Music

“It’s a big problem,” pianist and composer Chris Culpo says, looking concerned, “and it’s not just with music, but with all the arts: people are afraid to show sentiment... don’t you think? It seems like more and more performers are concentrating on technique at the expense of feeling. Where’s the feeling? It’s not there. How can it be there when there’s no emotion. That’s why so much of the music you hear today sounds so cold.”
For Culpo feeling involves risk, and risk means not always knowing the answers. “It’s a question I often ask myself: do you try to get ‘out’ from inside, or get ‘in’ from the outside...? All I can do is try to play music that’s groove-orientated but retains enough openness and freedom so that all musical gestures and all harmonic levels retain a value.” Culpo’s performances are characterized by the freedom he’s talking about: dazzling flights of bold brightness contrasted with lingering, intimate passages. And he thinks the secret to that freedom comes from knowing how to play soft. “If you know how to play soft, you can work all the levels; all the ranges. It’s very easy to make a crescendo and everyone goes with it, but if you’re starting out forte, it’s really hard to go down.”
Going up seems to be the direction Culpo’s career is taking these days. He’s had several recent contemporary music commissions including one for the Vollore Festival and another for the ground-breaking Aller Retour Trio. A sequence of his orchestral preludes will be performed by the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris next year, and his musical, “Believe,” received its première last fall at London’s Man In The Moon theatre. Here in Paris, he’s built up a reputation as an intuitive and supportive accompanist for female singers and leads several different combos including a quartet featuring saxophonist Jean-Charles Richard. But it will be with his trio, featuring Antoine Banville on drums and Marc Buronfosse on bass, that he will be closing the Maison de la Musique’s jazz season on March 24, playing a mixture of standards and his own material.

Maison de la Musique de Nanterre Mar 24, 8, rue des Anciennes Mairies, RER Nanterre Ville, tel: 01.41.37.94.26, 9pm, 30F.

Cave du Franc Pinot 1, quai de Bourbon, 4e, Mº Pont Marie, tel: 01.46.33.60.64, Mar 1, duo with Letizia Morelli, Apr 13, duo with John-Charles Richards, 8:30pm, 90F with drink.





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Chris Culpo		Mea Culpo by Tim Baker “It’s a big problem,” pianist and composer Chris Culpo says, looking concerned, “and it’s not just with music, but with all the arts: people are afraid to show sentiment... don’t you think? It seems like more and more performers are concentrating on technique at the expense of feeling. Where’s the feeling? It’s not there. How can it be there when there’s no emotion. That’s why so much of the music you hear today sounds so cold.” For Culpo feeling involves risk, and risk means not always knowing the answers. “It’s a question I often ask myself: do you try to get ‘out’ from inside, or get ‘in’ from the outside...? All I can do is try to play music that’s groove-orientated but retains enough openness and freedom so that all musical gestures and all harmonic levels retain a value.” Culpo’s performances are characterized by the freedom he’s talking about: dazzling flights of bold brightness contrasted with lingering, intimate passages. And he thinks the secret to that freedom comes from knowing how to play soft. “If you know how to play soft, you can work all the levels; all the ranges. It’s very easy to make a crescendo and everyone goes with it, but if you’re starting out forte, it’s really hard to go down.” Going up seems to be the direction Culpo’s career is taking these days. He’s had several recent contemporary music commissions including one for the Vollore Festival and another for the ground-breaking Aller Retour Trio. A sequence of his orchestral preludes will be performed by the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris next year, and his musical, “Believe,” received its première last fall at London’s Man In The Moon theatre. Here in Paris, he’s built up a reputation as an intuitive and supportive accompanist for female singers and leads several different combos including a quartet featuring saxophonist Jean-Charles Richard. But it will be with his trio, featuring Antoine Banville on drums and Marc Buronfosse on bass, that he will be closing the Maison de la Musique’s jazz season on March 24, playing a mixture of standards and his own material. Maison de la Musique de Nanterre Mar 24, 8, rue des Anciennes Mairies, RER Nanterre Ville, tel: 01.41.37.94.26, 9pm, 30F. Cave du Franc Pinot 1, quai de Bourbon, 4e, Mº Pont Marie, tel: 01.46.33.60.64, Mar 1, duo with Letizia Morelli, Apr 13, duo with John-Charles Richards, 8:30pm, 90F with drink.