Summary
When 27-year-old Freddy Kempf walks out onto the Barbican stage on Sat 19 Mar, the capacity crowd will greet him like a pop star. And he'll look the part, with an Armani coat over his black polo- neck, and dark locks brushed back to reveal features which blend masculine force and feminine sensitivity. But he's not a pop star, he's a classical pianist, and he'll deliver a programme of Chopin and Beethoven thatwould daunt the most seasoned virtuoso: this may not be his London debut, but it will mark his arrival in the big league.
Yet few musicians' careers have developed by such fits and starts. His gave his debut recital at four in a Folkestone church, and, at 14, was voted the BBC's Young Musician Of The Year the youngest-ever winner at that time then duly signed up with an agency. That should have set the seal on his success, but rather than taking off, he dropped from view. There's nothing sadder or less saleable than a prodigy who's no longer young, and the adolescent Kempf was, therefore, no longer able to trade on his tender years.See the full content of this document
Extract
The Key the to Freddy's Success
Despite his talent, after four increasingly dispiriting years the agency gave up and dropped him.
Those teenage years coincided with his German hotelier father's passage from boom to bust, and, as he tells his tale, there's an almost Dickensian pathos in his conce...See the full content of this document
Sponsored links
