 16:17

And so you've um won prizes at competitions like uh the Cleveland competition, Rubenstein, um, and so those are major accomplishments for you. How do those accolades help you create a sustainable career? What what do those accolades, how do they help propel your your your career as a as a musician?

Learning The Business And Management

Giuseppe Gauarrera 16:38

Yes. I would say the first and most important is that it gave me the possibility to not only prepare at the highest level, but also to perform in venues which otherwise would have been not accessible to me. So the possibility to play in Severance Hall with the Cleveland Orchestra for a young musician, it's something which, as a learning experience, even if I don't win any prize, is a prize in itself. So I would say this is the first aspect. The second aspect is visibility. Many people which are part of this so-called music industry are there, and definitely there is a lot which comes out of a competition which is absolutely not related with the price. For example, when I was in Montreal, I won a second prize and all the special prizes, and because a manager had another contestant in this competition, he listened to me and then he offered to become also my agent in France. But the agency wasn't a result of the prize. And this I can give you a list, at least of 100 examples, where the side effects actually very often have been greater than what has been promised by the competition. And but I think it's it's an implied and uh will I I would say it's an implied in the competition. The competition and the organizers know that this will happen. So anyway, it's it's all it's a domino effect. I would say that it's very important not to expect uh not to expect like a life-changing uh a life-changing path the day after you win a competition. This will not happen, uh this doesn't matter how the competition will eventually market themselves. It doesn't happen. I know first prize winners of uh I will I will not name the competitions because otherwise the reference is too clear, but of the greatest competitions which don't play recitals. And so this means, and they are still like incredible artists, it's very important to know that the competition is a starting point, it's not an arrival point. And it's very important to know how to use it and to have the people around you that can help you using this momentum. Competition alone, especially nowadays, in today's world where one week there is something the week after we already forgot what happened, if not the day after or the hour after. It's very important that uh the sustainability of the price, I think, is responsibility of the competition to follow up after of yourself and eventually of the managers and the connections which we have. So it's it's an upwards, uh I would say it's an upwards walk, and the competition can give more or less a push, which can be bigger or smaller accordingly to the price, but then we still have to keep working and working.

Andy Heise 19:59

Yeah, that makes sense. And that that's that that makes sense. So you it's it's really up to you and and your management to to leverage that experience or that prize to to to to leverage it for the next opportunity or for the next um you know whatever it is.

Announcer 20:14

Yes.

Nick Petrella 20:15

Giuseppe, as a conservatory-trained pianist, were you prepared for the business side of a solo career? And if not, what surprised you the most?

Giuseppe Gauarrera 20:26

I wasn't prepared at all, actually. Uh wasn't prepared at all, and I can tell you that when I won uh the prizes in Montreal, uh, which is maybe the biggest competition in uh one of the biggest competitions in in North America, I was already 25. And it was thanks to my it was uh I was thankful to my uh roommate at the time, who is a great, great horn player, to have discovered that in the world of classical music it's necessary to have a manager. I didn't know, like nobody has ever told me that I need a manager. And in fact, even after the Montreal competition, it took me a year or two to find a management, and it was such a loss of time. I'm saying this not to complain, but it can be an advice for young musicians that basically like before they go to competition, if there is a high chance they are gonna win, or anyway, they see that there is like potential, it's very important that somebody is ready before you win something, because then they have to use this time one or two, three months after to use and gather to use this momentum. And I didn't I had absolutely no idea this at twenty-five. So I had to find out my m my later than it's necessary to have a management and how it works, and so on and so on.

Nick Petrella 21:59

So The necessity for management surprised you the most, you would say.

Strategy, Flexibility, And Readiness

Giuseppe Gauarrera 22:05

Yes. I had no idea of how the the how the system of booking concerts worked.

Nick Petrella 22:12

Yeah. So I was gonna ask this question later, but I'll just ask it now because you've had management for a few years now. But when you were starting out, how were you booking those first few recitals up to age 20 it was through my teacher?

Giuseppe Gauarrera 22:30

Okay. So the teacher would be responsible to organize uh some small concerts, and I think every teacher is a little network of friends or presenters which are happy to help with new musicians starting out. And then the concerts which I won uh as a result of the prize in Venice, this prize for the best graduates, this was a full package of concerts which were already organized for the winner. So I simply had to go and play. There was no negotiation, nothing was simply like that's a concert, and you go. And so this uh this was more or less the path. And then slowly after it was again through competitions, personal connections, and then with the management, obviously, through the management, which anyway is also the the management, it's not that you enter a management and then all of a sudden you have 100 counters, you enter a management, and the management looks at what is your network, what is the potential for uh making this network stronger, and eventually how to expand this network. So it's in the end, it's very important to do many things and then have somebody, yourself plus somebody, which can overview everything and and uh create new possibilities.

