On the eve of her appearance at Piano City Milano, pianist and mathematician Ingrid Carbone returns to the format that best represents her artistic identity: the “concert-conversation,” an experience that combines musical performance, cultural dissemination, and analytical reflection.

Tomorrow, Saturday, May 16th, at 10:30 a.m., at the CASVA – Center for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts in Milan, the artist will present the Piano Lesson “The Female Universe Through the Notes of Schubert, Liszt, and Leoncavallo,” a journey through the many nuances of the female experience through Romantic and Verist music. Read the full interview by Alessia Andreon (in Italian) here>>

Here’s a translated excerpt.

An international concert pianist and professor of mathematics at the University of Calabria, Ingrid Carbone has forged a unique path in the contemporary music scene over the years, blending scientific rigor and interpretive sensitivity. Her recordings, published by Da Vinci Publishing, have earned her international recognition, including nominations at the International Classical Music Awards and awards at the Global Music Awards. Alongside her concert activity, she pursues ongoing research and dissemination on the relationship between music and mathematics, a topic that has been the focus of conferences, masterclasses, and meetings hosted in Italy and abroad.

In this interview, she explains how her approach to “concert-conversation” was born, the dialogue between music and mathematical thought, the significance of the program presented at Piano City Milano, and the role that dissemination can play today in forging a new relationship between classical music and younger generations.

INTERVIEW
The “concert-conversation” formula combines dissemination, performance, and analysis: how did the need to narrate music through words and mathematical thought arise?
The main reason is undoubtedly dissemination: sharing what I do and allowing the audience to understand the entire process behind the creation of a piece, the research, and the interpretative choices. It’s a way, in my intentions, to bring the audience closer to the artist, erasing distances, and making them aware of what they’re about to hear.

This is where the idea of ​​the conversation-concert was born. On the other hand, there’s mathematics, which is a profound part of my life: in addition to having a mathematical background, I’m a university researcher, so it’s also my professional activity. This inevitably has very concrete implications for the way I study music and read scores. The benefit I derive from this approach is clear.

Of course, everything also depends on the context. There are occasions when I can add a more descriptive section dedicated to mathematics applied to music, but to do so I need multimedia tools, like a screen or projector, and the venues don’t always allow it. For example, tomorrow there will be a conversation-concert at the piano, but without explicit references to mathematics.

Piano City Milano presents the program “The Feminine Universe Through the Notes of Schubert, Liszt, and Leoncavallo”: which female figures, emotions, or archetypes emerge most from the selected works?
It was a very deliberate and carefully considered choice. On the one hand, there are four pieces from Leoncavallo’s Suite espagnole, which clearly convey—also through the composer’s typical verism—the colors, emotions, sounds, and instruments of the Spanish folk tradition. Here, the figure of the woman of the people emerges, the woman who also expresses the difficulties of her existence through dance. Let’s not forget that flamenco was not born as a festive music, but carries with it suffering and emotional intensity.

During the concert, I will highlight all the elements of Spanish tradition present in these pieces: the rhythm of the flamenco dancer’s heels, the guitar, the clapping of hands. I will try to convey all of this directly in the music.

With Schubert, however, we move to a completely different Europe: an aristocratic and noble context. For this occasion, I chose Liszt’s transcription of “Die junge Nonne” (“The Young Nun”), one of Schubert’s most extraordinary songs. It recounts the inner struggle of a girl likely forced to take vows, renouncing the privileges and temptations of earthly life.

It is therefore another form of female hardship: not that of a common woman struggling to survive, but that of a young woman from a privileged family catapulted into a world she didn’t choose.

I’m interested in observing women’s difficulties from different social perspectives, and I believe these issues are still very relevant today. Unfortunately, we continue to talk about women’s rights, rights to be defended and, in some cases, still to be won. For this reason, I believe these pieces don’t belong to the past, but still speak profoundly to our present.