A touch of French folly

Few can resist tinkling the ivories, but many are those who fail to tame the beast. Alex Vella Gregory speaks to pianist Florian Caroubi about the occupational hazards of piano playing. “The piano is a very treacherous instrument.” How many times have you heard that phrase before? That majestic instrument with its shiny black-and-white smile is nothing but a death-trap for innocent music lovers. Maybe I am being a bit too dramatic, but Florian Caroubi certainly thinks that to master the emperor of all instruments you need to do a lot more than just press the notes. Caroubi started piano lessons when he was just five, but was more inclined to pursue the guitar as a main instrument. At 16, he entered a conservatory and decided the piano was his instrument. Teenage crises don’t come better than this. Of course, this is not some teenage fantasy come true, but rather a very mature decision from someone whose interests in life include literature, art, theatre and nature. After all, by the time he was 16 he had already accompanied his aunt Andrée Caroubi, who is an opera singer, in more than 100 recitals. Caroubi is what one could refer to as a typical European musician.