The one who said goodbye to the Roland-Garros tournament recently will remain there this summer to comment on the swimming and athletics events at the Paris Olympics. However, we cannot limit Nelson Monfort to his work as a journalist as this television character is passionate about music. After several biographies of famous singers, shows where he sometimes sings, the famous commentator presents a concert around Horowitz, his tormented life and the most famous pieces that the Russian pianist was able to perform.
From the seed of a music lover
Nelson Monfort’s first passion was not, as many people think, sport, but music. Member of a boys band during his adolescence, he was destined for a career as a singer. Life has turned out differently and this is not a regret for the journalist: “It’s not a regret because it accompanies my life so much that I feel like I’ve been immersed in it for a long time.” The one who adores French song, later became a fan of classical music, commenting on figure skating: “at that moment, I wanted to know more, especially about the lives of musicians.”
Telling the lives of musicians
Nelson Monfort goes to concerts very often and regrets that major works are not explained more: “Giving some information about the lives of those who composed them is sometimes lacking. I think we can do better.” He thus embarked, accompanied by musicians, on the development of a concert around Vladimir Horowitz. A timely choice to tell the life of a legendary artist and thus provide a new perspective on his interpretations. “I think his life is very closely linked to his music. He was not an easy person at all, he was very demanding. Torn by an extremely complicated love affair with sexual preferences which, at the same time, time, could not be admitted.”
Under Horowitz’s fingers Listen later
Lecture listen 1h 30
The Nelson Melody
The character Nelson Monfort, who has been seen on all the courts and ice rinks for over 30 years, seems to have calmed down without losing his fervor for sporting performance: “They nicknamed me Put-the-sound Less-strong. But it’s true that I calmed down a little bit over time. It’s true that listening is often much more effective than a lot of words. That’s what I’ve become, or at least what I’m trying to be.” A performance of his own which is not unrelated, according to the journalist, to music: “It’s a bit like music. You have to know how to keep quiet.” Before taking the microphone again to comment on swimming and athletics for the Paris Olympics, Nelson Monfort will take on the role of reciter for two concerts. His style ? Always the same : “I try to do it a little in the way I am speaking to you this morning, with enthusiasm, with fervor, sometimes with emotion.”
