Seaon 5: Bonus Episode feat. José Navarro-Silberstein, A Winner of Kantuta Opus 2

This episode is brought to you by Foundation for Bolivian Artists, whose support helps make this show possible. Are you looking for an experience of cultural exchange and community? Foundation for Bolivian Artists presents Cantuta Concerts Op. 2 with José Navarro Silberstein in his New York recital debut. At Foundation for Bolivian Artists, we showcase the exceptional talent of Bolivian classical musicians, providing them with valuable exposure to advance their musical careers.

So come join us on February 28th at Merkin Hall and share in the discovery of Bolivia's unique culture and music.

Hello, piano pot friends and listeners.

Happy New Year 2025. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season wherever you are in the world. It's so good to be back after a brief hiatus and to kick off the year. I am so thrilled to bring you this special bonus episode of the piano pot today. In this episode, we celebrate an extraordinary artist with Bolivian heritage who is making waves in the classical music world. For this feature, I am excited to spotlight our sponsor of the month, the Foundation for Bolivian Artists.

This incredible organization is dedicated to supporting and showcasing musicians of Bolivian heritage while preserving the rich cultural traditions of Bolivia through the arts. Today, we are honored to highlight the season's foundation winner, José Navarro Silberstein.

But before we meet José and learn about his journey, I'd like to welcome back a familiar face to the piano pot audience, the founder of the Foundation for Bolivian Artists, celebrated pianist, educator, and my dear friend and colleague, Walter Aparicio. You may remember Walter from season four, episode 10, where he shared his mission to elevate Bolivian artists, Bolivian music, and culture on the global stage.

If you missed that episode, I highly recommend checking it out on our YouTube channel or on your favorite podcast platform, and you can find links in the description. Welcome back to the piano pot, Walter. Thank you, Yukimi. I'm so happy to be back on the piano pot and to update everyone a little bit on everything that we're doing on the updates on the foundation.

Great. Congratulations, first of all, on the successful concert in Opus One season, which was the last season, and a fantastic winner's concert almost a year ago. I can't believe it's been a year. That's right. And I really had a privilege of attending Sergio Escalator-Soraya's concert last year and was truly inspiring beyond his, you know, outstanding performance. I was deeply moved by the overwhelming support he received.

The audience was filled with familiar faces from our New York City piano community and members of the Bolivian community who came out in full force with banners and flags and cheering with pride after every piece. I really, that made me super emotional. So plus interviewing Sergio as a bonus segment for your episode last season was a highlight. So what was it like to complete the first season of the foundation for Bolivian artists?

Yeah, well, you know, you said so much of it and thank you so much for coming and supporting our, you know, our first event of the organization. Sergio's concert was fabulous and full of energy and what you spoke about about the Bolivian community coming was in a way an added bonus for us because we weren't really sure how many people from the community would come out.

And we were very lucky and I'm very grateful to everyone who came out to support this particular recital because it may not be kind of an event that the community normally goes to, and I'm very in favor of all the cultural events that they already are curating and promoting with folkloric dances and all these kinds of things.

But so what I found really beautiful was that we were able to create a new space for Bolivians to gather, to show our support to a very talented Bolivian pianist and of course to hear some amazing music not just by Bolivian composers but also of composers from Latin America and I mean he had an amazing program.

Even so much so that there was the lights came on, and the people kept clapping and so the lights went back off and he played an encore so that was that was really kind of unusual you know. So that shows the kind of enthusiasm we had at that concert. Yeah, yeah, it was so so wonderful and the really the energy that I felt in the venue was something special something memorable. So congratulations again.

Now, I am thrilled to have you here to announce and introduce the winner of the foundations come to the Opus to competition. That's right. So, today we're very thrilled to announce the winner of Cantuta Concerts Opus to our second concert, and it is Jose Navarro Silberstein. And he's an incredible young pianist who has really been playing all over Europe. He is currently based in Brussels but has, of course, he grew up in La Paz, Bolivia, and his talent is very electric.

