
ABOUT
Born in Rio de Janeiro, Eliane Rodrigues was quickly identified to be a musical child prodigy. Her talent was discovered early on and was fostered by Helena Gallo, then Arnaldo Estrella, who himself was a student of Alfred Cortot and Yves Nat.
At the age of three she started composing before she could even read or write notes. By the time she was seven her compositions had resulted in two piano methods. In addition to this she played her first recital at the age of five and made her first TV appearance a year later in which she played Haydn's Piano Concerto in D major with the Orquestra Sinfonica Nacional. Just a year later she played Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major (K. 488), once again with the National Symphony Orchestra. From that moment on she won prizes at numerous regional and national competitions, going on to win the special prize and the Gina Bachauer prize at the Van Cliburn Competition in the USA when she was just 18.
After this she moved to Belgium, continuing her studies with Jacques Detiège (a student of Leon Fleischer and Maria Curcio). She won first place at many national competitions and reached fifth place at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 1983. This lifted her career to international acclaim. Next to performing on stage she is also professor at the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp.
She has recorded over 25 CDs of both live concerts and studio albums, amongst them Sergey Prokofiev's five piano concertos and all eight of Beethoven's piano concertos in St. Petersburg.
In recent years she has partnered with music label Parma and has already released several new albums, out on Naxos, iTunes, Amazon and spotify.
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"This album hit the nail right on the head. Each pianist knows they represent an entire orchestra and Eliane and Nina brilliantly succeed in producing all those different colors. Carlo and Koen hold the reins tightly and beat the drums to their heart's content. Sparks of joy are flying all around!" Thomas Vanderveken - Belgian presenter (The Gershwin and Bernstein connection)
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"She exudes a bright, pure light. Her delicate appearance hides a mysterious power that only master concert pianists possess. When Rodrigues takes on an opus with her familiar liveliness, the listener forgets all the technical aspects. All the listener hears is a dragonfly that flits through eternally blue skies."
Frans Verleyen - Knack Magazine
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"I am speechless. Such intensity, so much refined dialectic skill with thesis-antithesis-synthesis, such a fine misting of benevolent notes, colours with an unknown depth... your unique subtlety in expressing an existential drama - for me, it is a dark, cloudy sky after a rainstorm, through which the sun is trying to break. I have the utmost respect for who you are, what you do, how you do it, and how absolutely beautiful and incredibly meticulous and precise it is."
Bart Stouten - VRT (Beethoven 4CD)
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"In each of the Nocturnes she plunges into their collective heart traversing their boundless emotional range with an aristocratic imperiousness that sets her interpretations apart from almost anyone else's."
Raoul de Gama, World Music Report Senior Writer (Chopin - Notturno)
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"Eliane Rodrigues plays Claude Debussy the way Debussy would have loved to be played. "Pour le Piano" could not be better interpreted than by Miss Rodrigues. It is a commanding performance - as it ought to be in the dazzling arpeggios and liquid runs of the "Prelude" and as lithe and well-mannered as fairies hop-scotching on both the "Sarabande" and the Toccata".
A disc to die for..."
Raul da Gama - WMR Senior Writer - (Debussy - Reflets)
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