by Mike Telin

“Chopin and singing are perfect companions,” French pianist François Dumont said by telephone from his home in Lyon, “because Chopin’s music is like a singing piano. In fact, Chopin would tell his students that you have to sing if you want to play the piano. During concerts he would often include a singer performing Italian opera.” On Thursday, October 1 at 8:00 pm in Harkness Chapel, François Dumont and Irish soprano Helen Kearns will present a concert titled From Dublin to Lyon. The program will include four Chopin Ballades and arias from The Merry Widow, Die Fledermaus, Rigoletto, and other romantic operas and operettas. The concert is part of the Cleveland International Piano Competition’s PianoPalooza series.

Dumont, who is a 2013 CIPC laureate, explained that Kearns will begin the program with some songs from her native country. “It will be quite interesting, because the songs all have a ballad or narrative element to them. The Chopin ballades are all very narrative as well, and we think the combination will make for an interesting program.” Dumont and Kearns will conclude the evening’s performance with some popular operetta arias. “We think of it as a program with many contrasting moods, including the ballade mood, the mood of the Irish ballads, and the bel canto mood.” [Read more…]