About Me
Marcela Roggeri has all the qualities of the great Argentine piano tradition, as well as the zest we associate with South American artists. Born in Buenos Aires, she studied first of all with Ana Gelber, then was coached by Bruno Leonardo Gelber, who became her mentor.Like many Argentines, Marcela Roggeri is also a great traveller. At the age of twenty-three, after a tour of Argentina and other Latin American countries, she came to Europe (Germany, Italy and France) for a first series of concerts in duet with Bruno Leonardo Gelber. Having appreciated the working atmosphere she found in Europe, she decided to move to Paris to perfect her playing. From 1992 to 1994 her base was Singapore, where she had been invited to give masterclasses, but she continued to travel all over the world, giving recitals and concerts under fine conductors, such as Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, James Judd, George Pehlivanian, Kasper de Roo, Kyung Soo Wong Mario Benzecri, Simon Blech, Pedro I. Calderon, Carlos Giraudo and Juan Carlos Zorzi. She plays with the Philharmonic Orchestras of Buenos Aires, Florida, Dortmund and Montpellier, and the Bohemian Pardubice Chamber Philharmonic.In 2000 Marcela Roggeri gave a memorable concert with the Brazilian pianist Marcelo Bratke at the Wigmore Hall in London. The programme consisted of pieces for two pianos by Gershwin, Bernstein and Copland, 2000 being the centenary of Copland's birth. The critics were unanimous in their acclaim. The Independent described the concert as ‘uniquely exciting ... the pianists only looked at each other when they started a piece because they felt the music together’. And the Royal Academy Magazine added: ‘the pianists performed a spirited programme of music that almost had us dancing in the aisles of the Wigmore Hall...’ They also made a recording (‘The Open Prairie’) of Aaron Copland's complete works for two pianos.Marcela Roggeri continues to work with Marcelo Bratke. For two years they gave a series of concerts entitled ‘400 years of Modern Music’. These unusual concerts combined piano and percussion, the latter played by Meninos do Morumbi, a group of musicians drawn from the favelas of Brazil. The concerts were an extraordinary success wherever they performed, from the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London to the concert halls of Brazil and Argentina.In 2003 and 2004 Marcela Roggeri and Marcelo Bratke presented another enterprising programme, this time with the Brazilian Grupo Charanga: ‘Carnival Trilogy’ – works by Darius Milhaud, Ernesto Nazareth and Heitor Villa-Lobos. Once again, the critics showed great enthusiasm. The daily newspaper La Nación described the project as ‘one of the major artistic events of 2004’.These projects also show Marcela Roggeri's personal commitment to charity work in Brazil and Argentina, where she often gives concerts and masterclasses in aid of charity organisations fighting against poverty.Marcela also enjoys playing chamber music and appears regularly with the violinist Pablo Saravi. Following the concert they gave together at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires in 2002, La Nación wrote: ‘Excellent impression… the two artists expressed moments of radiant, crystal-clear melodic purity.’Marcela Roggeri is regularly invited to appear at festivals in France (Nohant, Montpellier, Reims...) and other countries. In July 2004, at the ‘Flâneries musicales’ in Reims, she gave a recital of works by Erik Satie – a programme that came naturally to ‘the most French of Argentine pianists’. Following the performance in Reims, she took the programme on tour internationally.
Marcela now lives in London and gives regular recitals and orchestral or chamber concerts in Europe as well as in North and South America. Her repertoire ranges from Mozart to John Cage, from Shostakovich to Copland, not forgetting the composers from the continent of her childhood: Heitor Villa-Lobos, Alberto Ginastera, Astor Piazzolla...February 2005
