Two familial classical music links I learned of in the past week or so:
First, Riccardo Muti revealed earlier this month in Chicago, at the premiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s “Megalopolis Suite” (derived from Golijov’s score to the Francis Ford Coppola film), that he is a second cousin of the director.
Although the revelation was certainly a surprise, he is not Coppola’s only musical relation. The director’s father was composer Carmine Coppola, who contributed music to a number of his films. (He shared an Academy Award with Nino Rota for his work on “The Godfather Part II.”) Coppola’s uncle, Carmine’s brother, was the composer and conductor Anton Coppola. If there is a family connection with conductor Piero Coppola, who made first recordings of Ravel and Debussy and accompanied Prokofiev in the first recording of the composer’s Piano Concerto No. 3, it has yet to be officially established.
Coppola was also responsible for foreign distribution of Hans-Jürgen Syberberg’s film adaptation of Wagner’s “Parsifal.”
Muti was music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1980 to 1992. He directed the Chicago Symphony from 2010 to 2023. He was recently named the orchestra’s Music Director Emeritus for Life.
Second, I just learned a day or two ago that, in addition to being an actress, Denzel Washington’s wife, Pauletta, is a Juilliard-trained pianist who was a Van Cliburn competitor, as revealed in this interview for Classic FM.
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1590169658254755
According to the Winston-Salem Journal, Pauletta (née Pearson) began entering piano competitions at age 10, before studying at the North Carolina School of the Arts, The Juilliard School, and the University of North Texas.
She recorded the song “It’s in Your Eyes” for Denzel’s 1993 film “Philadelphia” and played piano on the soundtrack of “Antwone Fisher.”
From Pauletta’s website: “She studied piano at Julliard, then was introduced to the jazz world by Miles Davis and members of the Lionel Hampton Orchestra. In her early twenties, Pauletta was starring in the national tour of a Broadway show, and had begun to build a vibrant career working with theater luminaries Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jerry Herman and Jules Styne [sic].”
Speaking of pianos, Washington has produced an adaptation of August Wilson’s “The Piano Lesson” (directed by his son, Malcolm). The film, which stars Samuel Jackson and features cameos by Denzel and Pauletta, is now in theaters.
