Rogé finds his language with French composers
Most youngsters consider practicing the piano a chore. French pianist Pascal Rogé saw it as a reward.
His mother, and first piano teacher, took to locking the door of the music room to prevent the young prodigy from interrupting other students' lessons to show them how the piece should be played.
At 11, he entered the Paris Conservatoire. By his mid teens he had won awards for piano and chamber music. And by his early twenties he had embarked upon a solo career, earning acclaim for his deft, perceptive interpretations of French composers Maurice Ravel, Francis Poulenc and Claude Debussy among others.
"With Ravel and Debussy, it sounds pretentious, but I can't go wrong," he says. "It's so much in my blood."
Rogé has played Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky, Mozart and Schubert, but in French composers he has found the best and most satisfying means of expressing himself as an artist.
"I discovered my language is French music," says the 57-year-old pianist, who critics have praised for his interpretive skills. "This is the way I can talk to people personally."
That said, Rogé's repertoire extends beyond France's 20th century titans to include American composer George Gershwin, whose Piano Concerto in F introduced the then 11-year old Rogé to jazz.
It "was like a window opening to a different kind of music," he recalls of the concerto that has since become a mainstay in his repertoire. Rogé performs it, along with Ravel's Piano Concerto in G, with the Elgin Symphony Orchestra this weekend. The powerhouse program, which also includes "An American in Paris," marks the conclusion of ESO's month-long Gershwin celebration.
Gershwin's jazz-infused concerto reflects the blurring of the line between classical and non-classical music, says Rogé. His pairing of the two pieces by contemporaries who both admired and inspired each other underscores that.
"The classical world has an image of being stiff and reserved," he says. "I like to open music to larger audiences and this program is a good way to do it."
For Rogé, Gershwin represents the closest he can get to his beloved jazz without straying too far from his classical roots. Moreover, jazz affords him freedom.
"You're not a prisoner of more than 300 years of interpretation," says Rogé whose next CD will feature piano quintets by Paul Chihara, a composer whose music quotes from classical and jazz.
For years, when conservatories held that the more incomprehensible the music, the better it was Rogé refrained from playing contemporary works. He has since changed his mind.
"I've heard music recently that made me hopeful. It's harmonic, creative and lyrical," he says.
Ultimately, he considers himself the most for getting to live out his passion. To do so, he says, "is the greatest privilege in life."
"If I win the lottery tomorrow, I won't change anything in my life. I'll still play piano."
Pascal Rogé with the Elgin Symphony Orchestra
When: 1:30 and 8 p.m. Friday; 8 p.m. Saturday and 3:30 p.m. Sunday
Where: Hemmens Theatre, 150 Dexter Court, Elgin
Tickets: $15-$70
Phone: (847) 888-4000