Pianist Inés Sabatini, teacher and vice-director of the Conservatorio Superior “Manuel de Falla,” will travel to Europe in April 2024 as the first Argentine teacher selected by the Centro de Estudios Pianísticos – CEP for the Marisa Regules Scholarship. During her stay in Spain, Belgium, and Germany, she will establish contact with pianists, educators, and musical institutions. In this interview, Sabatini shares her expectations and the potential impact on her pedagogical and artistic career, emphasizing her commitment to enriching the musical sphere.
By: Virginia Chacon Dorr
What does it mean to you to have been selected by the Centro de Estudios Pianísticos – CEP for the Marisa Regules Scholarship?
Being a recipient of this scholarship is a great honor and a unique opportunity to study and refine myself in various aspects. I will visit significant institutions of higher musical education in Spain, Belgium, and Germany. I will participate in institutional visits, engaging with different authorities to deepen my understanding of admission procedures, curricula, instrument program designs, students’ artistic activities, and international agreements. I will also attend pedagogical sessions and observe classes by prestigious pianists, analyzing various teaching methodologies and approaches applied to the piano, which will allow me to study a wide range of techniques and working methods in depth.
Tell us a bit about your trajectory in relation to this opportunity.
I have been teaching and serving as vice-director at the Conservatorio Superior de Música Manuel de Falla, where I have held various positions over the years, in addition to teaching piano, chamber music, and contemporary music interpretation. From 2019 to 2021, I coordinated the Chamber Music Department, and from 2021 to 2023, I coordinated the Keyboard Department. In each role, I proposed common goals and teamwork, and with the support of our director, Marcos Puente Olivera, the General Directorate of Artistic Education, and an excellent teaching staff, we have been able to provide spaces for our students to fully develop their artistic careers. We continuously organize activities such as masterclasses, courses with guest teachers – many of them organized by the CEP – open sessions led by our institution’s teachers, comprehensive performances, concerts in the most important venues in Buenos Aires, interviews, and live concerts on various radio stations. All these activities and more have boosted students and teachers, strengthening bonds. That’s why this scholarship is so important to me, as it recognizes a way of working and creating spaces for young music students to develop, grow, and thrive here. And from the experience I will have, I am sure that I will be able to broaden my vision, multiply the positive effect, and generate more opportunities that will strengthen artistic life.
How was the selection process for the scholarship?
The CEP appointed a selection committee that monitored the activities of various teachers from public educational entities. They considered that my profile was suitable. The Conservatorio Superior de Música Manuel de Falla is an open institution always willing to receive proposals. In 2019, following a proposal by its director, Prof. Sebastián Colombo, to the then coordinator of the department, Prof. Teresa Courault, a close collaboration began through which a large number of high-level pedagogical activities are provided, significantly contributing to the growth of the Keyboard Department and a generation of students who have the possibility to access all masterclasses for free, either as active participants or listeners. This exchange allowed them to see my organizational work, my contributions to institutional improvement, and my collaborative work in committees, where I worked on institutional curriculum plans, including proposals for new careers. They also valued the continuous updating of my training. These factors contributed positively, and they decided to grant me this beautiful opportunity.
How are you preparing for this training trip to Europe and what are your expectations regarding the activities you will carry out during your stay?
To fully benefit from the institutional visits, classes, and teachers I will encounter, I am conducting preliminary research on each institution, including their programs, the different levels of education they offer, the background of each teacher with whom I will have direct interaction, their recordings, books, and published articles. Being well-prepared will allow me to make the most of this experience.
My expectations are enormous, as it is a very unusual instance of training. Scholarships are mostly for the training or instrumental improvement of students, but there are scholarships of this kind, where the aim is to improve and enrich the teacher. I find this extremely valuable because the teacher is the cog that can transfer their experience enriching current and future students. This contribution benefits not only this group but also institutional life. Furthermore, from the management role I currently hold, understanding the functioning of other institutions and being able to have direct exchanges will be extremely significant for our conservatory. This scholarship will not only allow individual growth but aims to strengthen, through me, a century-old institution like the CSMMF in everything it can contribute to society. It is of incalculable value. I am immensely grateful to the CEP and its director, Sebastián Colombo, the board of directors, and to the son of the great pianist Marisa Regules, Martín Bisi, who continue his mother’s legacy through such important activities.
“For those of us who have been educated in the public system, contributing what we can is a commitment we make by giving back what we were once given.”
What do you think will be the impact of this scholarship on your pedagogical and artistic career?
The impact of the scholarship will not only be on my pedagogical and artistic career. The impact of these actions is greater. Personally, of course, I will have enormous growth in designing my classes, in methodological and technical aspects, and a significant boost in management, organization, and institutional vision. But the most important thing is that one has to become a gear that enables growth in the institution to which they belong, sharing everything learned with colleagues, the management team, and students. Of course, everything must be carefully adapted to the reality of our social, economic, and cultural situation. Concepts need to be transposed and adapted, always with the responsibility of transforming actions into a multiplier effect so that this scholarship fulfills the objective of its creation.
