La Belle Helene is completing several difficult months on the concert circuit, having weathered health problems, controversy and now an abrupt concert cancellation in Prague. -A cancellation that she is innocent of provoking.
"The unthinkable happened Saturday night, Sept. 15, when Špiroch canceled the Staatskapelle Dresden concert after a run-in with piano soloist Helene Grimaud. Hundreds of irate concertgoers waiting on the front steps of the Rudolfinum were told to go home. There has been a flurry of recriminations ever since. The festival put out a press release accusing Grimaud of making unreasonable demands to tune and alter the Rudolfinum’s Steinway just before the concert, and faulting her for the cancellation. Grimaud says there was a legitimate problem with the middle pedal, and that rather than try to fix it, Špiroch became belligerent and “threatening,” and canceled the concert himself." (Praguepost.com)
I hope that the rest of her season proceeds more smoothly and I am looking forward to hearing her perform with the San Francisco Symphony.
Deutesch Gramophone hasn't released her new Beethoven CD yet and it will no doubt dazzle. Below is a clip of her playing Beethoven.