And so he was definitely a favorite among the participants and applicants this year. The jury members were really in a tough position because there were very many applicants that were in our view that would that would really make a good fit for this concert but he stood out among them and we're very excited to have him in Merkin Hall next February.

Wonderful. And so when is the concert. So the concert is February 28, Friday, February 28 at Merkin Hall in New York City. Great. Now what qualities stood out from other pianists.

Right. So, the heart of our application has to do with the proposed recital program. It really shows who the pianist is as an artist, what kind of repertoire is important to them, and what they are wanting to show the New York audience from Bolivian music, but also from music that is important to them and shows who they are, and what they think about artistically and pianistically.

And so his program particularly was really connecting Latin American music with European music. And so, there are also rarely heard works and really exciting pieces that I know that the audience will be really enjoying. Right, and then I think I saw a post by you that he just was selected as one of the finalists for the Bosoni International Piano Competition. That's right. So he's been doing, you know, kind of on the competition circuit.

He's, I believe, 29 years old and so he's still of age to do that and those are really really important opportunities. And so, through a recorded video and audience vote he was selected to be among, I believe, 34 finalists of a ton, a ton of pianists for this very kind of prestigious and difficult piano competition.

And I don't know when exactly that is some time in 2025 so you'll hear him before he does the finals. Oh wow, impressive.

We are so thrilled to welcome Jose Navarro Silverstein, an extraordinary concert pianist and the recipient of the Cantuta Opus 2 scholarship, awarded by the Foundation for Bolivian Artists. Jose, congratulations on your New York recital debut and thank you so much for being here. Thanks to you, Joachim, it's a big honor for me to be with you and to share some insights about my life as a pianist, as a musician, and my upcoming projects.

Thank you. So, first of all, congratulations and you'll be performing at Merking Hall, one of New York City's most iconic and esteemed concert venues on February 28 2025. Exactly. Yeah, 730pm. It's a prestigious achievement and we are, as New Yorkers, as one of the New Yorkers, delighted to have you here in the city and so right now where are you joining from? At the moment I'm in my native city, La Paz, Bolivia. Yeah, I'm very excited to be here after it's been like one year and a half almost.

Folks who are listening or watching this episode, currently it is December 16 2024 and Jose just hit another massive milestone in his career.

Jose, you were named as one of the grand finalists of the 65th Busoni International Piano Competition, right? Indeed. Please, please tell us more about this briefly. Yeah, well of course I'm incredibly excited and flattered and I'm so much looking forward to be in Bolsan for the second time because I've been also a finalist in 2021.

But now it was very special because I was in Japan, I came to the Hamamatsu Competition and then I had a couple of weeks and I could have my first international round in Tokyo for the Busoni. Yeah, I got all the inspiration of my Japanese trip and really incredibly happy to play and yeah, it's been really amazing how yeah and there was like a public vote also and lots of people from all over the world supported me in a really incredible way.

And I'm so flattered that now this can be possible and I can be a finalist in Bolsan and prepare myself in every sense to be the best in the final rounds in August 2025. Oh, this will be August 2025? Yes, yes, exactly. Final round. Yeah, the final round. Yeah, so I have plenty of time. I mean that's a very good thing of the Busoni that really allows you the time to prepare and think carefully about not only the repertoire but many aspects. Jose, that's amazing. But tell us, what's the strategy?

Yeah, well, I mean, last time it was during COVID and it was basically, I mean, there were not many concerts so I said okay this is going to be like my only goal and I really like focus so hard on that. And it was great of course but I think it was a bit too much. So I think now I want to, I mean now it's great that I really have like an idea now I went I know how it is and I have, I think I know already all of the pieces that I want to be playing there.

I want to be there, I want to be as relaxed as possible and don't try to think that this is a competition but rather an opportunity to play and present myself and do it with my whole heart and do what I think also repertoire wise.

