Denis Gravina or the sublimated piano, from Cousances to the international stages

“For Music, I put my life on hold”. Denis Gravina, concert pianist, made his debut in Cousances-les-Forges, a Meuse town on the edge of Northern Haute-Marne. He is now based in London and performs on the biggest international stages. He will perform with two other virtuosos on November 23 and 24 in Savonnières and Stainville.

At the age of 5, when he attended the Cousances-les-Forges music school, Denis Gravina was an active child, brimming with life. The piano teacher, Denis Sé, observes him, doubtful, because playing this instrument requires being calm and having a stable posture.

Three months later, he reads music much better than words and translates all sounds into notes, thanks to his perfect pitch. The young man remembers “I was very young, my parents had bought a piano for my older brother. I was on it all the time! But in music, there are terms to know, a lot of things to learn, I was a little lost so they all helped me.”

At 13, his teacher told him, almost apologetically, “I can’t teach you anything anymore, you have to find a professional.” After a brief stay in Bar-le-Duc, his father enrolled him at the Claude-Daunot high school in Nancy. Denis confides “I was 14, it was too early. My mother had difficulty accepting it then she resigned herself because you don’t have children to keep them. I think she wasn’t able to educate me the way she wanted, but I’m always there for her! “.

Entrance to the Nancy conservatory is already a challenge “they put me in the last level, crazy stuff! It was weird, I felt like a robot! I was in a room with 18/20 year old pianists, I had studied the third movement of the Schumann sonata and in fact we had to play the first! I started to cry but I was told to play this 3rd movement on stage, that the jury would give me a chance. They knew very well that they had made a mistake by choosing the wrong level, it was their fault! And I was accepted! “.

So, for 10 years, he discovered harmony, writing music “it was very strict, you’re 14 years old and if you don’t have the exam in two months, you’ll be fired! I was in an ejection seat! Those were crazy days, with school and the conservatory in the evening, I see myself at La Malgrange in boarding school dining alone from a meal tray.”

Au London College of Music

After passing the music baccalaureate, the young pianist does not know where to direct his steps. He studied musicology for two years, focusing on history and research, “but I saw my dream of playing the piano slipping away and I needed to learn.”

His future was then written in English, he left for London at the age of 23 to follow his “girlfriend”. He gets out of the taxi and says to himself “what am I doing here?” “. He auditioned at the London College of Music, where Freddy Mercury studied, among others. The school is huge “with Steinway grand pianos everywhere”.

An endless wait begins: “two months without any news, I was in Paris to follow intensive English training, 8 hours a day because I didn’t have the level at all. Without being taken to school, I would still have gone to London. I was then contacted by Skype, in English and I understood absolutely nothing! Then my interlocutor tells me, in French, that I am taken! I was lucky, she was bilingual”.

His happiness is immeasurable “I kissed everyone. Even my English teachers in Paris couldn’t believe it! “. However, there is one condition: “if in five months you do not speak our language fluently, you will have to leave”. The only non-English speaking student but also the only French student, Denis held on “for three months, no one dared to speak to me, everyone looked at me strangely and when I spoke, they died of laughter! In December, during the exam, they saw me play and then they understood that I was someone different. For five years, I had no life, I played all the time, 8 to 10 hours a day, with a break every hour. It was crazy! “.

After obtaining a bachelor’s degree, he returned to France for a fortnight. He misses London and wants to make his life there. He confides “I started from nothing and it works! People only see the image of the piano, but behind it, it requires enormous sacrifices.” Being bilingual changes his life, the doors of the world open to him and he plays in Türkiye, Italy and soon in Cuba.

Surrounded by many musician friends, Denis Gravina now makes his living from music, especially from teaching. He teaches 54 students, aged 4 to 62, of all nationalities. He was touched by an autistic student “when I saw her two years ago, she was completely closed, today she is opening up, she is playing really well”. He also organizes masterclasses and loves “teaching music to the whole world; it’s rewarding, people have a different way of playing, it brings me so much that I could talk about it for hours! “.

“We have a very small budget, but you will taste Lorraine pâté and quiche”

At the request of the public, the idea of ​​a recital in the Meuse matured in his mind. He says “after Covid, I gave a concert in the Aulnois church, it was packed and people asked me if there would be another recital”. He then offers three musicians to accompany him to France but specifies “we have a very small budget, but you will taste Lorraine pâté, Lorraine quiche and you will stay with locals”. They agree immediately.

Pianist Graham Caskie, Denis’ mentor, will perform with him “he is an incredible musician, great artist, professor at the London Conservatory. He will play Ravel, Debussy, Rachmaninoff and Brahms.” Denis will play Chopin. Accompanying them will be Lester Chio, clarinetist of Cuban origin and professor at the Paris Conservatory, who has played all over the world including South Korea, Mexico, Colombia, as well as Eralys Fernandez, also Cuban, who works with Denis in London. “She had a difficult life and did a lot of humanitarian work, she even sent a grand piano to the Cuban Conservatory! “. Denis is delighted with their arrival: “All three of them are big names in music and they don’t hesitate to come to the Meuse. I warned them: we’re not in Paris, there are forests, cows! “.

The festival is therefore being prepared and Denis can count on unfailing support from the Codecom des Portes de Meuse, from Fabrice Petermann, mayor of Savonnières-en-Perthois, from Marie-Hélène Gallois, mayor of Stainville, from the abbey of Jovilliers , his family and all the volunteers who, among other tasks, distribute the flyers.

Denis Gravina has another dream, to play on a grand piano at the Saint-Dizier theater. An accessible dream.

From our correspondent

Catherine Millot

“So classic” concert, Saturday November 23, at 8 p.m., at the Savonnières-en-Perthois village hall and Sunday November 24, at 3 p.m., in the Stainville church.