03/01/2021
Happy new year and best wishes for 2021! ๐๐ถ๐ค
Starting into the new year Iโd like to share some thoughts.
2020 has been an unprecedented year - the world has been dominated by the pandemic, but letโs not forget that it has been a year of great importance: Beethovenโs 250th birthday, the 75th anniversary of the UN and the 100-year anniversary of the Austrian constitution, were celebrated amongst others. ๐
COVID overshadowed this year and has been a big challenge for artists. Many of my concerts and engagements were cancelled or rescheduled. But as everywhere it is a question of perspective and Iโm happy to be able to also look back on many wonderful moments throughout the year. ๐น
My solo-Album was released and is available for purchase on my website as well as on Spotify and Apple Music ๐ถ Unfortunately it was not possible to present it in concerts as planned, but I am grateful for many wonderful reviews in music magazines and on radio stations all around the world as well as nominations for OPUS KLASSIK ๐ In a video-series Iโm sharing thoughts about the music on the album โ some episodes are still to be released ๐ ๐ฅ
In spring, a year worth of hard work, planning and organizing the first edition of my festival Beethoven Frรผhling was rendered useless. The festival, which was set to take place in April and start off in the Beethoven-anniversary year could not take place as prepared and anticipated. The early days of the first Austrian-wide lockdown brought everything to a halt.
The thought of postponing popped up for a split second, but I realised the new circumstances were obviously here to stay. I decided to accept the challenge and engage with the digital possibilities for classical music. We were forced to think outside of the box, take new paths and set aside pre-established ways and opinions. Working day and night during lockdown โ my team and I took a leap forward and planned something entirely new: for eight weeks we streamed concerts which were centred around the artists and their performances from a beautiful concert-hall. Together with wonderful musician colleagues and friends we created special programmes for people around the world. What a joy to engage with audiences using all these new possibilities and working together with the aim of bringing hope in times of great difficulties!
My โTRIO VISIONโ piano-trio together with Ekaterina Frolova and Peter Somodari from the Vienna Philharmonic / Wiener Philharmoniker has also been very active. ๐ถ Although many concerts and our much anticipated Asia-tour were cancelled/postponed, we used the time available and made recordings for ร1 which will soon be released ๐ฟ
Last but not least, I am grateful for all the valuable encounters online and offline. ๐ Sharing music through streaming-concerts has accompanied me throughout the year โ with performances at Wiener Konzerthaus, Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna together with Sascha Goetzel, Bรถsendorfer Salon, and many others. ๐ฅ
COVID put us face to face with a new reality - one which in theory has long been established: the earth is but one country and mankind its citizens. The virus does not know man-made borders, it does not distinguish between people. 2020 revealed that we as humans are far more interconnected than we'd ever imagine. And much like our own bodies, if one part is in distress or is afflicted with some disease, the whole body will suffer.
It is easy to be calm, content and positive in good times... I have learned to especially appreciate those who donโt just see negativity, but manage to look forward and contribute in meaningful ways even during hard and challenging times. We โ like the parts of a puzzle โ are each unique and if we come together and join efforts we form a unity in all its diversity.
Iโm looking forward to many exciting projects in this new year and hope that with all its pain and suffering 2020 has at least taught us something. Letโs not just go "back to normalโ but learn from experience and keep in mind how we are all in this together โ letโs change the โmeโ for the โweโ โ๏ธ
Stay healthy and happy new year!
Dorothy
"๐๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐บ, ๐๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐บ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ถ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐บ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฉ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐จ๐ถ๐ช๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ช๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ง๐ณ๐ถ๐ช๐ต ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ."
(Bahรก'รญ Writings)
๐ธ Stephan Polzer Photography
