New Piano Six plants seeds across Canada
As Angela Park prepared to fly out to Fort St. John, B.C., and Slave Lake, Alta., I caught up with her fellow pianist, Daniel Wnukowski, on his way to Fort Frances and Rainy River in Ontario and Fort Nelson in B.C.
By the way, he had to fly into the United States, to International Falls, Minn., in order to drive back across the border to reach the airport-less Ontario town where I joined him for two concerts at Fort Frances High School.
The glamorous life, as Desiree Armfeldt sarcastically sings in the Steven Sondheim musical “A Little Night Music.” Yes, this really is what it is like being a member of Piano Six — New Generation.
If the name sounds familiar, it’s probably because for 10 years between 1994 and 2004 there was another Piano Six, organized by Janina Fialkowska, bringing together six Canadian pianists to travel across the country giving recitals and school concerts, usually in small communities underserved by live classical music.
It was during these years, in his hometown of Windsor, that the teenage Wnukowski attended a master class with Fialkowska, who remained in touch, eventually inspiring him to revive her series.
What does it offer? You can judge for yourself on Tuesday in the St. Lawrence Centre’s Jane Mallett Theatre, when Music Toronto presents a gala featuring all six members of Piano Six — New Generation.
In addition to Wnukowski and Park, there’s Marika Bournaki, David Jalbert, Ian Parker and Anastasia Rizikov, all of whom pursue individual solo careers apart from Piano Six, which usually involves a two- to three-day visit with a concert, plus an outreach event provided by the artist at no extra cost.
In Fort Frances there was no recital; instead, the gentleman from Windsor played morning and afternoon concerts in a high school with a 46 per cent Indigenous population and the banners of 10 First Nations hanging in its entrance hall.
Luckily for Wnukowski, the resident Yamaha had just been tuned for an evening performance of the school musical “Footloose.” Lacking the means to carry around a $200,000 concert grand, the members of Piano Six find themselves at the mercy of whatever keyboard happens to be available, even if it happens to be a pub-worthy upright.
Wnukowski knows the experience all too well. Earlier in his career, after winning a national Chopin competition, he toured villages throughout Poland, including one event that saw a leg fall off the piano.
The securely legged piano responded well in Fort Frances. So, for the most part, did the listeners, to the musician introduced to them as “a world famous pianist.”
Although Wnukowski had recently made a favourably reviewed New York debut in Weill Hall, Carnegie Hall’s smaller recital venue, the description was certainly generous. He introduced himself simply as a concert pianist: “That’s what I do for a living. I live out of my suitcase.”
He didn’t simply play. He engaged with the students, talking about the history of his instrument and inviting them to respond to basic questions, their reluctant answers reflecting their limited knowledge. As a reward for his effort, the vice-principal presented him with a school tuque.
Driving back to his motel, he acknowledged the challenge of playing before such an unsophisticated public, but insisted that “we have to build audiences for the future.”
And that, he went on, represents a core motivation for Piano Six. As a young pianist (he is now in his 30s), Wnukowski received support in Canada for his studies. “One can only take so much,” he insisted, “and then it is time to give something back. Janina said that Piano Six was a highlight of her career.”
Wnukowski had reached a crisis point in his own career before launching his new venture, feeling he had run out of creative energy, living in Vienna surrounded by the ghosts of the past. “Vienna,” he says, “loves you when you are dead.”
The birth of his daughter apparently re-energized him: “I asked myself, do I really want to be a failed musician for her?”
So he returned to concerts and recording and started picking up the phone, looking for colleagues with a similar belief in reaching out. The positive replies to his calls can be found Tuesday evening on the stage of the Jane Mallett.