Manager’s error wrecks pianist’s longed-for Paris debut

This painful confession has just been posted by the Canadian pianist Stewart Goodyear:

It hurts my heart to post this: Due to the mistakes of my management company, I might not be able to perform Messiaen’s Turangalila-Symphonie with Paavo Jarvi and Orchestre de Paris next month. This was a performance I was very much looking forward to. This was a work that I absolutely adored when I first heard it as a teenager. My first performance of this work was when I was 30 years old…For those who know me, I seize on inspiration despite people thinking the task impossible to accomplish…I accepted an engagement to perform this work with Peter Oundjian and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra Musicians even though I had only a month to learn the piano part. I worked 8 hours each day to prepare, the historic recordings of a very young Yvonne Loriod as my guide. The concert went wonderfully, and I couldn’t wait to perform this masterwork again.

I have performed this piece three more times since, twice with Paavo Jarvi and once with Kristjan Jarvi, two collaborations that I will always treasure. My first Turangalila collaboration with Paavo was with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in 2011…This was also my first collaboration with the eminent Cynthia Millar. I have absolutely no idea whether the Cincinnati Symphony will back me when I say that this was a performance to remember. Those of you who know me, know that I am my own hardest critic and would not call a performance a triumph if it was not. The only evidence I can give you for the Cincinnati performance were the rave reviews it received from both critics and audiences, and the fact that I was invited to perform the Turangalila-Symphonie again two years later with Paavo, Cynthia and hr-Sinfonieorchester – Frankfurt Radio Symphony in 2013. You could hear that performance yourself on Youtube.

I was very much looking forward to my trip to Paris…I have never been there before, and the idea of performing Messiaen in the composer’s home town had a very special significance to me. There is so much creativity, history and beauty in the city of Paris, and to perform in such an environment is an inspiration to all to all musicians. It saddens me deeply that because of a foolish scheduling mistake on my manager’s part that I will not be able to attend the first rehearsal of the Turangalila-Symphonie. There are only two rehearsals and a dress rehearsal before the concert, and I understand that each rehearsal is crucial to the success of this concert. I memorized the entire orchestral score and well as my piano part in preparation for this concert. I wish I could roll back the clock on this unfortunately scenario, but it is out of my hands. I am still hoping against hope that somehow, miraculously, I can fulfill the engagement, but that is also now out of my hands.

I send my warmest wishes to Paavo Jarvi, Cynthia Millar, Orchestre de Paris, and whoever is my replacement for the piano part, a triumphant and inspired performance of Messiaen’s Turangaglila-Symphonie.

Stewart is represented by CAMI Music.