“Music is a bridge between worlds.”

The pianist will perform on October 25 at the Teatro Coliseo with a program that unites Beethoven, Mahler, The Beatles, and Cerati in a dialogue between centuries, styles, and emotions.

EVENT. Lavandera combines the Diabelli Variations, Mahler rolls, and versions of popular rock imagery in a single concert.

Perfil. 12 de octubre de 2025 – Jonás Zabala

There are concerts that seem designed to build bridges. On October 25, Horacio Lavandera will take the stage at the Teatro Coliseo to unite universes that, at first glance, have nothing in common: Beethoven and Mahler, The Beatles and Cerati. With his performance, the Argentine pianist proposes a journey through the history of music that crosses aesthetic and emotional boundaries. “Everything is connected: the spirit that Beethoven or Mahler were seeking is the same one that appears in Lennon or Cerati,” says Lavandera in this conversation with PERFIL, where he previews the details of a recital that promises to be one of the musical highlights of the year. Suma: “I’ve always felt that music is a continuum. Beethoven and Mahler were great innovators, and so were The Beatles and Cerati in their respective languages. The concert seeks to show how each of them, from their time onward, asked the same question: what it means to excite through sound. I didn’t think of it as a contrast, but as a dialogue.”

—In your early days, you mentioned that you never saw music as a career. What place does that idea have today?

—I never thought of it as a career. I studied music before learning to read or write, and that left its mark on me. There were several child prodigies in my family, so from a young age I understood that behind talent lies commitment, effort, and discipline. Winning the Umberto Micheli Award was an enormous experience: playing at La Scala, at 16, in front of a jury including Pollini and Berio, was a dream and a test. Then came tours in Europe, the United States, and Japan, and meeting great musicians and patrons who always supported me.

—Your new offering unites The Beatles with Cerati, Beethoven, and Mahler. How did that connection come about?

—After a tour in the United States, my producer asked me if I could incorporate some rock music. I thought about the classical music audience, who are now over 70 years old, and who probably listened to The Beatles in their youth.

From there came the idea of ​​a “Dance Suite” based on his music and a sonata dedicated to Cerati, inspired by Ginastera. At the same time, I included Beethoven’s arrangements of English folk songs and works by Mahler, whom McCartney admired. Everything started to make sense: it was like revealing invisible threads between worlds that seemed separate.

—How did the audience respond to this dialogue between classical and rock?

—It was incredible. We performed more than twelve concerts, and I noticed genuine emotion, both in the regular audience and in those approaching classical music for the first time. For me, building bridges is fundamental. Music shouldn’t enclose, but rather open. The great masters—Bach, Beethoven, Chopin—already did this: they transformed each style into a profound human experience.

—You’re also performing Beethoven’s “33 Diabelli Variations.” What does that work represent for you?

—It’s one of the pinnacles of the piano repertoire. It’s more than fifty minutes of pure invention, a spiritual synthesis of his entire life. I’m playing it in public for the first time this year, although I had already recorded it during the pandemic, one variation per day.

—Your interest in piano rolls is unusual in a contemporary performer.

—Yes, I’ve been fascinated by them since I was a child. At my school, there was a piano with rolls, and it seemed magical to me. It’s a way to learn from the composers themselves, to understand how they thought. This year, I’ll include them in my concerts along with the Adagietto from the Fifth Symphony, immortalized by Visconti in Death in Venice.

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