07/28/2010
By John Terauds
Toronto Star
Teenage Calgary pianist Jan Lisiecki is the classical world's equivalent of Justin Bieber (ardent fans gushing over an angelic face framed by those currently fashionable sideways licks of hair), except that Jan really has musical talent.
Coinciding with the 200th anniversary of the birth of Frédérick Chopin, the only child of a Calgary Polish-immigrant couple has been charming the world with his interpretations of that Romantic composer's music.
All year, Jan has been performing the two piano concertos, as well as a selection of solo pieces. In May, the Fryderyk Chopin Institute in Poland released a disc of Jan playing the two concertos with Sinfonia Varsovia and conductor Howard Shelley. (For CD info, click here.)
The disc really is beautiful. Jan's playing -- recorded in 2008 and 2009 -- is technically flawless and the music is shaped elegantly.
Jan also has his own YouTube channel. The Chopin and Liszt pieces here are much less convincing.
Given how many times Jan has played his Chopin repertoire in the last six months alone, I'm willing to bet that what an audience may hear tomorrow could be very different from what he has recorded in the past.
Fresh from concerts at the Festival of the Sound, Jan is heading Hamilton-ward today for an all-Chopin concert tomorrow night at Mohawk College for the Brott Summer Festival.
On Aug. 12, 13 & 14, Jan returns to Ontario to perform three separate programmes of Chopin with the Tokai String Quartet at Stratford Summer Music.
If you want to immerse yourself in the world of Jan Lisiecki, you can visit his website.
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Someone like Jan presents a challenge for me. As a rule, I don't review students. Jan is 15, but he's released his first disc and has the travel calendar of a professional.
I have a philosophical opposition to encouraging child prodigies, thinking they should go through as normal a childhood development process as possible. However, I also realise that a huge proportion of the world's great musical artists set foot on the stage well before adulthood, and needed that early encouragement and acclaim to bring them to wide attention.
I can only hope that Jan will find his happy balance between music and the rest of life, and continue to treat an eager public with what, at this point, looks like a keen, unaffected artistry.