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Multi-national background with roots in Polish sound

Daniel’s love for piano began as a curious toddler while living in Italy, where he was born.

“My parents bought me a big Yamaha keyboard when I was two years old and it became one of my favourite toys,” he remembers. “I was always improvising with random tunes and having fun with it.”

His family moved to Istanbul, where Daniel took his first piano lessons at age five, and subsequently relocated to North Cyprus when he was nine. It was there that a 13-year-old Daniel found his inspiration for a career as a pianist.

“I attended a concert at a local festival and heard Polish pianist Marek Drewnowski play Chopin. Listening to Chopin for the first time is an experience I will never forget – I became fully in love with his music.”

Daniel believes this was thanks to the high standard and artistic depth of Marek Drewnowski.

“There are many bad performances of Chopin as well. Had I heard those, I don’t think I would have had the same passion and desire to play piano,” he admits.

After the concert Daniel met Drewnowski, who gave him a CD of his performances of Chopin’s Mazurkas, Waltzes and Polonaises, but also a CD of Chopin’s variations, which was never published publicly.

“That’s when I started to take piano seriously,” Daniel recalls. “I decided to learn one of the Mazurkas that year, and I won a ‘Galaxy of Talents’ Music Contest in Limasol, Cyprus.

With his love of Polish music and his talent continuing to flourish, he decided at age 15 to continue his high school education online and move alone to Poland to study music at the I. Paderewski School of Music in Białystok.

“It made sense for me at the time to study in Poland. My mother is Polish so I have a lot of family and a good support network in Bialystok. It was important for me to reconnect with my Polish roots.”

What Poland gave him, and what it did not

Studying in Poland shaped Daniel’s foundations in music. Daniel speaks with fondness about his time there. “It’s exciting to see how the country is developing; I think it’s one of the most advanced countries technologically. And I really like the respect Poles have for their country,” he says.

At the same time, he felt something was missing in the music education system. “I found it to be a little bureaucratic and old-fashioned. It didn’t give me the creative space to fully allow new ideas to grow.”

Daniel believes art needs freedom to be powerful. “I feel if it’s too respecting of the rules, it almost ruins the art; it becomes just artificial. There’s still a lot to be learn from it. But my way of playing is a little unorthodox: I like to make new art and not be confined by rules.”

Why Ireland felt right

Ireland’s progressive music scene became the next step. After a successful audition landed him a place at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Daniel found an environment that encourages individuality and new ideas about art.

“People come from all over the world to study here; it’s very internationally mixed. I think it’s the perfect space for the arts, because of all that variety, colour and richness,” he says.

“Here in Ireland, it’s about these original, new ideas, so everyone is inspiring each other. Some of the composers at the Academy have crazy ideas, which is so exciting. It’s a very collaborative environment and it’s moving art forward. And I really like how talent is supported in Ireland.”

As a Next Generation Scholarship Partner of the Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM) Tracey Solicitors LLP helps to support Daniel’s studies. Daniel also has an accommodation scholarship from RIAM that allows him to live on campus and commit fully to music. He typically practices between six and eight hours a day.

“Thanks to the scholarships, I can immerse myself in this environment which is helping me grow. I’m very grateful for that.”

What happens between the notes

Daniel’s focus as a pianist is interpretation of classical music and bringing expression and emotion to an audience.

“It may appear initially that there’s not much you can change with an existing piece, but there’s actually an insane amount you can do. It’s all about what’s happening between the notes, that’s where the real skill is,” he says.

“It’s how you’re finding your expression within the structure, within the harmony, within the tone. There are so many different colours and weights you can give to the notes. As an audience member, you might not notice that with your own ear, but subconsciously you will be able to feel the music better if it’s played well with all these little details.”

Daniel compares it to food. “If you eat at a really good restaurant and the food is exceptional, you don’t always know why it’s special. It’s because it has all those subtle details. I know it’s very different, but there are parallels to music. As musicians, we must be aware of these nuances and manifest them into our performance. I think audiences instinctively sense and appreciate this.”

Emotion needs discipline

Although his playing is deeply expressive, Daniel is careful with emotion on stage.

“It’s very dangerous to go with the emotion, especially if it’s an intense piece,” he admits.

He remembers a performance that collapsed when he tried to enjoy the feeling too much.

“I had an experience one time where there was a very dramatic, ritualistic, and tragic piece. I tried performing it just by enjoying it, and it totally didn’t work. It was a complete mess,” he laughs.

“You almost have to be superficial in a way, which is a bit sad, because you can’t really feel the emotion yourself while you’re playing. It sounds counterintuitive, but you need to stay mentally cold to fully convey the emotion to the audience. There’s a script in your mind – like a set of instructions for yourself – that you need to follow,” he explains.

“There comes a point when you go beyond that, when you’re no longer thinking about what you’re doing, because it’s in your body. That’s when you can start to feel the emotion. You have to multi-task so many things. But you always must remain in control.”

What the future holds?

How Daniel’s life and career as a pianist will play out remains to be seen, something he is fully aware of. For someone so young, he takes a mature and philosophical view of what lies ahead.

“Life is not just all joy. There is pain too. Because of this, I believe music reflects life: there is dissonance, pain, and then resolution.

“Music is connected to everything in life, it’s connected to mathematics, poetry, stories, even biology. The more I learn, the more I understand how it’s connected to so many things in society. Those connections are like a reflection of our inner world.

“I know that being a pianist is a gamble. But if I don’t succeed as a concert pianist, hopefully I’ll succeed as an artist in some way.

“Art is pointless,” he smiles, “but it’s what makes us human.”

– Ends –

 

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This editorial was written by Lisa Hickey and is available to publish.

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