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Thu, 15 Mar 2018 14:00:20 +0000

Angela Hewitt
The Bach Odyssey, Part IV
8 p.m. March 20, Southam Hall, National Arts Centre
Limited tickets remain. Check nac-cna.ca for availability.

Not even a broken bone can deter Angela Hewitt from her Bach Odyssey.

In the middle of her four-year mission to play all of J.S. Bach’s works for piano, the internationally renowned Ottawa pianist took a tumble down a flight of stairs at a church in England, hours before she was due on stage.

Although she wrote about the Jan. 24 accident on her website, some of the details were glossed over to avoid spilling the beans on a big announcement. Now that the news is out — she will receive a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for lifetime achievement — Hewitt can reveal more about what happened.

She said a National Film Board crew from Canada was with her, shooting footage for a short tribute that will be screened during the GGPA awards gala on June 2. That’s why she was dressed to the nines and rushing.

“We had just done the walk-on shots, and we were running a bit late,” she said. “I was in a bit of a hurry, and I was carrying a lot of stuff, and already in a long gown and high heels, and I simply didn’t see there were steps on the other side. Down I tumbled.”

She managed to play the recital that day, thanks to help from the NFB crew who lifted her from wheelchair to piano bench, and almost all the others on her schedule. Just one performance was cancelled when the pain became unbearable.

Reached in Vancouver last week, Hewitt said her broken foot is healing.

“Performing Bach’s Goldberg Variations last night was really the first time I was able to use the soft pedal, which you do with your left foot,” she said. “Thank goodness it wasn’t my right foot because that’s more important. But I know if I can use the soft pedal a bit, it’s getting better. Still, walking out on crutches is the hardest thing of the evening.”

Hewitt returns to Ottawa with Recital IV of her journey through J.S. Bach’s material, this time focusing on the composer’s Partitas.

Q: Are you sick of Bach yet?

A: (Laughs) No, I’ll never get sick of Bach. It’s always a challenge. It’s music that’s so completely satisfying. It’s music that speaks to everybody in such a fresh way even though it was written all those centuries ago. It’s lovely to play other things that require other ways of playing the piano because Bach is so controlled, technically very complicated. But when you’re playing Liszt or Shostakovich, you can let yourself go more in a physical way, but Bach is very deeply emotional. I’ve been playing his music from the time I was four. He was always the first and foremost composer in my life. It’s so rewarding, I’ll never tire of it.

Q: Your father was the organist at Ottawa’s Christ Church Cathedral while you were growing up. When did you know this was your calling?

A: I’m glad that I did so many different things when I was young. I didn’t just do piano. I had a very well-rounded childhood. It was when I turn 15 and started studying with (French pianist) Jean-Paul Sévilla at the University of Ottawa; he got me so passionately interested in the piano repertoire and music in general. He shared his passion and enthusiasm and knowledge with me so that would be the time I knew that piano would be it for me. But even at that age, I never dreamed I would be doing it to the extent that I am now.

Q: How does it feel to be receiving a GGPA award for lifetime achievement?

A: It’s a privilege to be on such a list, and to be honoured in my home country. Canada gave me wonderful beginnings, and so many fantastic opportunities when I was young. I can’t quite believe it’s ‘lifetime achievement.’ I still have a lot of life left. What makes me happy, I suppose, about my career, is it’s been steadily growing. I haven’t had huge high points followed by terrible lows. I’ve worked hard all my life but it’s been steady growth, from the time in 1985 when I won the Bach competition in Toronto, which opened one door, and that gives you the chance to go on.

Q: You are celebrating your 60th birthday this year. Will you start to think about retirement in the next few years?

A: No. Pianists retire when they’re 95, or when they drop dead. When I finish my Bach cycle in 2020, I will have a few months off. I’m looking forward to having time to stay at home, all three homes: Italy, Canada and London.

Q: You built a house in Italy and founded the Trasimeno Music Festival there. Tell me about that.

A: I always knew Italy was beautiful but before I bought a piece of land there, I didn’t really know Umbria at all. I just found this piece of land on the internet, no house but permission to build. Something drew me to it. Then I discovered this castle on the other side of the hill with a beautiful 15th century courtyard, and I thought I had to have a festival in this magical place. That’s how it began. We’re coming up to 14 years. People come from all the corners of the world for a week of music and other delights: Umbrian food, scenery, good companionship. We give them a concert every night and show them around. I never imagined I would have a home in Italy and run a music festival there. It’s been really one of the greatest things in my life.

lsaxberg@postmedia.com