Chopin Salon @ Home: Misha Galant
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The career path for a concert artist is quite often a steep uphill climb. In a playing field of literally thousands of musicians vying for either a top prize at a competition, or acceptance into a prestigious conservatory, or a top teaching position at a school or university, there is no easy route for young pianists. The Chopin Foundation knows that in spite of being incredibly brilliant and talented, our pianists aren’t always able to secure a contract with professional management. Therefore our mission is to provide whatever assistance we can in terms of concert opportunities and financial support. Fortunately we share this mission with a few other musical organizations who also see how important it is to create opportunities for these wonderful pianists. This episode’s featured artist, Misha Galant, is a good example. We first met Misha as a recipient of a Chopin Foundation Scholarship in 2013, and this year he was one of the semi-finalists at the National Chopin Piano Competition. Shortly thereafter he was named a 2020 Gilmore Young Artist.
A Balancing Act
The age range for pianists entering the Competition is 16 to 30. The average contestant age this year was 22 (the youngest contest was 16 and the oldest 28). These are pivotal years in the life of a concert artist as many are transitioning from full time studies to full time careers. When we caught up with Misha this month, we were curious to know how he was able to prepare for the Competition while also still a senior at Columbia University, studying piano through the Columbia-Juilliard Exchange, while also pursuing degrees in Data Science and Russian Literature.
“Preparing for the Chopin competition was quite strenuous, but also very rewarding,” said Misha. “I was attempting to balance a heavy course load at Columbia, training for the Columbia's swim team, and practicing. I was really only able to prepare in the last three months before the competition because prior to that I had other engagements from the Gilmore. In the months leading up to the competition, I was practicing 7-10 hours per day and was still memorizing some of my repertoire weeks before leaving for Miami. In a sense, the lock-down was a blessing because I was approximately a month behind on all my schoolwork, with four midterms scheduled for the week after I returned from Miami.”
And yet, his performances reflected none of this, but rather a self assured, mature artist who brought fresh insights and an exciting personality to the stage. We hope you will enjoy this beautiful video of Misha’s quarter-final round from Tuesday, February 25, 2020
A Musical Pedigree
Getting to the place in a pianist’s trajectory where they can master great compositions in such a way as to garner the world’s attention takes the persistent prodding of many professionals. Fortunately for Misha, he did not have to look far for this inspiration, especially in his early years:
“I've had a number of musical influences throughout my life, but my greatest influence is undoubtedly my mother, [Olya Katsman] who taught me from the beginning of my studies until I left for Columbia and Juilliard twelve years later. I am also immensely grateful to the other teachers who guided me in my musical development - Yoshi Nagai and Sharon Mann of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Yu-Jane Yang of Weber State University, and Joseph Kalichstein of The Juilliard School.”
Incidentally, when you “Google” Misha’s mother, Olya Katsman and father, Jed Galant - what you find are pages and pages of award winning young pianists who credit one or the other as their teacher.
This next video was recorded specifically for Virtually Gilmore and includes Prelude and Fugue in D minor, Op. 87., No. 24 by Shostakovich, and Rachmaninoff - from 12 Romances, Op. 21, No. 5, Lilac and from Études-tableaux, Op. 39, Nos. 4, 5, 9
2020 Came with Some Surprises
The Gilmore Young Artist Award is presented every two years to single out the most promising of the new generation of U.S.-based pianists, age 22 and younger. Nominations are made by music professionals from around the world, and an anonymous selection committee evaluates the nominees over a period of time. Candidates for the Award are unaware that they are under consideration.
“The Gilmore was the last thing on my mind when I received that call,” Misha exclaimed. “I had just returned to my dorm after taking a midterm and was lying around in bed watching youtube videos. When I saw the call, I thought it was spam since I did not recognize the number, and even when I listened to the voicemail, I did not process what was happening. I thought it was just another invitation to participate in some arbitrary competition or festival. I did not begin to process the significance of the award until I spoke to Pierre van der Westhuizen, the Gilmore Director, and realized what a tremendous honor had just fallen in my lap.”
Since 1990, 36 pianists have been recognized as Gilmore Young Artists. Misha Galant and Maxim Lando, named in 2020, are the most recent recipients. Of those 36 many have links back to the Chopin Foundation through the Chopin Competition or the Scholarship Program - including: Peter Miyamoto, Brenda Huang, and Wendy Chen (1991), Andrew Armstrong (1996), Rachel Kudo and Adam Golka (2008), George Li (2012), Llewellyn Sanchez-Werner (2014), and now Misha Galant (2020)!
Misha Galant conquering Mt. Shasta.
Not One to Sit Still
We asked Misha what he has been up to during the pandemic, and while we expected that he had been filling his days productively, we were not quite prepared for the variety and intensity of his activities. “Since the pandemic began, I have been practicing a lot of new repertoire -- Liszt sonata in B minor, a few Medtner pieces, a number of Rachmaninoff Etudes-Tableaux, Brahms 2nd, and Beethoven 4th concertos, to name a few -- in preparation for the Leeds competition in England. I have also had to find ways to be physically active since I can no longer swim. I decided to take up hiking, mountaineering, and rock climbing. Since May, I've summitted over 40 peaks in California and Utah, including Mt. Shasta, my first 14,000+ ft mountain. Once it starts snowing, I am planning to take up skiing, since there is no better place to ski than Utah.”
Impressive, Misha! Stay safe . . .
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Chopin Foundation programs are made possible with the support of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners; and the City of Coral Gables. Sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture; Funding Arts Broward; the Miami Salon Group; and scores of generous donors.