Reflections from the piano bench: thoughts on interpretation, practice, teaching, and the quiet musical life behind the performances.
23 July 2026 · Guide
A live pianist in Switzerland typically costs between CHF 800 and CHF 4,500, depending on the type of event, how long you need music, and where it takes place. Here is how the price is built.
23 July 2026 · Guide
A pianist, a DJ and a string quartet each suit a different moment. For ceremonies, dinners and receptions where conversation matters, a solo pianist gives elegance and flexibility without overwhelming the room.
23 July 2026 · Guide
Wedding ceremony music falls into four moments — the guests arriving, the entrance, the signing, and the recessional. Choosing one or two pieces for each is enough to shape the whole atmosphere.
23 July 2026 · Guide
Children can usually begin piano around age six, and adults can start at any age at all. In Zug I teach both, in person and online, with lessons from CHF 90.
16 June 2026 · Teaching
It is commonly stereotyped that mistakes made by pianists are due to a lack of technical preparation. But is that really the case? If a musician has no technical problems and their fingers move very quickly across the keyboard, is technique really the only reason? Of course not.
9 June 2026 · Practice
At first glance, they seem like completely different activities. Yoga is associated with meditation and keeping the body in good shape, while singing is all about art and creativity.
2 June 2026 · Performance
Although conservatories today have roughly equal numbers of male and female piano students — about 50/50 — women are still significantly underrepresented in professional concert careers: less than 23% of concert pianists are women.
26 May 2026 · Performance
Compared to previous centuries, after several waves of emancipation, we have undoubtedly achieved significant progress in women’s rights to education, careers, work, and financial independence. In today’s Western world, a woman can support herself, her children, and sometimes even her parents independently.
19 May 2026 · Interpretation
The answer lies in a deep understanding of each composer’s work, the historical period they lived in, and the style in which they wrote. All of this gives us a very clear sense of how their music should be interpreted.
12 May 2026 · Performance
I’m always surprised how easily the profession of a musician is undervalued — especially when you’re not on a fixed salary, but working as a freelance concert artist.
5 May 2026 · Performance
Recently, I attended a concert that left me with mixed feelings. It was organized by an association that brings music to places where access to cultural events is limited — prisons, nursing homes, and remote rural communities. They also focus on educational work, offering lessons in isolated regions and smaller towns. Organizations like this exist in Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Romania… It’s a wonderful initiative, in my opinion.
4 December 2025 · Behind the Music
In December 2025, the Munich National Opera staged Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera «The Night Before Christmas», based on Nikolai Gogol. A month before the performance, there were no seats available, so I had to take what was left — standing places. Next to me were not only students but also elderly women and men wearing expensive watches and suits.
2 December 2025 · Performance
Daniil Trifonov is a Russian pianist who in 2011 won the Tchaikovsky Competition and the Rubinstein Competition, and is also a laureate of the Chopin Competition. Listening online 15 years ago to the Tchaikovsky Competition, I liked this pianist.
17 November 2025 · Performance
Martha Argerich is one of the greatest female pianists of our time, and I especially enjoy listening to her in concerto performances with orchestra. Her boundless energy, temperament, touch, and absolute freedom of the fingers allow her to overcome the most complex technical passages with the ease of a ballerina, without any visible effort.
16 June 2024 · Behind the Music
There have been performances of the Donizetti trilogy about the Tudor dynasty on the stage of the city of Calvin. Anna Bolena, staged at the Geneva Opera in June 2024, is a repeat with the same cast and decorations as the autumn 2021 production, while Maria Stuarda was staged in the winter of 2022. The premiere this year is Roberto Devereux.