How do you believe this type of scholarship contributes to the enrichment of the musical sphere?
The musical sphere is a collective construction that deserves the attention of various actors. It is a system where we are all participants and protagonists. For those of us who have been educated in the public system, contributing what we can is a commitment we make by giving back what we were once given. The musical sphere is built from different levels. As educators, it is important to awaken a sense of teamwork, to think that students are not the property of the teacher but individuals whom we must help to enhance artistically and pedagogically, providing them with the best opportunities. A scholarship of this kind generates an effect that enriches and improves the level of institutions, students, and educators; it drives the design of better activities; it motivates us to continue growing and thinking of surpassing actions; to continue studying and improving, each from their own place, giving the best to the musical environment, our environment.
Today it’s my turn, but I know that this is just the beginning, and in the future, other educators may benefit from this experience that will continue to empower us, motivating us every day to achieve greater achievements as an institution that plays a very important role in the socio-cultural function of our city.
Is there any particular event during your tour that you are looking forward to with special anticipation?
It’s a difficult question. All the activities are so interesting that I wouldn’t know which one to choose. I am very excited to see how educators whom I admire work, to get to know the institutions from the inside, and to have direct exchanges with members of their management teams. But especially, there is something I am looking forward to with great anticipation, and that is the visit to the Alicia de Larrocha Archive. Her daughter will receive me, and we will go through her career, discography, tours, and other aspects of her brilliant trajectory. When I was a child, I heard on the radio, during a broadcast already started, a piece played with a pianism and a sound that I will never forget. When the piece ended, the announcer said “the incomparable Alicia de Larrocha.” Since then, she has been a great reference for me. Being somehow close to her world is something I never imagined. I look back and think about everything that has happened since then. And I feel that each step has gained a beautiful meaning.
Itinerary of Prof. Inés Sabatini’s visit / April 2024
Monday 8 / Tuesday 9 / Wednesday 10 / San Sebastián
San Sebastián / Musikene – Higher Music Center of the Basque Country Observation of classes by Masters Marta Zabaleta, Miguel Ituarte (piano), Maciej Pikulski (piano lied), and Dutch pianist Frank van de Laar (Conservatorium van Amsterdam – Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten) who is on an Erasmus visit during that week
Thursday 11 / Madrid
Reina Sofía School of Music Institutional visit
San Lorenzo de El Escorial
Integrated Center for Artistic Education in Music and Primary and Secondary Education “Padre Antonio Soler” Observation of classes by Prof. Laura Díaz Kayel
Friday 12 / Madrid
Royal Conservatory of Music of Madrid – RCSMM Institutional visit
Saturday 13 / Madrid
PianoLab – Hinves Pianos
Masterclass by Ana Guijarro / “Tribute to Carmen Díez Martín” Observation of the masterclass and pedagogical consultations
Sunday 14 / Barcelona
Estudi Musical 143
Masterclass by María Jesús Crespo Observation of the masterclass and pedagogical consultations
Monday 15 / Barcelona
ESMUC / Superior School of Music of Catalonia Meeting with Dr. Melissa Mercadal Deputy Director-General of Academic Planning and Organization
Alicia de Larrocha Archive Visit offered by the daughter of the brilliant pianist, Alicia Torra de Larrocha
IEA (“Institut Escola Artístic”) “Oriol Martorell” Masterclass by Lluís Rodríguez Salvà
Tuesday 16 / Barcelona
ESMUC / Superior School of Music of Catalonia Observation of classes by Master Vladislav Bronevetzky
Liceu Higher School of Music Observation of classes by Master Tensy Krismant
Wednesday 17 / Barcelona
ESMUC / Superior School of Music of Catalonia Observation of classes by Master Rafael Salinas
Estudi Musical 143 Observation of a class by Prof. María Lluïsa Alegre with a visually impaired student
Thursday 18 / Brussels
Royal Conservatory of Brussels Observation of classes by Master Boyan Vodenitcharov
Friday 19 / Brussels
Auditorium “Maene”
Masterclass by Nora Doallo (Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana) Observation of the masterclass + pedagogical consultations
Saturday 20 / Brussels
Overijse Piano Studio Illustrated lecture on the Vicente Scaramuzza School by Prof. Sebastián Colombo + pedagogical consultations
Monday 22 / Würzburg
Hochschule für Musik Würzburg
Masterclass by Prof. Ana Mirabela Dina to the young Mexican Rafael Gutiérrez-Vélez (winner of the “María Rosa Oubiña de Castro” Prize – 2022)
Tuesday 23 / Würzburg
Hochschule für Musik Würzburg
Observation of classes by Prof. Ana Mirabela Dina (students from her department)
