Slowly. Little by little. Step by step.
PIANO PIANO

A blog on piano, arts, its circle and life.

Welcome to the PIANO PIANO blog! What and Why?

Piano is a big part of our life. It’s a family member. When one marries a pianist, one inevitably engages in a relationship for better and for worse with his instrument too. Everybody in this threesome is equal; an unwritten clause says that each of you get 1/3 of rights. If you’re careless, something easily can go out of balance: it results either in the unhappy spouse, suffering career or the lonely pianist. But if you put some work in this “it’s-complicated” setup, you’re able to achieve happiness and satisfaction on all fronts. It’s not easy, but pays off. However, this is only possible when: you learn how to enjoy small pleasures, how to focus on the positive side in the most stressful and painful moments and not let the business ruin your nerves. When you keep your mind open for the subjects other than your own. When you learn how to take a breath and how to smile honestly. When you lose your stuck-up posture and the tense tick on the face (something often very tricky in the classical music circle). And, most important, if you master the art of slowing down. Simply – live! Step by step. Or, as Italians would say: piano piano! It gives enormous power. It puts your life into perspective.
We established this blog to share with you a part of our life, which we live and lead as very few couples in the music world nowadays: always together.
No exhibitionism here! For us it’s all about arts and life. We want to offer you insights into the life from two different angles: 1. pianist’s – who deals with the whole package that comes with his profession, and 2. his wife’s – who fills the gaps if the package is missing something and who looks at the whole artistic surrounding with a razor-sharp eye of a narrator-like observer. We hope to give you: sometimes some food for thought, sometimes a reason to smile, and at times some courage and strength. Often with a wink, which makes the serious life not so serious and easier to enjoy to the fullest.
If you’re sarcasm-resistant – leave the blog immediately, since much of this what we would like to share with you could be lost in translation.
However, whatever we share, we have one main goal: to bring something positive and soothing, so that when you’re confused by the world full of illusion, you can come here, reflect and grab something real, something human. We greet you warmly! – Paulina and Ingolf Wunder

2018 Summary in Pictures

AUSTRIA | CHINA | FRANCE | GERMANY | HUNGARY | MALTA | POLAND | PORTUGAL | RUSSIA | SLOVAKIA | SOUTH KOREA | UNITED STATES JANUARY | SOUTH KOREA – SEOUL JANUARY | SOUTH KOREA – SEOUL – LOTTE CONCERT HALL JANUARY | SOUTH KOREA – SEOUL – LOTTE CONCERT HALL JANUARY | SOUTH KOREA […]

Tour through the USA & Russia

27 Nov – 7 Dec 2018: US and Russia concert tour, with Malta Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Sergey Smbatyan, on the occasion of the orchestra’s 50th anniversary. Ingolf Wunder, as the soloist of the tour, presented Alexey Shor’s Piano Suite “Travel Notebook”, making at the same time its premiere in the United States […]

What have disk drives and classical music in common?

One might be tempted to say: a lot, since they are both rapidly rotating, most of the time random-accessed(1) and indeed, a certain magnetism is also intrinsic to them both. But all kidding aside, if one looks closely, one can find patterns in the history of the disk drive industry that can be very helpful to […]

Brace yourself and enjoy the ride!

We were totally green. Like broccoli. Inexperienced and naïve. Completely clueless what the real classical music world means. Like… most of you! Full of trust in the higher values and purity of arts, our business-innocence-level was childishly high. That was the year 2010. The doors started to open massively. Ingolf had just shaken the musical […]

Passion for Music – interview

Listen to Ingolf Wunder’s new radio interview or read its transcript below. (interview – September 2018) Click to Listen transcript: You changed the violin for the piano. Why? Life is sometimes not explainable. It just happens. In my case that was a very natural decision. Violin and music was just a hobby in our family […]