When Javier Perianes dedicated his first encore to me (Chopin Nocturne in c sharp minor, Op. 20) at the Vancouver Playhouse I was rendered speechless for at least 20 minutes. What an extraordinarily wonderful thing to have happened.
There’s actually a story behind Perianes and that Nocturne. This goes back about three years. I had been dealing with a London Management to book a date for the young Finnish pianist, Juho Pohjonen (on the recommendation of Andras Schiff). The particular manager with whom I was making the arrangements sent me an email telling me that he had just added another pianist to his roster and he thought that I would really like his playing. He asked “shall I send you a CD?”….to which I replied “no, not yet, as my season is already fully booked”. “Wait a couple of months” I said. He then sent me an email by return which said “oops, I already put it in the mail”.
Of course, I didn’t have the willpower not to open it when it arrived and I put it on. The Nocturne was the first piece on the CD, and it caused a major stir in the office. Next thing, before even listening to the rest of the CD, I was frantically trying to fit him in the series for the following year. I can’t remember displacing anyone, so maybe we just added another concert. Oh, and because all the literature on the CD was in Spanish I went over to CBC where Gloria Macarenko translated for me.
So now Javier has appeared twice, and hopefully before long, we’ll have him back.
See what you have to do to get a return engagement with the VRS?