Cristian Budu to play Brazilian music to an enthusiastic Hà Nội audience

A TASTE OF BRAZIL: I will be playing Schumann, and the Sun Symphony Orchestra will play mostly Brazilian music, which is not much heard in this part of the world. VNS Photo Đoàn Tùng

Cristian Budu has established himself as an upcoming star of the classical world. He won the Grand Prix of the Clara Haskil International piano competition in Switzerland and the influential Gramophone magazine in the UK included his recordings in two ultra-selective lists of 'Top 10 recent Beethoven Recordings' and in 'Top 10 Chopin recordings'.

He will be playing Schumann at Hồ Gươm Opera in Hà Nội on October 30 in a concert that also delivers Brazilian music to Vietnamese music lovers.

Việt Nam News talked to him ahead of the concert.

Could you tell us about your first Asian tour and about this concert, what's special about this programme?

This is my first time in Việt Nam, also my first time in Asia. This is very special for me. I'll go to Japan to continue my tour. This concert is special not only for me, but also for Brazil because it celebrates relations between Brazil and Việt Nam. The programme is all Brazilian music. The piece I'm going to play is a famous concerto by the standard repertoire by Schumann. So I am the Brazilian part of the piece. The music [you're going to listen to] will be not yet heard in this part of the world, but also this music is new in Brazil.

I knew about Việt Nam growing up when I learned about history. I was very enchanted and very curious. I admire the culture, the people and how brave the people are and how great the country is. For me, it's very special to be here. I'm very excited and I'm learning a lot in a few days I'm staying here.

I'm lucky to stay in front of the beautiful lake, Hoàn Kiếm. I walked around the streets and I feel the culture in the streets. I see people walking around, talking, I see them eating and I've discovered that the coconut water here is much sweeter than in Brazil. I saw this beautiful little temple in an alley off the lake.

Right after this interview, I'm going to see the water puppet show. I'm very excited.

How busy have you been this year? 

Since the end of the pandemic, I started again travelling a lot, like before the pandemic. I live between Paris and Sao Paolo. I just released two recordings, one is Brazilian music for solo piano album called Pianolatria, a two CD album, which is also available in digital platform. I also released a CD with Brazilian cellist Antonio Meneses. We played French repertoire for piano and cello. I travelled a lot between the United States and South America, Uruguay, Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro and also in Europe such as Bratislava and Brussels. I played many recitals and just played with the Basel Chamber Orchestra. I played this Schumann concerto, I also played some Brazilian music, so it's nonstop.

I also teach in festivals where I go in Brazil. I was also on a jury of an important piano competition, The Cleverland International Piano Competition. So I rarely stay for more than ten days in the same place. So it's a very busy, very fast life. And to make music, to concentrate and have a routine, it's very challenging, mainly with the time difference. So I'm always jetlagged, but I get to see so many new and beautiful things, I feel alive.

FOOD LOVER: I love the chicken phở on the streets of Hà Nội. VNS Photo Đoàn Tùng

How did you start playing? 

My father and mother are from Romania and they started a new life in a place close to Sao Paulo, just the two of them. We were a very small family. My father got a small upright piano as a gift from his boss. I was the third son and when I was two, he got the piano and started to play as he used to play when he was in Romania. I would listen to him and started to imitate him. That's how they discovered when I was really young, I think this is called 'the absolute ear'. When he played the notes, I know which note it was without looking. When he [my father] played, I would go and play the same melody, so they'd say, he has musical talent.

Later my mother met this teacher, named Elsa Klebanoffski, a Polish pianist who studied with famous German pianist Wilhelm Kempff. She retired in Brazil and heard me play when I was four and she decided to teach me. Then I had many years of lessons with her. It was really important for me because she taught me to love music. She encouraged me to play the way I feel. It was really important for a musician.

This concert is titled, Saudades do Brasil (Missing Brazil), what do you miss most when you're not in Brazil?

I would say I miss Brazilian food. But in Việt Nam, I'm so in love with Vietnamese food, that I don't miss the food right now. Usually I miss the nice weather, but here also, the weather is nice. I miss going out to play football or billiards with my friends. I miss my close friends in Brazil. I miss seeing people talking, loving to party, feel the warmth of the people. But I have to say that on the first day I arrived here, I see a lot of close things between Brazil and Việt Nam.

The food is very good, the weather is very nice and of course the people are very warm and welcoming. 

So even though it's my first time in Asia, I feel at home here. I miss feijoada of Brazil the most. It's a dish with beans and pork served on rice. They also put some orange on it, too, it's very good. 

I love many Vietnamese dishes, but I love the phở. I had it on the street and it was delicious. I had chicken phở in a small store on the street and it was delicious, the seasoning and the freshness, so aromatic. I never had a soup so delicious. VNS

Look out for more from Cristian Budu on his piano playing and what makes the ideal audience in an upcoming video from the Việt Nam News.