I mean I want to put like South American music there that is of course a very important part of myself and repertoire is very close to my heart and some people might say, well, it's not the best for competitions but that's what's that's what I think I should do so I will do that. Wow. Well, all the best of luck to you and then I'll be make sure to following you and cheering you on.

Now, officially I'd like for you to introduce yourself to the piano pods audience Jose, where you are currently based as an artist, and if you were to describe the essence of your artistry mission, passion, in just a few sentences, how would you define who you are as an artist today.

That's of course a difficult question because I think we sometimes we don't have the time even to ask ourselves who we are, as we are in the middle of our activities and we just want to fulfill our goals and missions and

yeah we don't think about about this. We don't think often about this question but I think it's very important and I'm glad that you're asking this to myself and I think I am a mixture of cultures, because I am, I am in essence Bolivian, and I live here till till my 90th year and Bolivia is one of the most important things in my life and in my music. But I also lived in many countries, and I made many cultures. I learned some languages.

And I think that constitutes a very important part of my identity and of my search for artistic vision. And I want to, I want to be fulfilling this in this world. And yes, and nowadays, I'm based in Belgium, in Waterloo, I'm an artist in residence of the Queen Elizabeth Music Chapel. And I am very happy to be in the transition between like the, of being a student. It has been a very long path through Germany, England, Austria, I have like many impressions.

And this is like the last point where I'm like really in a transition of the like student life to a professional career and that's a very good thing of the chapel where I am, because they provide us with a great opportunity. Basically a room with grand piano where I can have the time to explore my instrument like 24 hours per day. So that's, I couldn't ask for more.

And also to, to launch an international career because they offer us concert opportunities with very big and important samples and orchestras. So it's a lot of support in this important moment and I hope that this will really make the transition and I'm looking forward to more.

So what inspired you to enter this specific competition? Were there any aspects of it that particularly appealed to this competition by Foundation for Bolivian Artists? Well, there were many things, but I think it was something incredibly special to have a foundation to support Bolivian pianists that we are really not necessarily many or it's not the main activity in Bolivia, like the piano playing. So it resonated with me a lot, of course, and it's like it woke up my attention like immediately.

And it's really such a great thing to have the opportunity to have the blue concert in American Hall and one of the most important halls in the US possibly and therefore in an entire planet. So it's a very prestigious thing for me, a very big opportunity.

And of course, my biggest passion is to play and through my playing discover new cultures and new opportunities, new publics. I thought that this is like the excellent, really excellent opportunity to open myself to new worlds like in the United States.

So then could you share more about your Bolivian background? I know you mentioned that you've lived there until you're maybe for 18 years or so, right? Yeah. But specifically, like your background and also how it really influences your artistry today and then how does your cultural identity shape your approach to music? Yeah, well, Bolivia is, as I told you, is one of the most important things in my daily life. I try to remember every day that I'm a Bolivian.

And, yeah, of course, I should say that I got since very early, maybe even unconsciously, a lot of inspiration from our diversity, our cultural diversity, because we have like, we're surrounded by about 36 different ethnic groups in Bolivia, and the three different, I mean, completely different landscapes in between the mountains, valleys and tropical forests. So it's really, I mean, there is absolutely everything.

And, yeah, since very early, since I have memory, I mean, I saw and I heard dances even like on the streets from outside, from being inside home and hearing like from very far, like some brass, I mean, heavy brass music and that is called like the morenada. And they were like dancing and then I saw, I went to the street and I saw how they were dancing with these costumes and that made, of course, a very big impression since very early.

And that's the music that I was hearing. And there's such a big diversity of dances and tunes and they are just so full of life. And I think that's the first contact I really had with music. And it's great because it's really, it's so much what we are, what we are as a country and as people. And then it meld with somehow the classical music. I mean, I had the first opportunity to have touch and contact with the music of Mozart or Chopin at my 12th or 13th year.

