CHARCO DEL PALO SPECIAL june 2023
As I am travelling in Europe, this time no news about Charco but a special featuring Stephan Hohlweg, the famous pianist who lives part of the year in Charco del Palo. In summer he travels all over Europe. We look at his life of music, his interest in yoga and – living in Charco – his naturist life style.
IN THE PICTURE STEPHAN HOLHWEG
The German-Polish pianist Stephan Hohlweg travels with his Steinway grand piano from Lanzarote to the North Cape and gives concerts in the open air on his way through Europe. His instrument, a real Steinway, can be lifted from his mobile home by remote control. His ‘piano-mobile’ is his house, concert hall and practice room in one.
He combines a life of music and a passion for travel.
The terraces of my moonlight performances between Lanzarote and the North Cape.
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“Lanzarote, the mysterious island, seems to me like an otherworldly place. I have that sensation every time I set foot on the island – I call it the Lanzarote feeling. I already felt it as long ago as 2016, the first time I came here. Two years later I gave up my practice room in Germany, put my grand piano in a Fiat Ducato and hit the road. My grand piano mobile home was born. A long-cherished dream came true. I wanted a way of life that corresponded with the wide range of music and I found it. It is my work and my life. Five months on the island, the other months travelling, from Lanzarote to the North Cape. Scandinavia is the other home for me. Summer in Scandinavia evokes a whole symphony of memories and sensations.”
Summer concert at the Oslofjord, Trolltopf.
In the Trolltopf.
After I had been baptised in Peer Gynt-style at Verdens end, I became, during a Midsummernight performance in Norway of a lyrical piece by Edvard Grieg, a real gnome.
The North Cape – always fascinating. And my next target. The other side of the trip.
Not yet the North Cape. I perform at Verdens ende, Norway. At the end of the world.
For me, traveling is music, music is my passion, I experience it as an artistic act – I hear in music, stories and thoughts in regions, landscapes, architecture, people and mentalities. The whole world is filled with sound, not just the sun alone. I travel in music. Where and to which country? To one that no one has ever seen, but maybe knows from bold dreams. Seen in this way, I’m always traveling, wherever or perhaps just now, on this fine Island, Lanzarote.
Here I organize my Moonlight Terrace recitals, based on Debussy’s eponymous prelude “La terrasse des audiences de Claire de Lune”. These are open air moonlight concerts in magical places, played on my Steinway. I travel and give concerts all over Europe in the other months. My playlist ranges from Bach to Ligeti, I have internalized the music strongly when I perform. I feel deeply connected with it: it is a kind of food like eating, drinking, sleeping. This is what I try to communicate in my concerts and I want to share this with many people, friends and music lovers. In this sense, concerts become celebrations.
Music is my passion, maybe the only one I have. I’ve felt it when I heard Mozart at the age of two, I woke up in these tones and spheres. Therefore I can remember that moment clearly. I was enthralled, as if I was in heaven. I even built a Mozart altar in my room and with total devotion sang the “Bildnis” aria from the Magic Flute. My parents encouraged my talent. I started playing concerts when I was 11, got a few prizes at competitions. Later I happily studied in the master class of my dear and great teacher Prof. Vitaly Margulis at the Freiburg Music Academy. I was like obsessed and practiced at times for up to 10 hours a day. I didn’t like practice rooms. So I was already dreaming of what would become reality in 2018.
My grand piano mobile home now carries me to all my concerts and enables me to go anywhere and anytime to play, practice and work. Now – on Lanzarote – I’m studying new repertoire. Espiritu de la Música Española: in the veins of Isaac Albeniz, Enrique Granados and Manuel de Falla flows the musical blood of Spanish regions, scenery, love and way of life. Pure life pulsates here, pure passion. Here I found eternal memories and dreams of the beauties and charms of Iberia: music full of wonderful melodies, arabesques, delightful harmonies and rhythms and true stories. In the summer I will tour with this program, accompanied by my dog Ludwig von Sonnenschein.
Together with Ludwig Von Sonneschein in meditation and contemplation.
Daily exercises
“ALL music is a space and time journey for me …. and like an otherworldly stream to its creators and the dimensions it comes from.”
Ja ich weiß woher ich stamme!
Ungesättigt gleich der Flamme
Glühe und verzehr’ ich mich
Licht wird alles, was ich fasse
Kohle alles, was ich lasse
Flamme bin ich – sicherlich
Friedrich Nietzsche
https://stephan-hohlweg.de
Stephan Hohlweg buchen: info@stephan-hohlweg.de
Concert end of June – send an email for information.
Tickets reservieren unter tickets@stephan-hohlweg.de
Chopin Préludes 1/2: https://youtu.be/QBW8_8zZhvE
Chopin Préludes 4/5/6: https://youtu.be/AqafZ3AveBY
Beethoven/Liszt : Symphonie Nr. 6 “Pastorale” https://youtu.be/MkPNYW526-U
Wagner/Liszt Tannhäuser-Ouvertüre: https://youtu.be/YNZLY6uvtBc
Zugabe Konzert 2022 https://youtu.be/vJ0brrKXRQ4
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/steph
Another magical place: With my Steinway after my sunrise concert at Dörnberg the Helfensteinen near Kassel
Listen to the music an look at the videos:
