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SPOTLIGHT
ON THE ARTS - May 2001 by Deanna Mascle Pianist Retires on
a High Note It is only fitting that the 2000 Kentucky Governor’s Artist Award for lifetime achievement would go to a man who owes his artistic career to a horse race. Born and based in Louisville, Lee Luvisi has enjoyed an enviable career as a concert pianist for over four decades and today is one of the most highly respected artists on the American musical stage. He has played in all 50 states as well as Canada, Mexico, Australia, and Europe including appearances in London, Vienna, and Berlin. He was also recently nominated for a Grammy as a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center which was nominated for their recording of Debussy – The Complete Chamber Music. However, the Louisville native’s career did not begin with a musical inspiration – it began at Churchill Downs. After winning a bet on a longshot, Luvisi’s father spent his winnings on a Baldwin concert grand and the rest is piano history. “I can’t say I chose the piano, nor did the piano choose me; some dumb horse made the decision for both of us,” Luvisi says. That piano sits in Luvisi’s living room today as a testament to the career it inspired – a career that includes becoming the youngest member in the history of the Curtis Institute, a nationally-sought after soloist, 15 years as Artist Member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, collaborations with the Cleveland, Emerson, Guarneri, and Julliard quartets, and appearances with nearly every important North American orchestra. He started playing piano at the age of 8, and his love of music developed early thanks in great part to his father’s extensive collection. His father was an amateur singer. In fact, his father’s admiration of the great Irish tenor John McCormack has colored Luvisi’s own music. “Everything I feel I know about color and sound and phrasing I owe not to any pianist but to McCormack. He mostly sang Irish ballads, investing them with so much beauty and sensitivity that they became masterpieces.” That childhood love for Irish ballads continues in the pianist to this day and in fact is linked to one of his greatest unrealized ambitions. “I’ve had one unfulfilled dream as a musician for many years: to abandon the role of soloist and chamber music player just once and be the accompanist to an Irish tenor singing those beautiful ballads.” Despite his many successes and long career, Luvisi continues to challenge himself. For example, during the Mozart Bicentennial Luvisi gave a series of eight concerts of his complete keyboard works. “It was a certain mountaintop to climb,” he says. “Every once in a while I challenge myself to do something out of the ordinary. A musician without dreams is a musician without anywhere to go.” Luvisi is still learning about music and the piano. “It is an ongoing process,” he says. “I am always working hard to grow and be better for the next performance.” He challenged himself once again this season with 12 recitals at the University of Louisville to cover Beethoven’s complete solo works. Although that series was one of his final acts before retiring from U of L, Luvisi does not plan to retire from music any time soon. He will continue to perform and hopes to work on another series of Schubert’s work as he did with Mozart and Beethoven. There is one simple
reason that Luvisi continues to play and plan for a
future in piano. “My work is very fun,” he
says. “I put my heart and soul into it and what
greater pleasure is there than to do something for money
that gives you so much pleasure?” Deanna Mascle is a
staff writer for The Lane Report. |
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