International piano career had small beginnings

Stephen De Pledge
Stephen De Pledge
When Stephen De Pledge was a small child growing up in the Wairarapa, he played his little coloured xylophone all day, so his parents bought a piano, which led him to an international career as a pianist.

''I can't remember a time when I didn't assume I would somehow do music as a career, but I didn't quite know what that would be until I was in my 20s,'' the Auckland-based pianist said.

He is playing Grieg's Piano Concerto with the Southern Sinfonia on its tour to Japan and in its fundraising concert at the Dunedin Town Hall on October 2.

In his youth he played viola and oboe as well as piano and was interested in conducting, singing and other aspects of music. It was only when he went to London for further study at age 22 that he decided to focus on the piano.

He was drawn to the instrument because of the wide repertoire and variety of piano music, which opened huge possibilities compared with the solo repertoire of his other instruments, he says.

After 20 years in London, he returned to New Zealand three years ago to take up a position teaching piano at Auckland University, which allows him to perform as well. It provides a better work-life balance than travelling and performing all the time, especially as he has four young children, De Pledge says.

He enjoys all aspects of piano but says his greatest love is probably chamber music because it involves working with other people rather than by himself.

''Concertos I see as a kind of chamber music. I know it's the piano stuck out the front, but it actually is a sort of collaboration with conductor and orchestra and piano all working together.''

The Grieg piano concerto had a lot of interplay between the instruments of the orchestra and the piano, he said.

''That's what I love about it. We pass the melodies over to each other and sometimes the piano's working as a kind of accompanist to the orchestra. It's sort of coming and going into the light and back into the shadow rather than just being in the spotlight the whole time.''

The Grieg concerto was a sunny, open, heart-warming piece, he said.

''Grieg was young when he wrote it and sometimes when composers are young they just have this inspiration which means they write their masterpiece early. I guess it's the heat of creativity and youth. It's a very youthful-sounding piece - it sounds like a young man, full of life and enjoying the power of this music.''

This is the first time De Pledge has played with the Southern Sinfonia and he is looking forward to travelling to Japan with them.

''Asians have taken to classical Western music, especially in Japan. I don't know why it hasn't happened the other way around. It's one of the West's great cultural exports, I suppose. China and Korea are catching up fast but Japan for many decades has had a really strong tradition of playing Western classical music. They've got wonderful concert halls and fabulous pianos and put a lot of money into it as well, which is really great for us to see the kind of support they get over there.''


See it, hear it
• The Southern Sinfonia's Japan tour fundraising concert is on October 2 at 7.30 at the Dunedin Town Hall. Conducted by Simon Over, it features Anthony Ritchie's Remember Parihaka, composed in 1994 when he was composer in residence with the orchestra; Grieg's Piano Concerto with soloist Stephen De Pledge; and Brahms' Symphony No 2.

• At the concert Warwick Grimmer will auction three items: Dinner for four with Jonathan Lemalu at Pier 24, with three bottles of award-winning Peregrine wines; lunch with Anna Leese, at a venue to be confirmed; two Dunedin-Wellington return airfares plus two tickets to a 2014 NZ Opera Wellington production.


 

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