Before I played piano, but just like for fun or I mean, I improvised a lot. I had like lots of compositions. Yeah, but it was quite late that I discovered like in a way the classical music. And when I heard it came like almost by accident, a CD of Mozart's last symphony to my house. And when I heard that, I knew immediately that that's the music that I wanted to do. That was my fate. It was really the thing that I wanted to do and explore for the rest of my life.

And yeah, and here you have me like doing that. Wow, really, that's great. Well, then you're really meant to do this, right? You're meant to be. But yeah, I think it's interesting because you have this rhythmic complexity of the Bolivian somehow hair attached. I mean, it's really still imprinted on me.

And that's why since a couple of years, I really decided to focus on South American composers and launched my first CD, including also, I mean, like music by by Gimestera Villalobos, Marvin Sandi, that is a Bolivian composer. Okay, so this, so this you said that's a first album, right? Exactly. And I also included the I mean, many people would wonder why I also included the Davids von Latentz of Schumann.

That is exactly because of my years in Germany, also exploring the German culture and realizing that they are also dances and that they might have been also heavily influenced by the German Carnival. It's very typical, I mean, from the area where I was in Cologne and I felt a very strong connection between the between all those pieces and they were like all miniatures in a way. So I am very happy with that combination that I made and it also reflects what I am as a musician.

Wow. So you're quite a world traveler. So when you lived in Bolivia and then you went to after that, you went to Europe for college or? Yeah, I went immediately like straight away to Germany. And I've been in many cities like in, especially in Weimar, the city of Franz Liszt, Cologne, where I made my masters and where I'm now developing a project that I will mention afterwards. And I also been in Austria, I had also the chance to work with Paul Badura-Skoda, who was a very, very big influence.

One of the other fields I really adore are like period pianos. Really, really crazy. I mean, Badura-Skoda somehow inserted some seeds in that regard. And now I'm really like so happy to explore that and to play like the music from CP Bach to Beethoven in a very like improvisatory way. And yeah. And then, well, as I was like a bit stuck in the pandemic in Germany, I wanted to try something different.

That's why for my artist diploma to England, I made an artist diploma in the Royal College of Music. It was a great, great, great experience. And yeah, in a way, I'm still connected with London. So my life rotates between Belgium, Cologne and London. Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, well, after my artist diploma, I needed like, yeah, I was, I mean, really to see what's going to happen career wise and which was the best opportunity.

And I think the Chappelle really, I think it's a kind of island that I have now to develop really my career in the best way. Wow, beautiful.

So now I want to know what you'll be playing at the concert on February 28th. I'll be there, by the way, so I can't wait. And I'm so looking forward to it. So can you tell us the each piece that you'll be performing and then the name of the composer? Yeah, well, I decided to make a kind of combination between European and South American composers that in a way influence a bit each other.

So, of course, the focus is on the South Americans. So I play pieces by Bolivian composers as Eduardo Cabad is one of the pioneers. He's like one of the first actual Bolivian composers to insert like our Indian roots and traditions. I mean, indigenous. I mean, yeah. But he calls actually these pieces like Iris Indios. So it's in a way we can really feel, I think, this very strong tradition, Bolivian tradition, melting piano music that I think it's one of my essences, of course.

And by the other Bolivian composer, a couple of decades later, Marvin Sandy was very, very much inspired by Eduardo Cabad. He made even one of the pieces I'm playing is called In Memoriam to Cabad that recreates some of these Irish Indios in a very modern way in a language of the like 20th century with a lot of like polytonality. And it's really great. And then also Sandy, like some Ritmos Fantasticos that are like incredibly like visionary and modern.

There's even like a twelve-tone piece that is like, I mean, meld with some like Bolivian dance, of course, is something incredibly bizarre and unique that I really love. Yeah. And then, of course, two of the most important South American composers, Ginastera and Villa-Lobos. So I play the Sude Danzas Criollas that are Ginastera that are Argentinian dances also in a very modern 20th century approach.

