Kiama’s Anglican Church is not at all like New York’s Carnegie Hall – Carnegie Hall wishes it had that view!

But Simon Tedeschi, one of Australia’s foremost pianists who has played in major concert halls around the world, says he actually prefers this more intimate setting.

“A small venue is much more vital, immediate, intimate,” he says.

“In large halls I feel a bit like a gladiator. Playing in a large space has a joy of its own and a grandiosity, but something is lost as well.

“If you are playing more intimate chamber music, you need a smaller venue. It’s less of a circus.

“In a place like Kiama, I can take an audience on a journey which I can’t do in a concert hall.”

Simon has been described as an ‘extraordinary’ concert pianist. Acclaimed by respected critics and peers as ‘True greatness’ (Sydney Morning Herald), he performed his first Mozart piano concerto in the Sydney Opera House at the age of nine. Four years later, he played for Luciano Pavarotti.

In his Mother’s Day concert, Simon will take his audience on a tour through the music of George Gershwin, Debussy, Chopin and Rachmaninoff in a concert arranged by Classical Kiama.

While Simon can’t choose between his love for Schubert, Brahms, the great Germans of the 18th and 19th century and Russians of the 20th century, he says that Gershwin’s music has, in many ways, been a musical ‘accompaniment’ his life, having recorded three celebrated albums of Gershwin’s music and done countless acclaimed performances.

“I have such an affinity with him. It’s possibly also something culturally. Like many people, my family emigrated from Europe and I’m thrust between two worlds, in a way, like Gershwin. And the music he loved, is music I love. There’s a certain nervousness to it as well, which is my personality, so it suits my playing.”

Gershwin’s grandfather was born in Odessa in modern Ukraine. George’s mother and father emigrated to America because of increasing anti-Jewish sentiment in Russia and George was born in Brooklyn in 1898.

In 1924, George composed his first major work, Rhapsody in Blue, integrating jazz rhythms with classical music in revolutionary ways. That same year, he and older brother Ira found Broadway success with their hit Lady Be Good.

Gershwin’s American folk opera Porgy and Bess, which premiered in 1935, grew to become a symbol of American culture around the world. When the piece had its European premiere in Copenhagen during World War II, staging a work by a Jewish composer about black Americans was seen as an act of provocation aimed at the occupying Nazis.

The small church has perfect acoustics

Simon believes music teaches a person about being in the world. He says it is tremendously important for everyone and especially for children.

“So much study has been done about the power of classical music for developing minds beyond what I could say. We live in an age now where kids are free to be themselves much more than in any previous age. Music shows us that the arts are just as much something to take seriously as any sport or any ethical proposition.”

German composer and violinist Paul Hindemith has said, “People who make music together cannot be enemies at least while the music lasts.”

Simon agrees with this and says, “Certainly, playing chamber music allows you the most incredible intimacy often with people who are very different to you. Art is so inseparable from the world in which it operates.

“Playing solo is very lonely but in an intimate venue it’s like playing in your lounge room and when you get to talk to an audience and share a journey, it’s very special.”

Be quick to get the last couple of tickets available for Sunday May 8, 2pm or 5pm. Kiama Anglican Church, Terralong Street. $50 or $60.

Tickets are available at Kiama Tourist Information or online at trybooking.