The mill of daily storytelling was fed some pretty fine grist at Nelson Mandela’s memorial, as we discovered that the sign-language interpreter was an impostor. Lo and behold, it’s possible for people to make themselves up, even at a time when everyone is under some sort of scrutiny — be it Facebook or a subway platform camera.
- Classical Music 101: What Does A Conductor Do? - June 17, 2019
- Classical Music 101 | What Does Period Instrument Mean? - May 6, 2019
- CLASSICAL MUSIC 101 | What Does It Mean To Be In Tune? - April 23, 2019
I bring this up thanks to Ottawa pianist Mauro Bertoli who this week shared two gawk-worthy video clips with me, each having to do with a different type of musical impostor.
Unlike the unfortunate episode in South Africa, the musical impostors make for great entertainment.
Watching, laughing, gaping slack-jawed and then laughing some more made me realise that if there are people desperate enough to pretend they are fine concert artists, it must mean that classical music really is alive and well. Otherwise, why bother when you can make much more money as a fake dentist, or doctor or airline pilot?
Of Bertoli’s two musical impostors, the true scam artist is Ecuadorian citizen José Miguel Maschietto. With chutzpah as brazen as Mandela memorial interpreter Thamsanqa Jantjie’s, Maschietto transformed himself from anonymous pianist to critically lauded conductor of the Czech Philharmonic and the orchestra of the La Scala theatre.
He even gave himself credit for the soundtrack music for the Sandra Bullock film Gravity.
Thanks to Photoshop and the viral power of social media, it wasn’t too hard for Maschietto to create himself a golden career in no time flat (he’s 29).
Despite the amazing search capabilities of Google, hoodwinking people is amazingly easy to do.
Most people who introduce a guest or speaker at a public forum use a bio supplied by the guest, and wouldn’t think about fact-checking it. In the depleted ranks of mainstream media as well as in the thriving blogosphere, a lot of information gets passed around without much question, as well.
So, with a bit of luck, someone like Maschietto can not just continue but actually reinforce the charade for quite some time.
What about the orchestra that unwittingly hires someone like him? Well, it’s amazing how much poor technique there can be among real professional conductors, and orchestras are incredibly adept at fending for themselves when leadership on the podium fails. Maschietto, assuming he was actually not a competent conductor, would simply not be invited back.
You can get a digest version of Maschietto’s story here:
The other sort of musical impostor is the untalented person with enough money to buy their way onto the stage and into a recording studio.
The most famous — and widely adored — incompetent of the 20th century was would-be singer Florence Foster Jenkins (1868-1944; you can read her fascinating story here):
Bertoli’s shared video revealed that Jenkins’ indomitable, fractured musical spirit lives on in 21st century Polish violinist Anna Karkowska. Between guffaws, I noticed that Jenkins and Karkowska share a similarly slippery musical aesthetic and tenuous relationship with intonation.
Jenkins would pay for her recitals. Karkowska has, in the instance of her 2011 album Virtuosity, not only paid for a new piece of music, a recording studio and an orchestra (the London Symphony!), she has even paid for endorsements, which make for a professional-seeming promotional video.
Frauds are fun and, in the musical world at least, they don’t physically hurt anyone.
Keep them coming, because we all need a good laugh now and then.
John Terauds
- Classical Music 101: What Does A Conductor Do? - June 17, 2019
- Classical Music 101 | What Does Period Instrument Mean? - May 6, 2019
- CLASSICAL MUSIC 101 | What Does It Mean To Be In Tune? - April 23, 2019
