Peter Laul, a remarkable musician and a brilliant pianist, has recently turned to teaching, which is great news for his students. Teaching for Laul means, first and foremost, communication. It includes exchanging knowledge on a broad spectrum of topics, ranging from general culture to music culture. His classes feature not only piano music, but also examples of chamber and symphony music, which are required to gain a better understanding of piano works’ context. Peter Laul provides a following description of his only student at the Specialised Middle School of the St Petersburg Conservatoire: “Because of my busy schedule, I only ever worked with adult students. But when the then 13-year-old Natasha Lisanova came into my class, I knew right away that she had a very interesting, unusual personality with a unique vision of music and rich spiritual life. She behaved like an adult even then. Natalya would also surprise me with a rare combination of inquisitiveness, fanatic diligence, and a fresh, unspoiled take on the music she performed, as well as her degree of commitment and engagement.”
The concert’s programme includes works which can be tackled only by adult musicians: Mozart’s Allegro in B-flat major (Sophie und Konstanze), Schubert’s Three Piano Pieces (1828), Ravel’s Sonatine, Ligeti’s Étude No. 4 (Fanfares), and Prokofiev’s Étude in C minor.
Olga Skorbyachenskaya
