Two legends from the piano world – Ursula Oppens and Maria Joao Pïres – celebrated their 80^th birthdays recently, confident their health is robust and pleased that their calendars are full.

In separate interviews, both showed surprising vitality and determination to continue performing, recording and traveling. Neither was short on opinions of where the piano world is going and how they intend stay fully involved.

Said Oppens: “My mind is still functioning the way I want it to.”  Her devotion to contemporary music is unwavering. “It can be difficult, yes, but often it is absolutely wonderful. There is no limit to how exciting it can be. It’s very, very thrilling. You bring to life something that has not existed before.”

Pires would admit to only one problem: She suffers from dystonia (involuntary muscle contraction) requiring “too much effort”. Moreover, her entire career has been hampered by her small hands. (She presses her open palms against my “piano hands. I easily envelope hers in mine.)

Oppens, a lifelong New Yorker, took a break from a music festival in North Carolina to respond to a barrage of my questions during an extended telephone interview. She stands apart from today’s keyboard virtuosos by her five decades of discovering and commissioning new works. These contributions to the repertory ensure her a permanent place in pantheon of modern music.

Pires relaxed backstage with me at the Bordeaux Auditorium concert hall where a few hours later she would play from memory for 90 minutes without intermission. Her Mozart sonatas and Debussy selections won her a standing ovation, a rarity in this hall. Modestly, she insisted “it’s not about me, you know. We don’t need the ovation. We have more values to protect — nature and art, life itself.“

(Here are edited excerpts of the conversation with Maria Joao ¨Pires.)

MJ: Your fans have been expecting you to retire for some time. What does your agenda say?

 MJP: No, I am not ready to retire. I have a couple of concerts coming soon, then I need a vacation, then in the fall I go to the Far East, to Taiwan, Korea, Japan.

What? Nothing in piano-mad China?

 I have played a lot in Japan over my career but I don’t play in China any more because they won’t give me a visa.

Why not?

At a conference a few years ago l played for the Dalai Lama. To the Chinese leadership, that’s a no-no! But I still have many private students in China working with me online.

In Asia there are large numbers of serious piano students – too many for their local needs. Some of them will become great artists and they will come to the West, won’t they?

 Certainly.

Are you concerned about the influx awaiting us?

I’m very concerned . Mainly about the number of people who don’t get the transmission of knowledge from a school or a culture to them, the players.

In a recent workshop in the United States you had six students, five of whom were Asians. Is that a sign of the future?

It is. No more comment.

Do you have an opinion about competitions?

I have an opinion, a very strong opinion. Competition and art do not go together. Unfortunately young people believe that if they don’t participate in competitions, they cannot earn a living. That’s an illusion, I promise you, it’s a total illusion.

Over the past 20 years, workshops and teaching are taking you more and more away from the concert stage.

Yes, I have always been interested in the transmission of skills and knowledge. As an adult, I realized that the transmission is cut back. So the transmission of art is not happening any more. I wish we could be stronger in our complaining about what’s going on. We have no clear view over future generations. How to teach them, how to deal with problems.

 How much more stamina is there in you, living in hotels, taking planes and trains throughout Europe and Asia? Doesn’t that wear you down?

Yes, it does, and I was sick really badly for six months and this was a very good lesson for me. My body and spirit were saying “Come on, take care of yourself.” I still have a bit of energy, but I rest when I need to rest.

 If you could choose, how do you want to be remembered after your time runs out?

No problem. I have no wish at all. All right, I have one wish. When I die, I don’t want to die stupid or mean.

(Herewith edited excerpts from the interview with Ursula Oppens.)

MJ: You are perhaps best known for your commissioning of new works. Are there others out there also looking for new ideas? Or are you alone?`

UO: Oh no. There are people like that all over the place.

Where has your commissioning money come from? Family funds?

No, some has come from foundation grants. For example, I received a big grant from the Washington Performing Arts Society. But funding commissions can come from all kinds of sources.

When did you start commissioning?

 I didn’t really commission until after(Radcliffe) college. The first composers I approached to write pieces for me were Tobias Picker and Peter Lieberson. I recorded both their pieces. One composer who had a great influence on me was John Harbison.

I believe the late Fredric Rzewski was among your friends. You knew him well, didn’t you?

 Oh yes, he was a very, very, very close friend. I commissioned his “People United Will Never be Defeated”. The most recent piece I commissioned from him was “Friendship”. It was very much a pandemic piece. For two years we couldn’t see each other, but he could write and I could play. He died at 83 in Italy during the pandemic.

Don’t you have a new CD coming out soon?

Yes, it’s the music of Charles Wourinen. Mostly solo piano but there’s also a ballet for two pianos that we still have to record. I knew Charles well and worked with him from 1966 to his death in 2020, maybe the longest relationship I’ve had.

In your CD “Winging It”, you featured the John Corigliano music that you enabled. You commission something, the composer writes it and you play it and record it. Is that how it works?

That’s what it’s all about. What’s exciting is that after a while other people start playing it. When you commission a piece it’s a little bit like having a child. You let the child go out into the world, make his own friends, and live his own life.

Most of the musicians I talk to avoid contemporary music because it requires so much learning and that takes time. Are these pieces really that difficult to master?

It can be difficult, yes, but often it is absolutely wonderful. There is no limit to how exciting it can be. There’s something about reading notation when you don’t know yet how it’s going to sound. It’s very, very thrilling. You bring to life something that has not existed before.

Do you have any fear of being slightly crowded out by the Asians who have suddenly discovered us?

No. If immigration were not part of America I would not exist. I am the daughter of immigrants. We are a mixture, and that is fantastic. I know some of the great young pianists are Chinese. There are people everywhere who can run better, who can jump better, and there are people who play the piano better.

What preparations are you making for the end?

I will keep making music as long as I can. I know that one day I won’t be able to, and that’s a normal part of life. But I don’t wish to be playing the harp for eternity.

Michael Johnson is a former Moscow correspondent who has written on music for the International New York Times, Clavier Companion, and other publications. He divides his time between Bordeaux and Brookline.