Chopin Society of Atlanta

Exclusive interview with Stanislaw Drzewiecki and his father, pianist and music teacher, Professor
Jaroslaw Drzewiecki, by Bozena U. Zaremba

At the age of six you went on your first concert
tour to Japan, accompanied by the very prestigious Sinfonia Varsovia
Orchestra; at the age of twelve you won Grand Prix at the European
Television Festival in Alicante, Spain; and the next year, in 2000,
you won the Grand Prix at the 10th Eurovision Contest for Young
Musicians in Bergen. Did you ever have a so-called “normal”
childhood?
Stanislaw Drzewiecki: Every
childhood is different; everyone has different experiences and needs.
While studying music you are a loner, but it does not mean you need
to avoid social contacts. Maybe I had less time to play with my
friends, but I had a chance to meet fantastic musicians, visit wonderful
places, and most of all I had great satisfaction sensing how people
were moved by my performance. That’s the best prize for grueling
and lonely hours of practice.
Jaroslaw Drzewiecki: We never treated our son
in an exceptional way. I think he felt that his life was not much
different from that of other people, and at some point he probably
thought that everyone in the whole world played the piano.

He was not a “child prodigy” for
you, then?

JD: I have never liked this phrase, but it’s
needed by the media and by the audience; you can’t do much
about it. Young people will always succeed if they build their careers
on inner harmony. I really admire Stanislaw for being humble in
what he feels to be his service towards the composer and the audience.
Your professional career was in a way determined
by family tradition. Did you ever ask yourself if this is what you
want to do?

SD: This is only partially true. My parents
did not actually encourage my music education. It was a teacher
friend who wanted to try some fun piano stuff with me. My parents
felt like they couldn’t say “no,” and that’s
how it all started. And if you do what you really like, it is never
hard. Of course, there are moments when I need a break.
What about your formal training?

SD: It started with Professor Ida Leszczynska,
who, after two years, moved to Chicago, where she has achieved great
success as a teacher. Then it was Professor Wiera Nosina, and in
the last few years I have been studying with my mother, Professor
Tatiana Shebanova, a great artist, whose repertoire embraces almost
the whole piano literature. This has been a very inspiring phase
for me. I have had a chance to study great Romantic composers like
Chopin, Liszt, Schubert, Schumann and Rachmaninoff. My discussions
with my mom-teacher have often been very heated, but we always reached
consensus. At the same time, I had a chance to “practice”
the art of diplomacy to carry out my ideas.

Sometimes you perform together—

SD: Oh, yes! We have played family concerts
in Canada, Japan, Portugal, Holland, and Russia. In New York we
played Rachmaninoff’s Waltz for Six Hands. This was fun! This
year we are celebrating the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s
birth. For this occasion we released a new CD with Sinfonia Varsovia,
conducted by Michael Zilm. We are also preparing an unusual project,
a tour of 16 concerts around Poland, with Mozart’s concertos
for one, two and three pianos and orchestra. We will be using superb
“Bluthner” pianos, and the company will transport the
instruments to each Polish city during our tour.
Who is your teacher now?

SD: Professor Andrzej Jasinski at the Music
Academy in Warsaw. We are currently working on Debussy and Ravel.
Do you, as a music teacher, have a special
method that has proven right?

Jaroslaw Drzewiecki: Every teaching process
is different, because every student is different, and I always try
to create the best scenario for each one. From my experience I know
that versatility, curiosity, temperament, and ability to concentrate
are very important qualities that help in developing musical skills.
I am against the Suzuki method, and I think that working on manual
skills needs to go side by side with emotional development and most
of all with expanding the student’s imagination. In their
work, composers have embraced the whole palette of human feelings,
from the most dramatic to the happiest, and the performer does not
need to have experienced them all. It is his or her imagination
and intuition that come in handy.

When is a student ready to “face the
world”?

JD: Performing on stage should start from the
earliest possible age, so that the young student can gradually get
accustomed to and befriend, not fear the audience. Later on, the
responsibility rises and stage fright comes in, but the positive
attitude remains. But if we are talking about professional performing,
the student is ready when the head starts to lead the fingers; that
is, when he or she consciously controls the process of artistic
creation.
How do you deal with stage fright?