They are actually not only Argentinian. I mean, the Criollian sense could be also meant by the South of Bolivia. So that's, of course, something that's very, very much connected to my identity. Yeah. And the Villa-Lobos is one of my favorite pieces, the Ciclo Brasileiro, that are like four different pieces that represent different parts of Brazil. And they are also very much inspired into his European contemporaries.

And there you can hear a lot of Stravinsky, Debussy, Prokofiev. I mean, it's really, it's very, I mean, the evidence is very clear, but it's made in a very, very great language. And that's why I chose to play also the European parts. And there is the selection of the Saudades do Brasil from Darius Mio, a French composer that was a very good friend of Villa-Lobos. And he was very much inspired on Brazilian culture. Many, many pieces we know as Escaramuche, for instance, and they're inspired.

Yeah. And these are like, it's a solo piano cycle that inspires in different neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro. So I think it melds very well with the Ciclo Brasileiro. And another piece that is very important for me is the Indian Diary of Busoni that is inspired in North American tunes and traditions that were presented by a student of him that was in America and Busoni was incredibly inspired by this music and wrote this amazing cycle that is the Indian Diary that I really love to play.

Yeah. So it's a bit of a combination of all of these things. What a great selection that you have. This is this selection is really specifically curated for this competition, this concert. Yes, it's the first time that I would play like this, this repertoire. I mean I played all of the pieces in very different like settings. But now I thought it's the opportunity to make something like absolutely authentic and that is like inside our like, how could I say like indigenous tradition.

I mean because I think all of these pieces have that and they're also very different, very, very varied in a very different tonal language. So I am really happy to embark on this adventure.

Wow, very interesting selection and I love it. How do you envision this opportunity shaping your future. What do you hope to take away from this entire experience, you know, being in New York for several days and performing and also meeting with, you know, audience members afterwards, and so on. Yeah.

Well, of course, as a young pianist, I have the best hopes and of course the hopes that everybody has. I mean, that's, yeah, maybe in the audience there will be some promoters and maybe, maybe some agents, maybe, maybe press and maybe I will get some interesting reviews. That's always of course highly appreciated and that's, I mean, to build up our career and to bring it also to the next level and I think in a city to New York, this is very much likely to happen.

But of course I'm aware that this is also, I mean, these are things that each of us like really hope and that they are not easy things to achieve and we cannot control that. So I would also like to value maybe some of the most important things that is like to share with the audience, especially with the Bolivian community in New York.

And I'm very, very much looking forward to meet all of them and to have a lovely time within the days of the concert, I mean before and after it, and to share that very, very special moment through the music.

Wonderful. Do you have any other exciting plans while visiting? Well, of course with Walter I'm trying to get some other opportunities, maybe some little performances and some, yeah, I mean, also like networking a bit with the Manhattan School of Music and Juilliard and do some projects also in the regard of South American compositions and maybe going also to some other areas nearby also to meet people and maybe have some little house concerts and connect a bit.

But also, of course, explore and travel and also be influenced by the amazing culture there. I mean, it's such a special zone, I think the East Coast and with cities around like Boston or DC also and maybe have a day trip. And in New York, of course, too, I mean, I think maybe a lifetime wouldn't be enough to see all what is there. But of course I want to, I'm also very interested in contemporary arts and there is so much going on there. So I'm very excited.

Yeah. All right. So looking ahead, what are the next steps in your musical journey? Are there any specific projects, collaborations, aspirations you're pursuing as you build on this achievement? Well, at the moment I'm focused on keep doing competitions like the Busoni and I'm trying, of course, I'm hoping to have some other opportunities also in 2025.

It's like I think it's the year where I can do most out of it. So I'm really working on filling my agenda from like, especially from 2026 onwards. I mean, to have like also to have this year really to focus well on the competitions. It's like in a way my last call. Yeah. But I have a very, very, very important project as I mentioned briefly before, and this is called Mazurka Concerts.

