Helfgott returns to the stage
He was brought to the world's attention in Shine more than a decade ago, but Jewish virtuoso David Helfgott continues to inspire.
LEXI LANDSMAN
DAVID Helfgott is one of the world’s greatest pianists. The Jewish virtuoso became known worldwide after the 1996 Academy Award-winning film Shine told his moving story — from child prodigy, to years locked in mental institutions after a breakdown, to triumphing as an award-winning ¬≠pianist.
This month, Australian audiences have been privileged to hear the maestro at work. As part of his national tour, he performed his only concert in Melbourne at the Arts Centre last night (August 19). He will perform a solo recital on August 21 at Angel Place in Sydney.
“It’s going wonderfully,” David’s wife Gillian says of the national tour, which kicked off in Hobart earlier this month. “There has been a tremendous response everywhere.”
His performance will feature a program of romantic classics. The concert in Sydney will be within days of Gillian and David’s 25th wedding anniversary. The couple met on November 30, 1983 at a wine bar in Perth when Gillian first heard him play. The very next day, he proposed.
Gillian says she still feels as enthralled when she hears him play as she did that first time. “I am still entirely captivated with him as a human being,” she adds. “He is so gorgeous. He is a challenge in some ways but he just a very beautiful human being and it shines through in his music.”
It’s their close companionship and their opposite personalities (“he is a wonderfully creative person and I’m the practical one,” she says) that Gillian believes has made their love so enduring. But there are days, Gillian admits, that are more challenging than others.
“The biggest challenge of living with David is there is no quiet — he wants the radios and televisions on all day and night and that’s when, at times, you feel you want to hide under a table.”
Born in Melbourne in 1947 to Polish-Jewish parents, David moved to Perth at the age of five and at the same age showed extraordinary pianistic talent. In his teens, he won the state finals of the ABC Instrumental and Vocal Competition six times, and was encouraged to study overseas.
It was not until he was 19 that David went to London to study at the Royal College of Music with Cyril Smith. In 1970, however, he suffered a mental breakdown and spent years in institutions. He emerged only in the 1980s after a decade of obscurity, giving his first major recital in 12 years in June 1984.
Among his many achievements in the following years, he did a live recording of Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto, which became a key element of Shine. David’s Rachmaninov Third CD became a best-seller, as did the Shine soundtrack. He became the top-selling classical artist of 1997. He was even given a Time for Peace Award at Carnegie Hall.
His great acclaim has ushered in travels worldwide. Earlier this year, David played in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv for the first time in 21 years in a tour hosted by the Australia Israel Cultural Exchange. “David’s Jewish heritage is an incredibly big a part of his being and artistic ability,” Gillian says, adding that returning to Israel was very rewarding for David.
Even though it has been more than a decade since Shine was released, the Helfgotts continue to get fan mail from people who were moved or inspired by David’s journey.
“I think it sent a message of hope. There were David’s struggles — coming from so many years in mental institutions — and [it showed that] there is light at the end of the tunnel if one doesn’t give into despair.”
Apart from attracting more people to classical music, Gillian says David has “brought the joy of sharing his music with such abundance”.
“David runs onto the stage, waves to the audience and blows them kisses. His ability to communicate with an audience is extraordinary.”
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