Brazilian Pianist Ronaldo Rolim Becomes International Messenger of Music
Ronaldo Rolim. Credit: Ryan Brandenberg.
Ronaldo Rolim is as sunny as his native Brazil. The pianist positively exudes joy and love for life, especially when talking about music. Trained as a pianist by his mother when he was very young, Rolim would eventually make his way to the United States where he would study with some of the world’s finest pianists. Now he is at the cusp of a brilliant career, performing the European classics and championing the rich musical legacy of Brazil.
Ronaldo Rolim Throws a Tantrum
Rolim’s mother started teaching when she was only 12-years-old. Now 59, she is still devoted to teaching. She began instructing Rolim when he was only four-years-old.
“She is particularly great with little kids,” Rolim said. “Beginners are really her specialty.”
She obviously instilled a great passion for piano in young Rolim because he was determined to make a mark at his very first recital.
“It was a remarkable performance because I wasn't feeling very well that day, and I was in the bathroom for a long time before the performance,” Rolim said. “I had the urge to be the very, very first in my mom's studio recital. I had to be the very, very first.”
Unfortunately, because Rolim was sick in the bathroom, his mother decided to begin the recital with a different student. This triggered young Rolim.
“I hear that the second guy started playing, and I was freaking out,” Rolim said. “I went straight to the stage. I don’t know if I had my pants on or anything. I was screaming and crying my eyes out. Everyone was laughing so hard. I was screaming, ‘I want to be first, I want to be first.’ I made an opera scene out of the whole thing.”
Music Chooses Ronaldo Rolim
Although Rolim displayed a precocious ambition at his first recital, he decided to pursue a career in journalism rather than music.
“I was always good with words, so I wanted to be a journalist,” Rolim said. “I decided when I was in high school that I was going to apply to school to study journalism. And I did. I applied twice, but I didn’t get in.”
Rolim never gave up piano playing while he was trying to get into college. Throughout his youth, even as he contemplated becoming a journalist, Rolim was receiving a solid musical education. At 11, he attended the Magda Tagliaferro School in São Paulo, which specializes in piano. And when he was 18, he won a competition that was a watershed. It happened in Rio de Janeiro, and the president of the jury was the legendary Brazilian pianist Nelson Freire.
“Nelson was always an inspiration to me,” Rolim said. “I was always enthralled by his playing and his musicianship and overall artistry. It was a huge honor just to have him listening to me.”
Rolim got to the finals, and was supposed to play the Beethoven Third Piano Concerto. It was going well, the first movement, the second movement. Then, in the third movement there was a memory slip.
“Immediately I thought, oh my God, this is over,” Rolim said. “You’re not winning this. Forget it. So I played to the end not expecting anything, but as soon as the performance was finished, the audience was going nuts, but that didn’t really matter too much to me. What mattered was that Nelson stood. I could see a huge smile on his face from ear to ear.”
Rolim was in a state of disbelief as Freire was congratulating him after the concert.
“At that moment, I was thinking, what are you doing? I mean, music is your life. It’s such a cliché to say it, but it really is true. It’s not that I chose music, but music chose me.”
Ronaldo Rolim in America
After winning the competition, Rolim decided to scrap his plans to be a journalist and pursue his true calling as a pianist. He won a scholarship to attend Oakland University in Michigan, where he was taught by Brazilian pianist Flavio Varani.
“I learned so much by being there,” Rolim said. “I couldn't drive. I didn't have a car. It's suburban Detroit, so, of course, you’re nothing without a car. I was literally on campus for nine months.”
Rolim describes his time at Oakland as an “immersive experience.” Varani proved be a friend and mentor, as well as a teacher.
“He helped me so much, and he always pushed me to learn repertoire and practice,” Rolim said. “We would have wonderful times. After we had our lesson from four to five in the afternoon, he would say, let’s go out to dinner. Then he would take me out to dinner and we would have a wonderful time. He would have a glass of wine, I would have some Coke. Too bad I wasn't drinking age yet.”
Onward and Upward to Peabody and Yale
After a year at Oakland, Rolim prepared for auditions to go to different places. Eventually he got into the prestigious Peabody Institute in Baltimore, Maryland.
“That started a whole new chapter in my life with a true performance-driven conservatory,” Rolim said.
Rolim was at Peabody for six years, where he earned three degrees: bachelor’s, master’s and artist diploma. After his time at Peabody, Rolim thought, what next?
“This is over and I’m going to have to go home to Brazil because I don't have anything else,” he said. “So in order to stay in the United States, I decided that I had to continue to be in school, and the only thing left in school was a doctorate degree. But it had to be a full scholarship because otherwise I couldn't afford it.”
Luckily for Rolim, who wanted to stay in the Northeast, there were two schools which offered full music scholarships, Yale and the City University of New York. Rolim decided to go with the former because, as he says, “Yale is Yale.” He received his doctorate there, studying under the great Boris Berman.
It’s Always Sunny for Ronaldo Rolim in Philadelphia
At one time, Rolim went to Philadelphia to audition for the Curtis Institute. Although he didn’t get in, he fell in love with the city. His wife, Xiaohui Yang, whom he met at the Ravinia Festival, did study at Curtis and she also loved Philadelphia. In the fall of 2017, after he received his doctorate from Yale and she graduated from Juilliard, they moved there.
“We've been here ever since,” Rolim said. “From Philadelphia we both do some teaching and perform a whole lot in the community and we use it as a base for rehearsals, for concerts and for going everywhere we need to go.”
And Rolim goes all over the world. He concertizes in North America, South America, Europe and Asia, both solo and with his chamber group, Trio Appassionata. He’s performed in the world’s great concert halls, but he says he prefers smaller, more intimate venues. One of his most memorable concerts was in Switzerland.
“It was a very, very high level experience at the Ernen Festival,” he said. “The village has maybe 200 people living at the top of the mountain, and there’s this church that's bigger than anything else in town. I had a solo recital there, and at the very end I played Davidsbündlertänze by Schumann. The piece ends very quietly, and when I finished it, nobody was breathing. I didn’t feel like moving for at least half a minute. What prompted the applause at last was the church bell. I was completely entranced.”
Ronaldo Rolim is a Musical Ambassador for Brazil
As Rolim performs around the world, the core classics make up most of his repertoire. But he also realizes that because of his nationality, audiences expect to hear him perform Brazilian music, as well.
“I do try to do as much Brazilian music as I can,” Rolim said. “Sometimes I don't do too much of it because I like to avoid labels. Of course, it's inevitable to some degree because you're representing your country’s culture, so I need to be the best representative possible.”
Rolim has a deep knowledge of Brazilian music and can talk at length about Villa Lobos and lesser known Brazilian composers, as well. He has also thought a lot about what makes Brazilian music Brazilian.
“Villa Lobos goes to the jungle, and spends two years there,” Rolim said. “His family thought he was dead because he never wrote a letter. He spent time with the natives and copied down their tunes. In many ways similar to what Bartók did in Hungary with the peasants. When he came back, then we started to really get a sense of Brazilianness. It's amazing because a lot of it is very simple tunes, but most important is the rhythm. The rhythm is crucial. It has a strong undeniable African influence because Brazil, like the United States, is heavily, heavily impacted by the slave trade in the 1600s and 1700s.”
Rolim notes that an important difference between the United States and Brazil is that the races in America have been historically kept very distinct. According to Rolim, Brazil is even more of a melting pot, and this mixing can be clearly heard in the music. He points to himself as a perfect example.
“I have a great-great grandfather who was black,” Rolim said. “My great-great grandparents from the other side of the family are natives. Mixed up with Portuguese. So, beside all that, I have a strong Italian contingent. That’s the racial mixture in our family. You can imagine what it's like in any other Brazilian family.”
Ronaldo Rolim Continues to Communicate
Rolim intends to continue bringing Brazilian music and the other classical repertoire to audiences around the world. This year, he is planning to mark two big anniversaries: the 200th anniversary of Brazilian independence and the 100th anniversary of modernism in Brazil.
“In 1922, in Sao Paolo there was what they called The Week of Modern Art,” Rolim said. "Basically it was recitals, some poetry, some visual art which are all kind of assimilating a new manner in Brazilian art. That area of music history is fascinating to me, all those different styles happening at the same time in the early teens and the early 20s. It’s really incredible music, and I like to explore it all.”
He’s planning other concerts, as well, both solo and with his beloved chamber trio. He’s also hoping to present some concerts with his wife. He and Yang are also planning to do a CD around the concept of black and white.
“That can apply to many things,” he said. “It can apply to color but can also apply to the fact that the piano is an instrument with black and white keys and also to race and to feelings and moods.”
Rolim also has some exciting recent news. He has been invited to join the faculty of the University of Puget Sound, in Tacoma, WA.
Although he didn’t become a journalist, Rolim still considers himself a communicator.
“I really cannot be more thankful for having the opportunity to share music,” he said. “Instead of using words as a journalist, I’m using music to communicate. Let’s face it, I think music is even more powerful than words. If you can communicate the essence of music, you’re being a wonderful messenger.”
