He has
played in the world’s most highly esteemed concert halls, accompanied by
renowned orchestras: Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Musikverein in Vienna, and
Carnegie Hall in New York.
Wibi
Soerjadi, the 42-year-old Dutch-Indonesian pianist and composer, will come to
Indonesia in late June and early July for a tour of Java on which he will
perform in Jakarta, Surabaya, Yogyakarta and Solo.
It is a
rare treat to witness the performance of a world-class pianist in Indonesia.
Because of Wibi’s ancestry, it is that much more exciting.
Born to
Indonesian parents in 1970 in Leiden, Wibi studied in Amsterdam at the
Sweelinck Conservatory for four years before graduating with a special
recognition for his exceptional skills at the piano.
After that
he won several prizes, including the National Eurovision Competition for Young
Musicians.
It was only
the beginning of a stellar career. His recordings have been extremely
successful, and in 2005, Wibi was invited to perform at a jubilee concert at
Disneyland Resort Paris.
In 2006, he
celebrated his 25th year as a pianist with a very special performance: as part
of a Franz Liszt recital, Wibi played a recital in Amsterdam using a piano that
once belonged to the 19th century Hungarian musician. The next year, he was
knighted by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.
But it
hasn’t been all awards and knighthood for Wibi. At the peak of his career in
2009, he was struck by a strange illness.
Called
idiopathic sudden sensor neural hearing loss, it forced him to stop performing,
but only for a couple of months. Although he had to cancel an earlier
Indonesian tour, he was able to stay creative during his recovery, writing a
nine-part composition during his concert-hall hiatus.
The first
time he performed again, in Amsterdam, Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad
described his concert as “magnificent” and “breathtaking.”
Harry
Rolnick, a critic for online magazine Concerto Net, wrote of Wibi’s performance
at Carnegie Hall in early 2011: “After a long absence, the Dutch
pianist-composer Wibi Soerjadi gave a “recital” last night, though that word is
a misnomer. More accurately, Mr. Soerjadi presented two hours of fervor and
digital frenzy, dazzling and confounding, where his ten fingers multiplied like
dragon’s teeth, where his piano spat out thousands of notes per second.”
Rolnick
compared Wibi’s performance to an enchanting show of a magician and praised his
ability to combine classical music with show business.
“Mr.
Soerjadi is not tyrannized by his fingers, he relishes the sound, speed and
virtuosity which puts every internal or introspective thought out of his mind,”
he wrote. “It was fun to hear him, it was the most dazzling entertainment
imaginable.”
In addition
to playing the piano, Wibi is also an accomplished composer.
He wrote,
among others, specially commissioned pieces for Karen Venhuizen, the Dutch
figure skater, and Anky van Grunsven, the dressage rider, who reveled in the
World Championships and Olympic Games in 2008 to the sounds of Wibi’s “Dance of
Devotion.”
Wibi
Soerjadi
Piano
recital
Wednesday,
June 20, from 7:30 p.m.
Thursday,
July 5, from 7: 30 p.m.
Erasmus
Huis,Jl. Rasuna Said Kav. S-3,Kuningan, South Jakarta
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