It's something I initiated in Cologne, a city where I live and I think is the place where I felt most at home after La Paz. And the concept of this concert series is to bring classical music to younger audiences, like the people of my about my generation or below so that we really can cultivate this and to be really to make it in a very fresh and very, very spontaneous and very accessible way.

That is not always easy. And it's something that I've been developing from the last two years, and we have been incredibly lucky to have a kind of sponsorship from Bechstein and they have been really amazing. They gave us like a brand new grand piano where we can really do our concerts and we had I think four or five concerts this year already and I want to bring it to really to a higher level in 2025.

Yeah, and also explore of course, some other types of music like electronic music that is really, yeah, especially I'm really really interested in that. Wow. Yeah, yeah, I didn't do much but I have really this very big wish to explore more. Really? Oh, how wild is that? Yeah, yeah. It's, it's just incredible because as I told you I improvised so much in my childhood, early teenage years, and I had also like some bands.

And I had like a very specific language and I never knew what it was till I kind of discovered like ambient, I mean, it's like Four Tet for instance or John Hopkins among many more, where I feel that that's maybe also part of my music vision and my identity and what I really like. Yeah, and I have to, I have to say what I mean it has been really inspiring me very much is also like some Japanese ambient, like in May Day and particularly Susumu Yokota.

He's, it might be a bit like forgotten now unfortunately he passed away I think like 10 years ago. But he, he is just incredible for me and I've been listening to a lot while being in Japan because he kind of I mean it's very often that he loops like just little fragments of classical musical pieces sometimes even just one chord, but you recognize it in the way it's made and then he puts

I mean like, I mean, he makes like the most accomplished and highly sophisticated music out of it. And that inspires me very much and I mean in the century in which we are we are also open to explore that a bit. Sure, and you know honestly, yeah. In these, these DNAs, you can really have multiple sort of identities as a musician right? Yeah, it's not just one thing. Yeah.

Exactly. And I think it doesn't, it doesn't have to be something that you will necessarily like show up I mean if you do that for yourself. It helps you to develop like many other fields of I mean, in my case my playing I mean for instance when I started hearing that I think many things opened into my approach, even with Chopin or Schumann or, I don't know, or Bach.

Maybe especially Bach. I also like a lot like Wendy Carlos that synthesize like lots of his works and or Dillard Arbisher is less known but yeah. It shows that our music can work in any really in any setting. Thank you for sharing all this. So, so for our wonderful listeners, if you are in the New York City metro area on February 28 2025, or even if you're not but would love to visit the city.

Don't miss Jose Navarro Silverstein's exciting solo piano recital at Marking Hall Lincoln Center tickets are selling fast. So head over to the foundation for Bolivian artists website at Bolivian artists foundation.org slash Opus two. The link is also listed in the description of this special episode from there you'll be directed to the California Center website to purchase your tickets. And here's something special just for listeners, use the exclusive promo code.

Opus to at checkout to receive $20 off of the $45 ticket price. So that's a that's a nice huge deal right yes. Also to learn more about Jose and his incredible artistry please please visit his website at Navarro Silverstein.com. And if you would like to learn more about the foundation and support its mission, please visit Bolivian artists foundation.org. Once again, all the links are in the show notes.

Jose best of luck with the 65th Boson international piano competition and also your, of course upcoming solo piano recital at Marking Hall I'll be there on the 28th and I can't really wait to hear you perform and meet you afterward. Thank you so much for your time and for this some interesting questions that really helped me and I think as I said are important things to think about. Thank you. Thank you for opening up and then answering all these questions.

Thank you. And don't miss our first full episode of 2025 featuring Claire Lungenbeck concert pianist and recording artist premiering next Tuesday, January 14 at 8pm Eastern Time. Thank you for listening.