Arts Entrepreneurship Podcast: Making Art Work · Nick Petrella and Andy Heise

#369: Giuseppe Guarrera (Pianist) (pt. 1 of 2)

·30 min·2 clips

Guarrera says a competition prize is "a starting point, it's not an arrival point," and winners must keep working.

1. Part 1 of Arts Entrepreneurship Podcast: Making Art Work episode #369 profiles Sicilian pianist Giuseppe Guarrera and how competitions, teachers and management shaped his career. 2. Hosts Andy Heiss and Nick Petrella introduce Guarrera as a winner of prizes at the Cleveland, Rubinstein and Montreal competitions and a recent recipient of the Tabor Award at the Verbier Festival. 3. The hosts note that Guarrera took part in the Piano Cleveland Arts Entrepreneurship Residency, which includes a 20-hour learning intensive, and that part 2 will cover that experience and his venture. 4. Guarrera recalls choosing a small Disney keyboard over a video game with a 20,000 lire gift at age six, then studying in Catania before starting with teacher Sioukush Gajiev at 16. 5. He says he considered studying medical research after high school, but a national prize for top conservatory graduates brought a scholarship and about 25 concerts, and later study in Berlin and at Barenboim's academy kept him in music. 6. He describes the Soviet system of 6-8 practice hours a day as harsh in lessons but supportive in real need, and says he now teaches in a milder way because that intensity is no longer tolerated in German institutions. 7. On competitions, Guarrera calls them "one of the most democratic" ways into the music world and says he prepares the same way for recitals, although the jury adds subconscious pressure. 8. He says the Montreal second prize led a manager to offer to represent him in France, and he cautions that some first-prize winners of major competitions "don't play recitals." 9. He admits he was "not prepared at all" for the business side, learned from his horn-playing roommate that he needed a manager, and says he got his early bookings through his teacher and the prize package of about 25 concerts. 10. Pianists, music students and arts entrepreneurs weighing competitions and career management will get the most from this episode.

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