World-renowned German violinist Franziska Pietsch will join Assistant Professor Josu De Solaun for his final concert at Sam Houston State University on Wednesday. Admission is free, and the concert will be held in the recital hall at the James and Nancy Gaertner Performing Arts Center.
This will not be the last time De Solaun and Pietsch collaborate with one another. The pair is scheduled to make an album in October and already have a few more show dates established. Pietsch described the importance of collaborating with an artist like De Solaun.
“This is the most interesting thing for us musicians,” Pietsch explained. “If you are playing as a soloist, you are still alone, you are always alone. But when you play the same sonatas, same composer, with different people, it’s a completely different thing. I think that is the most interesting thing, but you have to be open to it.”
Pietsch described the feeling of certainty she had when playing with De Solaun and how she expects their music together to flourish in the future.
“He is a fantastic pianist, but it’s not just that he is a pianist,” Pietsch said. “There are hundreds, millions of very good musicians for certain instruments. I am looking for just a little percent. You can maybe count [them on one hand]. Just five or ten in the world where, when they play, you forget they are pianists. Then it’s just music. This is very, very special. And with him, this happened.”
Pietsch has collaborated with many artists in the past and studied at Julliard in New York City, and she still finds herself in pursuit of that perfect sound. She explained the advice she’d give to music students.
“During your studying, it’s like sports,” Pietsch said. “You have to practice. It takes time. It takes time to develop your own personality. This is the most important thing for young people. The pressure for them is so high. They think there is no time for something else.”
Advice on this matter is important coming from an artist with as much commercial success as Pietsch. Her last album received an International Classical Music Award—which is among the highest honors a classical artist can achieve.
The recital on Wednesday will feature two artists: one stepping on the SHSU stage for the last time, the other for the first time. To witness this event, get a ticket from the box office before the performance at 7:30 p.m.
