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VANESSAWAGNER
And how would you define your career path?
I try to conquer my freedom through projects that reflect my personality, and in
which the artistic frontiers are porous. That attitude gaveme backmy taste for this
profession at a time when I was looking for my individuality, which is something
that’s never a foregone conclusion. I’ve never been in phase with the stereotype of
the all-powerful pianist who chalks up 150 concerts a year and plays the complete
works of Chopin and Liszt. Personally, I didn’t feel attracted by that predetermined
trajectory reserved for young conservatory graduates. In fact, I never entered a
single international competition. Age, maturity, experience help you to know
yourself and feel comfortable with your own choices: there are things I can do
today that I would never have dared to do twenty years ago. An example is the
project combiningminimalist piano pieces and electronicmusic that I devisedwith
the artist Murcof. It’s both an assertion on my part that I want to expand horizons
and, at the same time, a path to fulfilment that has its own coherence andmusical
significance. To invent one’s career and one’s life is a driving force for me.