Opera Chic

Extremely Proud and Incredibly Cool: Thibaudet's Film Cred Grows

Jean-Yves Thibaudet Goes To Hollywood (again). The French pianist (who we recently interviewed here) collaborated on the soundtrack of the Hollywood adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer's novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close that opens on December 25 in NYC and Los Angeles.

The film's soundtrack was composed by Alexandre Desplat whose credits run mad deep -- Terrence Malick's masterpiece The Tree of Life and The King's Speech -- but all we can think about is the fact that Desplat looks exactly like the Armenian real estate developer who got an unhappy ending on American Horror Story.

The movie stars Tom Hanks as the deceased Thomas Schell, Sandra Bullughhhck as the widow, and newcomer Thomas Horn as the book's protagonist. And Max von Sydow.

Thibaudet's previously dipped into Hollywood soundtracks for Atonement and Pride and Prejudice. You can hear some of his twinkling keys in the trailer here. [Warning: U2's Where the Streets have no Name plays at the end...you've been warned!]

The Pianist with Opera (and Fashion) in his Heart: Jean-Yves Thibaudet Exclusive Interview

It's the eve of an American, two-city program with Austrian mezzo-soprano Angelika Kirchschlager that brings him back to the periphery of the opera world that he loves so much. French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet offers NYC and Boston the rarer works of Liszt Lieder and (normally-known Brahms Lieder), an antidote to Liszt's ~Greatest Hits~ that everyone's been churning out during the Hungarian composer's 200th birth year. The two peerless performers are well-matched -- we were hypnotized by Kirchschlager's killer kurves in a Milan Mahler recital a couple years ago, and aside from her bulletproof technique and the rousing Kurt Weill cabaret encores, she was an on-stage tractor beam in a figure-hugging, very rock'n'roll dress.

Versatile, lively, and unwavering, Thibaudet swings from composer to composer with big ideas as easily as he swings between genre. His Liszt Opera Transcriptions CD from almost a decade ago ignited a curious crossover of Liszt into the works of Wagner, Mozart, Donizetti, etc., while showcasing his clarity, brilliance, and energy. Even his concert garb pushes the boundaries – the pianist’s stylist is the British doyenne of lux-punk rock, Vivienne Westwood. 

The two-city tour runs this weekend, with the first show tonight in Boston and the second one tomorrow night at Carnegie's Zankel Hall.

Click the link below to read the full interview...