RALEIGH -- When officials with the financially strapped N.C. Symphony contacted renowned French pianist Pascal Rogé to inform him that they could no longer afford to bring him to Raleigh as a guest artist, they were stunned by his reply.
Rogé said he would come to North Carolina to play free and that he would bring his pianist wife, Ami Rogé, to perform with him.
As a result, Rogé will sandwich his paid performances in London, Singapore and Stuttgart and other stops on his world tour with unpaid concerts in Raleigh (Dec. 4 and 5) and Southern Pines (Dec. 3).
Rogé on Tuesday downplayed his decision, saying it was spur of the moment. He said he doesn't know anybody in North Carolina or have any connection to the symphony. In fact, he's never been here before. Rogé said he thought it would be a nice gesture to help out an orchestra that is struggling.
"My profession is not a profession," Rogé said in a telephone interview from New York on Tuesday. "It's being on stage doing what I like. It's a pleasure. Of course you have to make a living. But ideally, concerts are about love of the music and love for the audience. It's nice to be able, for once, to do a concert for the real reason."
Arts groups across the country are hurting in this economy, with the value of their endowments plunging, corporate and individual donors cutting back and audiences curtailing ticket purchases. The Baltimore Opera went out of operation this year. The lobbying group Americans for the Arts says that 10 percent of all arts organizations in the country are at risk of folding.
On Tuesday, two Raleigh opera companies announced they would merge, in part to better survive the recession. The Triangle's ballet, theater and museums have joined the state symphony in scrambling to cut costs.
The chances of Rogé's playing in North Carolina seemed remote last spring.
The symphony began contacting a number of guest artists and visiting conductors it had lined up for the 2009-2010 season to say it could no longer afford them. The N.C. Symphony, like many orchestras across the country, has been struggling during the recession as it has faced a sharp drop in contributions and season ticket subscriptions.
The orchestra has taken steps to reduce costs, including cutting salaries, staging fewer pops concerts, canceling a European tour and dropping some elaborate pieces that required extra musicians and guest artists and conductors.
Among those canceled - technically indefinitely postponed - are mezzo-soprano Catherine Wyn-Rogers, pianist Peter Donohoe, and guest conductors Andrea Quinn and Alexander Mickelthwate.
Rogé was scheduled to perform French composer Francis Poulenc's Concerto for Two Pianos with another French pianist, Jean-Philippe Collard.
A day after Scott Freck, the symphony's general manager, contacted Rogé's agent, he heard back. He was told that Rogé loves playing the piece, he had already blocked out the week, and he proposed replacing Collard, who had already backed out, by bringing his wife.
"I think my reaction was 'Wow!'" said Freck. "It was a stunning statement that he still wanted to come down and play."
The symphony agreed to pick up the airfare from the couple's home in New York and hotel expenses. Symphony officials would not discuss Rogé's fee, but typically someone of his standing would be paid a fee of high four figures or low five figures.
French elegance on the keyboard
A third-generation musician, Rogé, 58, was born and raised in a Paris suburb. By age 11, he was studying at the Paris Conservatory. By 18, he was performing solo recitals in Paris and London and was soon winning prizes and touring around the world. He is noted for his interpretation of 20th-century French composers and has recorded many of them including Poulenc, Ravel, Satie, Saint-Saens, Faure and Debussy.
He regularly appears with the world's great orchestras including Philadelphia Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony, and l'Orchestra de Paris, The Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and all the major London orchestras.
But they have always paid for what critics call his French elegance on the keyboard.
Next week, Rogé's elegance will be a gift to North Carolina.
