2026-en
Category : year
On January 10th, we celebrated Yulya’s C1 level German exam!
From January 14th to 28th, my childhood friend Johann Walker invited me to Paraguay for his 75th birthday. He’s from Paraguay, where he’s originally from. On the grounds of his parents’ farm, he’s created an event space complete with a grand piano. As my gift, I produced a livestream of my concert, which was watched by many friends and family members worldwide, and I created a YouTube channel for his event space, Ananziales (Sources). I stayed with him most of the time, since he had invited me, and explored the city of Paysandú, which boasts a sensational 12,000-seat amphitheater!
On the way back, I spent two days in Buenos Aires, where I bought a cheap standing ticket for a tango concert at the Teatro Colón because they weren’t putting on any operas during the summer break. A truly magnificent theater, probably among the three most magnificent in the world. There’s a beautiful bust of my great-great-great-grandfather teacher, Franz Liszt, there.
With a travel budget of €200, what should I do the next day in Buenos Aires? What free activities without high entrance fees were possible with the remaining amount? I decided on a tour of three piano shops in the sprawling city, since the Subte (Subterranea = Metro = subway) only costs €0.70 per ride! After two unsatisfactory visits, I ended up at Bruno’s Pianos, a truly creative mind and piano technician! He has a large selection of German grand piano brands—impressive!
We had fun watching his pronunciation of German wing marks:
ASo I finally got to visit the South American continent, something I’d missed in 1982 due to lack of funds. On the return flight, there was even a surprise stopover in São Paulo, so my feet actually touched Brazilian soil.
On January 31st, I had the opportunity to livestream a seminar for the Swiss pension and finance specialist Mirko Ribul using my studio equipment – a successful test run. Since I was traveling myself for the next scheduled date on February 28th, I handed the entire session over to my son Marc, who is now advising Mirko on his teaching platform.
On February 9th, I had the idea for an innovative pianist portal where pianists from all over the world perform one-hour concerts from their homes for viewers worldwide. The global time zones have been divided into three areas; as the portal grows, more areas can be added to ensure concerts are available everywhere at the typical concert time of 8:00 PM. See https://pianist.pianoforte.best, available in 12 languages for global distribution.
From February 24th to March 1st, Yulya and I had already booked a budget flight to Naples, and on the very first evening, I was able to show her the Teatro San Carlo, which is 50 years older than La Scala in Milan, with Verdi’s Falstaff. The very next day, we drove to Pompeii and from there up Mount Vesuvius, which presented itself to us with glorious weather and a breathtaking view of the Bay of Naples. Its danger became very clear with the eruption of Pompeii in 79 AD; we know that something similar or worse could happen at any time today! Then we visited the Nedial Napoli dialysis center to see my colleague Giancarlo Marinelli again after 23 years. Even a nurse who had been there back then recognized me.
