Pianist and conductor Marino Formenti has been working for years on the rigorous study of his metier. Celebrated in reviews as the “Glenn Gould of contemporary music”, who fills concert halls in New York, Paris, Vienna and London, he also creates spaces of encounter that suspend the hierarchy of the classical concert. Nobody will forget the “nowhere” project which premiered at steirischer herbst in 2010 and during which Formenti played works by Eric Satie, Morton Feldman and Klaus Lang over eight days and nights in the GrazMuseum – in a public, yet also intimate, private space. Here too, he left behind the usual concert conventions of programme, time and venue. The public were invited to come, to go, to stay for just a few minutes or linger for hours. Nevertheless – Formenti seemed only to be playing for himself, he was exposed and yet at the same time completely immersed in himself.
“One to One” could be seen as the counterpart to this project, as it were. Here Marino Formenti seeks – in private spaces provided by generous hosts who are open to experiments – direct contact and dialog with his vis-à-vis, developing out of it an entirely individual concert. The horizon of this highly intimate event stretches from echoes of one’s own musical experience, wherever that might be situated, to new departures, possibly playing music together, but certainly the allure of the as yet unheard. Here too, Marino Formenti has consciously chosen places that do not lie along the usual routes of concert tours. This project takes him to Bad Radkersburg, Wildon, Stainz, Bad Gleichenberg and repeatedly, to Graz.
This kind of moment is hard to gain and so will be afforded only to a few tenacious participants who will experience this duet between pianist and listener. This being the case, there will be a party for everyone at the end – Marino Formenti invites you to a morning recital of “One for the Road”, a search for wild feelings, a joint celebration and concert in a wide range of constellations – and as ever, open-ended.