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Piedmont Through Music: Experiencing Private Piano Concerts in Historic Italy
Bringing the Music Back to the Room
I have played in many conventional concert halls over the years. They can be wonderful places to perform, but there is something completely different about sitting at a piano in a historic room.
This is one of the reasons we have included private concerts in Piedmont. The music is being heard in the kind of setting in which chamber music and private performances were originally experienced. I am particularly interested in this because I have spent years studying the history of composers and musicians and how they travelled and performed.
For me, playing in these rooms feels like bringing the music back to where it came from. The two concerts on this journey will take place at Palazzo Taffini and Villa Tesoriera. I have played in both before. They are among the most beautiful halls I have ever performed in, and the first time I saw them, my mouth literally dropped.
When the Room Changes the Music
The room is not simply a beautiful background. It changes how I play. Acoustics can completely alter a performance. In a room with a thick acoustic, playing too quickly can turn a passage into a blur of notes. In a dry room, playing too slowly can leave an uncomfortable space between the sounds. You have to listen and find the tempo that the piano and the room are asking for together.
I experienced this very clearly when performing in a cathedral in Friesland. The reverberation lasted for several seconds, and passages that sounded perfectly clear from the piano became blurred when we listened from the back of the church. We changed the tempi, articulation and amount of space between phrases. The building became part of the interpretation. That is also what I look for in Piedmont. I do not want to arrive with one fixed interpretation and simply reproduce it. The piano, the acoustics and the room all become part of the performance.
A Concert Built Around the Guests
The programme is also personal. Before the journey, I ask the guests for their favourite classical pieces. I then build the concert around their choices. Everyone has a piece that takes them somewhere. It might remind them of a person, a particular period of their life or simply the first time they heard it. If someone has come for a special evening, I want to give them something that has a personal connection.
The repertoire can also reflect where we are. Italian music works particularly well in this setting, including Liszt's Italian-inspired concert paraphrases and music connected with the bel canto tradition. I have a particular interest in the forgotten composer Henri Herz and would like to see his music heard much more often. The smaller audience matters too. I have performed for hundreds of people, but I remember the intimate settings much more clearly. There is more interaction, and the evening does not end when the last note is played.
More Than the Music
A private concert should not feel like walking into a concert hall, sitting down and waiting for the lights to go out. There is the room itself. There is the welcome, the wine, the conversation and the introduction to the music. Then there is the performance, followed by the opportunity to talk about what we have heard. That atmosphere changes the relationship between the audience and the music.
And sometimes everything aligns. The room is extraordinary, the piano responds beautifully, the music works with the acoustics, the audience is completely engaged, and there is a sense that something has happened which is difficult to explain afterwards. That is what I mean by awe. It cannot be planned precisely. It comes when the music, the setting and the people in the room suddenly become more than anyone expected.
Discover the Piedmont behind the music
- Piedmont, Italy: A DeSalvio Private Journey Through Music, Art, Wine and Savoy History
- Why I Want to Bring You to Piedmont
- Pinerolo: The city that me fall in love with Piedmont
Explore the places where music and history meet
- Turin and the House of Savoy: Experiencing the Royal Side of Piedmont
- The Art of Piedmont: Museums, Palaces and Hidden Collections
- Crossing the Alps: The Roads, Travellers and Musicians of Piedmont
Experience the wider Piedmont journey
- A Different Way to Experience Piedmont: Music, Food, Culture and Time to Enjoy It
- Why Travel Through Piedmont Slowly? Art, Music and the Pleasure of Staying Longer
Join the journey
Experience Music Where It Belongs
Join us in Piedmont for private piano concerts at Palazzo Taffini and Villa Tesoriera, performed in historic rooms rather than conventional concert halls. Robert will build the programmes around the guests’ favourite works, introduce the music and adapt his playing to each space. With wine, conversation and time to experience the rooms themselves, these evenings are designed to be remembered as much for where you heard the music as for the music itself.
Robert Poortinga
Travel Booking Assistant
River cruise & Europe destination expert
Culinary and art travel specialist
Concert Pianist
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