Stanislaw Drzewiecki: Stage fright, in the
common understanding, is an “unclean conscience”, which
arises from insufficient preparation. Obviously, when you don’t
know your notes you fear you may lose control. For me, stage fright
is when every single part of me gets mobilized. It’s a force
that releases superhuman power enabling you to “move mountains.”
The mind works better thanks to this force.
What did you have to give up to devote your
life to music?

SD: Music is my life, but I still have a lot
of “outside” hobbies, which do affect how I see the
world. I believe you need to expand your horizons as much as possible.

Can you tell us something about your hobbies?

SD: I have learned to fly, and I love
diving and plane modeling. Recently I designed a virtual town, with
all infrastructures, including an airport and public transport.
A few years ago I designed a hybrid airplane, which, besides some
complex designs, has a…concert hall. I do all of this in my
free time, which is more and more scarce.
In recent years you have devoted much time
to composing music—

SD: I do not aspire to be a composer, but I
feel I have always been creating music, and there are moments when
writing music feels like a necessity. These are strange, not fully
comprehensible moments. When I was a child, it was my mom who wrote
down my “compositions.” Although I knew harmony and
rhythm, I could not write down the notation. I wrote my first composition,
Waltz in A-minor, when I was seven. The Eurovision Competition called
for a contemporary piece, which I did not have in my repertoire,
so I wrote my own, Prelude “Insect.” I have also written
some pieces for small ensembles, the most notable being music for
staging Goethe’s poem, “The Alder King” at the
“Lalka” Theater in Warsaw. This show received the Grand
Prize at the International Theater Festival in Poznan. Last March
my new composition, Double Concerto for violin, piano, and orchestra
debuted at the Koszalin Philharmonic. Maestro Peter Dabrowski from
Valley Symphony Orchestra in Texas conducted the concert. This piece
is based on folk music from all over the world, including the Far
East, Gypsy and Polish Tatra Mountains music.

You have won prestigious international competitions,
your concert tour takes you to the most prominent concert halls
in the U.S. such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Walt
Disney Concert Hall, and you regularly play in Japan. Which experience
do you cherish most?

SD: Definitely the Tenth Eurovision Competition
in Bergen, Norway, which was shown live to 24 countries. I represented
Polish Television and was honored to receive the Grand Prix from
Maestro Esa-Pekka Salonen and Prince Haakon, now King of Norway.
Just before the final concert I was told that 10 million people
would be watching. This was such an abstract number for me that
I was not impressed at all. It was only at the airport that I felt
the power of the media, when strangers came up to me to offer congratulations.
What gives you the greatest artistic satisfaction?

SD: When I start to “feel” the
composer as if I were composing his music. This was the case with
Mozart, Chopin, and Rachmaninoff. Concerts give me an opportunity
to pass my fascinations on to the audience.

What is your attitude towards the interpretation
of Chopin’s music?

SD: Of course, the pianist needs to present
his or her own vision, but I definitely prefer interpretation close
to Chopin’s vision, based on his notation and his written
texts.
One of the last International Chopin Competition
jurors said that you “need to play in accordance with Chopin’s
personality. To remember what kind of person he was. To read his
letters, look at his portraits. Meditate his life and find his voice
within yourself.” What do you as a teacher think about it?

Jaroslaw Drzewiecki: Knowledge is always helpful
in finding the composer’s intentions. Chopin’s letters
to his family and friends are the most interesting resource. They
show us his true image, not so idealistic as in formal biographies.
What fascinates you the most in Chopin’s
music?

Stanislaw Drzewiecki: Constantly shifting moods,
like euphoria changing into nostalgia, and the vast array of human
emotions. I try to “tune in,” to understand those emotions,
and then pass them on to the audience.

Conducted and translated by Bozena
U. Zaremba
Visit www.sdrzewiecki.com.pl
for more information about the pianist.