Nick Petrella 23:53

Yeah, that's awesome. So so organically at first, with your teacher who's your mentor and and champion, and then once you hit those, was it like 25 recitals or how many recitals recitals did you get?

Giuseppe Gauarrera 24:06

Yeah, yeah, more or less twenty-twenty five.

Nick Petrella 24:08

And so that kind of really that's the turning point, the tipping point that launched you into now you're becoming a recital recitalist. Okay, fantastic.

Andy Heise 24:19

So it sounds to me like a combination of strategy, right? So there's there's some like strategic thinking behind, well, how do we position you for the next thing? But then there's also the element of, well, where's the opportunity? You know, you can't just the next strategic move may not be available at this point in time. So then we also have to figure out what are the what are other the the next best move and that sort of thing.

Courage And Trust Under Barenboim

Giuseppe Gauarrera 24:44

Yes, yes. Um that's why in the end, you know, flexibility is the greatest skill. You must have a vision, but then you need to be ready to adjust, to adapt. There is a cancellation, you need to be ready. There is a let's say next year, if I'm making up an example, if Copland is composer in focus in Cleveland, I have to be ready to play Copland. And if only few people, I think, uh maybe what is I don't know in percentage, but only few people can decide. I see I will do this and only this. And anyway, probably I would guess that these people reach this point of deciding what they want to do after having done many, many things.

Andy Heise 25:30

So Giuseppe, your biography states that uh Daniel Berenboim's invitation to perform at the Pierre Boulasau was was uh a defining moment uh and early in your career. And and you referenced you referenced that a little bit earlier as well. Um, how did that experience change the way that you thought about yourself as as a pianist with uh professional agency to create your own path?

Giuseppe Gauarrera 25:59

The presence of Baronboy during the first years of opening at the academy of his academy, like it's called the Barrenboyum Said Academy, was a really electrifying electrifying moment. His personality Barrenboy's personality is uh extremely fascinating, and I would say that really the maybe the element which defines him to my eyes is electricity. There is such a buzz around this persona, which then of course uh expresses itself, or at least at the time now is not doing well health-wise, but at that time, like even three, four, five years ago, it expresses itself in so many ways, which was leading the academy, conducting more or less every day, playing recitals every three days, traveling all over the world, and at the same time learning new things while performing complete cycles of Beethoven, Schubert. So already by I'm saying this not only to praise him because I think he's such a great musician, but to say that when you are close to something which is great, there is a lot of learning which happens at the subconscious level. So, first of all, just by being close to somebody which is great, I think this positive energy, if you are open to receive it, can can be extremely beneficial. So I would say that artistically, what I've learned the most was to be brave. To be brave and to really try to push boundaries in uh no matter what the price is, because you know when you push boundaries you will very often you will crash. You have to accept this, not make a big fuss and keep going. If the if the scope is high and the scope is big, it's very important to know that most of the time you will feel uncomfortable and you will get you will you will hurt yourself. And this, you know, to to see this in real life, you know, one thing is to read it in the book, but when you see it in real life, it's a completely totally different impact. And then, of course, to have um to have received this support from an artistic point of view and and also professionally by playing with him and also receiving a lot of performance opportunities gave me a lot of trust. And I think the most important second lesson, the most important lesson which I've learned is that young musicians, but young people in general, maybe of course they need education, they need instructions, but most importantly, they need trust. When you feel that somebody is trusting you, you start to believe in yourself and you can eventually expand and express to the world your inner capabilities, which very often are there, but not everybody has the courage, that's why I was talking about courage, the courage to display it outside. And so when you have somebody which represents uh like which is an authority in the fields in which you are, which gives you carte blanche, you know, you do whatever you want, basically, because that's what he allowed me to do in recitals, for example, or even when we played together, he gave me so much freedom. That's essenti that is essential. So that's what would be was the the two main co the two main aspects which contribute to my development were courage and trust from him.

Andy Heise 29:42

That's great.

Closing And Subscribe

Announcer 29:44

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