Simon Trpčeski lauds vigor of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 1

Pianist Simon Trpčeski has painstakingly built an international reputation with his thoughtful and authentic musicianship.

Coming from a modest background and keeping his focus on the music, the Macedonian native said he has tried to remain grounded, respect his roots and be what he describes as a “good, moral person.” “I know this might not be the most successful approach in terms of marketing presence,” he said. “But I know I’m very truthful to the music, and the people whom I collaborate with and people who come to my concerts can definitely feel it in the most natural and human way, which is really priceless.”

Now 45, Trpčeski made his debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 2008, and especially in recent years, he has become something of a regular soloist with the ensemble. “That makes me really happy,” he said. “I’m really honored, because the Chicago Symphony is not only one of the top orchestras in the States, but also in the whole world.”

He will return to Symphony Center for a set of concerts March 20-22 that features him as soloist in Sergei Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-sharp Minor, Op. 1. Also on the all-Russian program is Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11 (The Year 1905).

In 2010-11, Trpčeski recorded all of Rachmaninov’s five works for piano and orchestra — the four piano concertos, plus the composer’s beloved Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, with Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Orchestra. The resulting two discs on the Avie label won several honors, including an Editor’s Choice designation in Gramophone magazine.

The Piano Concerto No. 1 is among the least widely known and least frequently played of the composer’s works in the form, but it also happens to be Trpčeski’s favorite. “I’m actually very glad it’s happening,” he said of the selection of the concerto for his Chicago concerts. “I don’t know who chose it, but to whomever chose it, I’m grateful.”

Rachmaninov wrote the piece when he was just 17 and 18 years old, revising it substantially in 1917. “We do not hear it very often,” Trpčeski said, “but we can definitely hear the genius of Rachmaninov as a composer, where he was brave and truthful to his originality, to the ideas that he developed at a young age.”

“The freshness of [Rachmaninov’s First Piano Concerto] is just mind-blowing. It bursts with so much positivity, and I think we very much need that nowadays." — Simon Trpčeski 

Trpčeski believes that audiences who don’t know this work are in for a real treat. “The freshness of this piece is just mind-blowing,” he said. “It bursts with so much positivity, and I think we very much need that nowadays in the world that we have been living in the last few years, very challenging times from all points of view. I’m very much looking to performing it, and I’m curious to see how the audience will react.”

Unlike some soloists who move to major music centers like Berlin or London when their careers take off, Trpčeski has chosen to remain in his birthplace of Skopje. The city is the capital of Macedonia, officially known as the Republic of North Macedonia, which has a little under 2 million inhabitants. A landlocked Balkan country that borders Greece to the south, it was part of the now-defunct Yugoslavia and declared its independence in 1991.

“We have been used to a life in transition for several decades of my life now,” he said. But I believe with the change of the government last year in the spring [Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova became the country’s first female president in May] there will be a new, positive wind of fixing many things. First of all, the corruption and then a better support of the culture and the arts in general, which is a very big aim for all us. Let’s hope for better.”

Since being chosen for a two-year stint as a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist in 2001, Trpčeski has gone on to enjoy a highly successful international career. Unlike some European musicians who focus their careers on their home continent with perhaps regular trips to North America, Trpčeski has a made a point of performing all around the world. In early March, for example, he is making his first trip to Chile for two concerts with the Orquesta Filarmonica de Santiago. “I’m a person who likes to explore in life, who likes to meet new people and new cultures, visit new places,” he said.

In addition to jetting to the opposite sides of the planet, Trpčeski has also made more of an effort in recent years to perform in countries near Macedonia in the Balkans and Eastern Europe with arts scenes that have blossomed. He will, for example, present an April 9 recital in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and join the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra on May 9. “This region is close to my culture, to my mentality, [and I appreciate] the warmth of all these people,” he said.

In his more than two-decade career, Trpčeski has constantly worked to expand his repertory and improve and deepen his playing. “I have always strived for development — to be a better person in general and hopefully that would make a better musician out of me,” he said. He is pleased with how his life has gone and professes to have no regrets.

“No, the opposite,” he said. “I wake up every morning with a will to do something good for myself, for my loved ones and for the society. I believe with music we can embrace lots of things and definitely make a much better world."