Many of you may have heard performances by the wonderful pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin, winner of our 2015 Career Development Award. At a reception following his 2017 WMCT concert he told us that this prize money was invaluable because it enabled him to buy his very first piano – that is after many years of study (at McGill, Yale and Montréal Conservatory) and having already embarked on a professional performing career. We tend to think of awards being spent on further education and lessons, which are of course necessary and expensive, but having a good quality instrument is also of paramount importance for any musician.
Charles’s beautiful piano is a Hamburg Steinway (Model A) built in 1911. It was assembled in London, England, and subsequently found its way to the Quebec City area studio of Charles’s favourite piano technicians, Marcel Lapointe and Isabelle Gagnon, who beautifully refurbished it – apparently, it only took Charles a few minutes of playing to know this was “the one” for him. He says this piano has served him incredibly well over the past ten years and he doesn’t think he’ll ever change it for another one.
It is always gratifying for the WMCT to learn how its awards contribute in such meaningful ways to remarkable musical careers.
Annette Sanger