Christ by the Sea will kick off its 13th annual Concert Series this Sunday, with something special – a Monster Piano Concert that will feature a sextet of pianists performing on six grand pianos.
World-renowned pianist Caio Pagano will lead five well-known local pianists, together performing music you’ve likely never heard before. The concert is expected to be so popular that organizer Marcos Daniel Flores, the church’s director of worship arts, has scheduled two performances, at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.
“This is very, very rare,” Pagano says. “And the effort to put it together, thanks to Marcos, is enormous. It’s very big work to get the pianos, the pianists, the scores and rehearsing on Friday and Saturday.”
The hallmark work to be performed is a piece called the “Hexaméron” – the title refers to the Bible’s six days of creation. Franz Liszt created the piece in 1837 for an Italian princess who wanted to give a benefit concert in her Paris salon for the needy. The famed composer and pianist turned to five other well-known composers to add variations to the theme: Frédéric Chopin, Carl Czerny, Henri Herz, Johann Peter Pixis and Sigismond Thalberg.
Pagano currently serves as Regents professor of piano at the Arizona State University Herberger Institute School of Music. Assisted by of one of his ASU students, he has spent a year arranging the work to be performed simultaneously rather than individually.
“I had to look for the music,” he explains. “The Hexaméron is nothing you can get in your grocery store. I had to get the librarian to order it. It took months. And I looked at it and said, ‘I need to arrange it.’ You have to print it, bind it, listen to the music recorded, to make sure no note is missing. It’s very complicated.”
But Pagano is used to detailed work and pursuing problems to a satisfying conclusion.
He not only has a doctorate in music from the Catholic University of America, but also a master’s degree in law from the University of São Paulo. He never practiced law, but says he studied it to please his family.
“It was Dad who said, ‘If you break a finger, there goes your career. So have something else under your arm to protect you,’” Pagano recalls. “As a student of law, I was already playing all over Europe and at the same time reading my (law) books.”
He adds that when he graduated in 1965, “I started getting some sleep.”
And while studying law didn’t inform his musicianship, it did make him more interested in source material, especially the historical context in which composers worked.
He arranged the “Hexameron” for Sunday’s concert so that the players will perform in concert, rather than sitting at their pianos with nothing to do while others played.
The five professional pianists joining Pagano on the six grand pianos are: Kelley Coppage, Joanne Niott, Rochelle Sallee, Jacob Craig and Flores, who studied piano with Pagano at Arizona State University.
“None of the pianists were familiar with this work,” says Flores. “That’s the beauty of this. We have the amazing blessing that the Maestro (Pagano) took on the arranging of this. Sixty fingers in total synchronization. Think of six pianos having a state-of-the-art surround sound audio system.”
Of course, just arranging for the concert to take place also meant a lot of behind-the-scenes organization on Flores’ part.
He had to first consider the demanding schedules of Pagano and the five other musicians and form a complete program that would complement each of them.
“Pianists are very busy and it’s difficult to get everyone together,” Flores says. “Then to get the music … the ‘Hexamaron’ will be the main piece, classical. But then our theme piece for the Monster Piano is the ‘Sabre Dance’ by Khachaturian because the sound is monster, massive.”
Among other works to be played are: “Clavierübung” by Kupkovic; “Le Bal,” from “Jeux d’enfants” by Bizet; and Rondo Brillante by Weber. Pagano will perform at least one piece solo.
Next, Flores had to find the pianos, get them moved to the church and hire a tuner, who is tasked with identically tuning the six pianos before each concert.
“The piano tuner (Stoney Copelin) will be the one working hardest,” Flores says with a laugh. “We’re going to give him a massage after.”
To make sure the delicate piano moving process was done correctly, Flores turned to the highly respected Brian Gatchell, owner of the Atlantic Music Center in Melbourne. Gatchell has a deep collection of top-of-the-line and rare pianos, and both Flores and Pagano have performed in the Atlantic Music Center’s concert series.
While Flores frequently uses pianos from Gatchell’s collection, this time he turned to the pianists themselves, who are loaning their personal instruments to the concert. The instruments include Steinway, Bösendorfer, Schimmel and Wilh. Steinberg pianos.
The pianists have been rehearsing pieces on their own, and then will meet to play together during two rehearsals.
“The piano instrument is one of the most unforgiving,” Flores explains. “The attack of the piano is percussive so it’s not an easy in and easy out sound. Then when you have six pianists far from each other, it’s very hard to put 60 fingers in total synchronization.”
The group will become like an ensemble, he says, knowing each other’s minds. Making it ever-so-slightly easier, the five local pianists have played together before.
“Our guest of honor is Caio Pagano,” says Flores. “He has the most experience. We’re going to feel right at home with him. He was my doctoral degree piano teacher and mentor. How many times does a student get to launch into the professional world and still play with their teacher? Then, in my humble case, invite him to my concert series at my church.”
“I need a page turner, but they must be small and skinny,” Pagano says with a laugh. “I asked Marcos if there was room and he said, ‘We have room for that, don’t you worry.’”
The Monster Piano Concert takes place Sunday, Nov. 18 at Christ by the Sea Methodist Church, with performances at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. The address is 3755 Highway A1A, Vero Beach, FL. Tickets are $25 general and $10 students. The concerts are expected to sell out, so get tickets ahead of time. Call 772-231-1661 or visit cbtsumc.org.
