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Simon Tedeschi's High 5
Simon Tedeschi's High 5 " one of the best musicians of his generation worldwide" - Leslie Howard Simon Tedeschi is quite often described by respected…
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High 5
” one of the best musicians of his generation worldwide” - Leslie Howard
Simon Tedeschi is quite often described by respected critics and musical peers as “one of the finest artists in the world” making the young pianist’s mark on music both undeniable and admirable.
With a successful career already secured at age 26, Tedeschi first performed a Mozart Piano Concerto at age 9 in the Sydney Opera House. He has studied piano in Australia with Neta Maughan for 10 years (1990-2000) as well as in London Noretta Conci.
Tedeschi has a string of international prizes and scholarships under his belt. This includes winning the Open Age Concerto Series and ‘Most Outstanding in all Youth Sections’ in Italy in 1994 and taking out the top prize in the keyboard section of the Royal Overseas League Music Competition in London (2002), which is open to Commonwealth musicians under the age of 28.
While working with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Tedeschi went on to be named the Symphony Australia Young Performer of the Year and was a recipient of a $10,000 Queen’s Trust Overseas Study Award.
More recently, Tedeschi was awarded a Centenary of Federation Medal by the Prime Minister of Australia and was the recipient of an award from the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia and the Australian Opera Auditions Committee. Currently based in the USA – courtesy of the American Australian Association, the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust and Professor Jack C Richards – last year Tedeschi was awarded the Young Jewish Pianist Award and was featured in ‘New York’s Emerging Artist’ series held in New York’s Museum of Jewish Heritage.
In 2000, Tedeschi signed a recording deal with Sony Music Australia under its Sony Classics label and his debut CD led to nominations for a MO Award for Classical Performer of the Year and an ARIA award for Classical Record of the Year.
The versatility and scope of Tedeschi’s appeal is exemplified by having shared the stage with numerous acclaimed musicians, including jazz pianist Kevin Hunt, jazz violinist Ian Cooper and flautist Jane Rutter, and his ability to perform a wide-range of genres. Tedeschi is a one of the rare classical pianists with the ability to cross over into jazz improvisation.
Tedeschi has also recorded with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra including a performance in front of a crowd of 100,000 in 2001.
Highlights of his career include meeting and playing for Pavarotti, aged 13 years and working with Musica Viva Australia – including an extensive tour with guitarist Slava Grigoryan in 2001. That year saw Tedeschi play recitals and concertos in New York, Philadelphia, London, Edinburgh, and Wales as well as a five-concert tour of Mexico as part of the Cervantino Festival.
In 2003 Tedeschi performed Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue at the New South Wales Premier’s Australia Day Concert at Darling Harbour, Sydney. He also recorded Leroy Anderson’s Piano Concerto with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Tedeschi recorded Tchiakovsky’s 1st Piano Concerto and Grieg’s Piano Concerto with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Richard Bonynge, which was released in September 2005.
In 2005, Tedeschi performed recitals all over Australia and internationally acclaimed performances with award winning Jazz pianist Kevin Hunt and touring with renowned Brazilian Flautist Tadeu Coelho and Cellist Trish O’Brien. The same year he performed at a recital for the Australian Pavilion at the World EXPO in Nagoya, Japan and performed at the invitation of the Governor of NSW for their Royal Highnesses the Crown Prince and Princess of Denmark. Tedeschi was later invited back to Nagoya, Japan, to perform in EXPO Hall for International Marine Day.
Charitable performances and commitment to worthwhile causes have been most prominent in Tedeschi’s career. Among these special performances includes playing for the Dalai Lama at a fundraising concert in London (2000), for the Karuna Foundation in support of Cambodian Orphans and at the Sydney Opera House gala concert for the Wayside Chapel. Tedeschi is the Roving Ambassador for The Australian Children’s Music Foundation and the patron of the Bowraville Cultural Festival.
