SYMPHONY OF THE SENSES

Prestige sits down with world-class pianist and Rolex Testimonee HÉLÈNE GRIMAUD as she shares her journey through sound and silence.

- CHARMIAN LEONG

It's hard to imagine a renowned instrumentalist in any other calling. In the world of classical music, thinking of Hélène Grimaud as anything other than one of the world's most respected classical pianists is like picturing Jimi Hendrix playing the harp. But piano wasn't Grimaud's first love.

"Like many little girls, I wanted to be a veterinarian," she reveals. "I probably would have been a good field biologist." But her music teacher recognised her potential despite being "relatively late" to the scene at age seven, and introduced her to the piano, saying Grimaud could "always switch later".

And she almost did. "After a couple of years at the local conservatory, I became really fascinated by instruments with a natural sustain," she says, which refers to string, wind, and brass instruments. "And I thought there was something inorganic about the piano because it was a percussive instrument. I'm not very good at staying still and I loved how violinists have the freedom to swing their instruments, or how cellists can feel the vibrations of their sound hitting their diaphragm. I tried it and I loved it, but I was already in piano classes."