Emile Pandolfi, Concert Pianist - In Concert May 15, 2016 |
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Some might say that this merged foundation of fine art with humor and a sense of entertainment is what shapes the concert format that has gained Emile Pandolfi such acclaim and popularity today. Pandolfi’s performances are far from straight-backed, formal “recitals.” While, unquestionably, there is finely-tuned, trained technique on display, it is tempered with a gleam in his eye, a quick card trick, a hilarious tale about some early date with his wife, a comic’s turn of phrase, that brings the performance to a different place from what an unknowing first-time audience member might be expecting. Emile has been a student of “serious” piano since the age of five, with his symphony debut at fourteen, Pandolfi received his graduate degree in piano performance. His interests didn’t turn toward popular music until after he had finished his schooling and was out on the road. He began traveling the globe, playing wherever he went. He ended up in Los Angeles for fifteen years where he made his living playing for dancing, acting, and opera coaches, along with working the nightclub scene and cruise ships. He spent six years as the “piano man” in major comedy clubs, providing music for improv groups and a line-up of comedians including Jay Leno, Robin Williams, Jerry Seinfeld, David Letterman, Yakov Smirnoff and others. An audience’s laughter became part of the overall experience that brought him most satisfaction as a performer. In 1984, he was one of four pianists chosen to record the broadcast version of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” for the official Opening Ceremony of the Olympics in L.A., and was one of the 84 pianists performing live during the ceremony. Eventually deciding that he wanted to raise his children somewhere other than Los Angeles, Pandolfi moved cross-country to Greenville, SC in 1986. Within 45 minutes of arriving in town, he became the pianist at the City Club and stayed until 1994. He recorded his first solo CD in 1990. Since that time, Emile Pandolfi has recorded over 30 CDs, with sales exceeding three million units. He now ranks as the top-selling recording artist in the specialty “alternative” market in which gift shop and bookstore sales are classified. His holiday-themed recordings, as are his holiday performances, are best-sellers wherever he goes. Press: “I can’t imagine a more gratifying profession than I have — there’s nothing that can compare to being in front of a live audience,” Pandolfi reflects. “I want them to want and expect to be taken somewhere, on an emotional journey. They can laugh and cry and be excited and get all dreamy in one evening, in one place. It’s an intense, passionate thing we’re sharing together. It’s visceral – for both of us. I need to feel it in my bones just as much as they do. There’s a communication that takes place, that makes a listener feel valued, important, familiar... actually “known.” When lines form at the end of an evening with hundreds of persons in queue to have CDs signed, it’s more akin in tone to a family or class reunion than it is a line of unknown faces waiting for a signature.” |
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