His profile has permeated to other art forms. Most notably as the subject in Cherry Hood’s striking portrait of Tedeschi that won the 2002 Archibald Prize, one of Australia’s oldest and most prestigious art awards, for her work entitled Simon Tedeschi Unplugged. He is also attached to the Oscar-winning movie ‘Shine’, playing the hands of acclaimed pianist David Helfgott.
In 2007, the piano virtuoso returned from the USA to Australia for a two piano recital with Roger Woodward, a tour of Queensland with flautist Jane Rutter, a tour of Australia with Jazz violinist Ian Cooper, and a stellar performance of Rhapsody in Blue with the Queensland Orchestra under the baton of Benjamin Northey.
Tedeschi also recorded the Mozart Piano Concerto K488 with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra under Alexander Briger. He performed in the Sydney Opera House in September 2007 as part of the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation) Cultural Event, in front of hundreds of world leaders and presidents including George W Bush, Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe.
In 2008, Tedeschi is embarking on a number of inspiring performances including performing in Utah, Massachusetts, Colorado, Illinois, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. He is returning to Sydney to perform at the City Recital Hall Angel Place in September 2008, and will be reuniting with Kevin Hunt at Sydney’s premier jazz venue ‘The Basement’. Other Australian performances scheduled for 2008 include Street Theatre in Canberra, the Brisbane Festival and at the Sydney Opera House for Kinderjazz! In a new recording venture, Tedeschi and Ian Cooper will also release a new CD recorded live in Newcastle.
1. RALPH SUTTON – Sydney Bowlers Club 1992
This was the first jazz gig I ever saw. This rather frail looking elderly man walked up on stage, appeared fairly nervous and then started playing. It took him a while to get into the groove, but when he did -unbelievable sense of timing and refinement. A palpable feeling of love spread throughout the room. The audience, who were mostly jazzers, was right behind him and not afraid to call out encouragingly and sometimes boisterously! It was worth ingesting all of that cigarette smoke to hear history ooze from this man’s fingertips.
2. JUDY CARMICHAEL – NYC 2008.
I had known Judy as a friend, but had never been to one of her gigs. It quickly became clear that we were all dealing with the full package: a consummate entertainer and person, a respect for history and style, but also a feel all her own. Not hard to see why Count Basie mentored her. This gig was at a venue called ‘Barge music,’ a ship berthed on the Hudson River with panoramic views of Manhattan. The band that worked with her - a guitarist and horn player - had just the perfect knack of providing a harmonic basis and backing to a stride player.
3. TOM BAKER – Independent Theatre 2000 (or thereabouts).
Talk about being blown away by sound and melody. As a classical pianist, I knew a legato line when I heard one and this was sweeter and more sustained than anything I had ever heard. The audience felt that too, moving in tandem with Tom’s instinctive for musical sentences and structure. Many classical pianists say that they try to imitate the sound of an opera singer to achieve a legato line I try to imitate Tom Baker.
4. JAMES MERENDA - Boston 2007.
One of the most unusual and extroverted jazz gigs I’ve ever been to. This sax player, a very strong and controversial personality, created a group called the ‘Mingus 5.’ To call it ‘jazz’ however would be akin to calling Salvador Dali a painter. An aggressive, angry physicality and immediate intellectual presence overcame the room. One can see why he agitated some of America’s jazz establishment with his outspoken views and ego-driven music. I personally loved every second of it.
5. KEVIN HUNT & MARIE WILSON – Woodfire Cabaret 2005.
OK, I know I love and work with Kevsy, but this is precisely the reason why. Kevin’s accompanying of Marie epitomized grace and sensitivity, but not self deprecation. These two artists together form a magical bond, driven by a mutual admiration and respect. Marie’s voice is like chocolate, or as Mozart said it: like oil (in relation to the illusion of one note merging into another into perpetuity, without breathing). This duo - playing Hoagie songs - is an indelible musical memory for me.
