Musicadium Blog

After being mesmerised by his performance on popular TV show, ‘Australia’s Got Talent’, we are excited to feature the classically trained virtuoso pianist and vocalist Glenn Amer – whose musical career has taken him to nearly every corner of the globe and has seen him perform live to crowds of over 20 000 people.

Musicadium is extremely proud to distribute two of Glenn’s albums – ‘Sincerely Yours’ and ‘A Personal Collection’ – both of which are as diverse as they are entertaining. Featuring tracks such as, ‘Clancy of the Overflow’, ‘Because Of You’, and even a tribute to the always-entertaining Liberace, Glenn has found himself with a dedicated International following and a number of fascinating stories to share. I was lucky enough to catch up with him and hear about stories of concerts in caves, glissando injuries and mistaken identities.

Your repertoire extends from playing J.S. Bach on an organ to playing Burt Bacharach love ballads, do you have a favourite song that you love to perform?

My problem is that I love too many different styles of music – if that can be described as a problem. But I’ll pin my favourite song as being “Laura” -written in 1944 as the theme for the film of the same name.

You have travelled and performed extensively, including visits to China, Japan, India, New Zealand, Fiji, American Samoa, Mexico, Hawaii, Canada, Alaska and all over Australia. Which audience have you found to be the most receptive to your work? Have you played in any unorthodox locations?

The most receptive audiences I have are generally Australians and Americans. They really love hearing music performed live and I am always grateful when people take the time to write to me and express how they have felt after one of my performances.

Perhaps one of the most unusual venues I’ve performed in would be the Jenolan Caves – a few hours drive over the Blue Mountains in Sydney. The caves are spectacular – an underground magical world. Of course it’s a little difficult to get a grand piano into the caves, so on those occasions I’ve used a keyboard.

You have collaborated with so many brilliant musicians throughout your career. If you could collaborate with any musician (alive or dead) who would it be?

Where do I begin? There are so many singers I would have loved to work with. The American Soprano, Helen Traubel (1899-1972) had a voice of such amazing warmth and power. The great tenor Jan Peerce (1904-1984) is another one of my favourites. I tried to write to Jan Peerce when I was a kid; unfortunately my letter was returned with the information that he had only just passed away. I’d have loved to have met the Australian composer/pianist Percy Grainger (1882-1961) – I’ve been fortunate to have played some of his pianos. A few more, Liberace and Robert Goulet…Robert Goulet was very kind to me and encouraging to me early in my solo career, but unfortunately I never met him in person.

Your piano-playing style is at times very technically demanding - have you ever sustained any injuries while playing? Have you ever played until your fingers have bled?

Not till my fingers have bled so much, but I do often lose a layer of skin on the top of my index finger because of my glissandi! And that’s painful!

I hear that you were once mistaken for celebrity Chef Iain Hewittson and you ended up signing his autograph for a fan!

That’s very true. It was at a winery so perhaps the vino added to the confusion!

Musicadium is extremely proud to feature the very talented and entertaining Glenn Amer as our feature artist this month. He performs in Brisbane at the City recital hall with Yvonne Kenny on June 29 and we look forward to catching some of those dangerous glissandos in action.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 5th, 2008 at 5:39 pm and is filed under Featured Artist. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.