The Conscious Artist: an interview with pianist and podcaster Pallavi Mahidhara
Concert pianist and podcaster Pallavi Mahidhara entered concert life at age 10 when she made her orchestral debut at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago. Multiple competitions and awards followed. Now, as an established artist, she has successfully transitioned from child prodigy to mature pianist and has harvested the wisdom she gained from her mentors and the many competitions she entered earlier in her life.
Much ink has been spilled about the benefits and drawbacks of musical competitions. As a prize winner in multiple events, Pallavi learned from every one she entered, but she credits Concours de Genéve with not only providing career mentoring but also truly caring about their artists. Her 2nd prize win in 2014 enhanced her career, and the caring guidance she received while competing contributed to her decision to launch The Conscious Artist, a podcast featuring mental health conversations with other musicians. Now, through her expressive playing, her podcast, and her teaching, Pallavi introduces us all to the human being behind the glittery concert pianist persona. I’m honored to feature her on No Dead Guys.
I understand that the TV show Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood inspired you to begin lessons at age five and that you made your orchestral debut at the age of ten. What was it about the piano that attracted you to the instrument and to what do you attribute your astonishingly quick growth as an artist?
In all honesty, I don’t remember what attracted me to piano as I was barely 3 years old. I will say that I was very fortunate to have great teachers from the beginning that nurtured and guided me every step of the way. I had a very formative experience when I was 10 years old that led me to choose music and specifically piano as a career.
As a young artist you won multiple competition prizes, including the Olivier Berggruen Prize at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, the Steinway Förderpreis in Germany, the Astral Artists National Auditions in the US and more. Who or what encouraged you to enter these competitions, and how did they enhance your playing and your career?
Competitions were never my favorite avenue, but I did many of them through my life. When I was younger, competitions were a challenge to overcome, always with the goal to win. As I grew, I viewed them as a learning experience, a chance to be heard, and a way to grow to new levels. The Geneva competition was by far the best competition experience I had, not because I was fortunate to receive a prize, but because from the beginning, I felt their warmth and support as a competitor. The competition’s goal was to care for their competitors, and it was obvious.
Rhonda’s note: (for those interested, this year’s Semi-Finals and Finals will take place on 15-22 October and can be live streamed on Concours de Genève's website, social media channels and amadeus.tv, as well as a live broadcast on RTS-Espace 2).
You’ve credited one festival, the Concours de Genève and their Career Development Program with not only helping your career but also providing you with a platform to have open discussions about mental health. Would you be willing to share more about this?
I had a wonderful conversation on my podcast with Didier Schnorhk, Secretary General of the Geneva competition, about how competitions can affect artists’ mental health, and what are competitions doing to best support the artists through the grueling rounds. It only solidified what I had already experienced during the competition—they truly care about their artists.
As an advocate for the music of living composers, I’m thrilled to know that in addition to performing standard classical works, you’ve also chosen to play the music of contemporary composers. Who are some of the living composers you’ve worked with, and do you approach new music differently than standard works?
My first experience working with a living composer was when I was 16 years old. I gave the world premiere of Vanraj Bhatia’s “Fantasia and Fugue in C”. It was so interesting to witness live the creative process of a composer. I recently commissioned a work by Icelandic female composer, Veronique Vaka. I heard her music a few years ago and fell in love with her style. It’s been so cool working with her, and the freedom she has given me with the interpretation of her work has been almost challenging - I’m used to trying to follow closely what’s in the score! But she’s been incredibly inspiring and has helped me to tap into a more improvisatory creative side.
One thing that caught my attention was reading that you collaborated in a genre-defying concert with drummer Questlove of “The Roots” and international singer/songwriter Keren Ann. What did you find most challenging about playing non-classical forms of music?
That collaboration was very cool—basically the classical artists played the original version of classical works by Satie, Ravel, Debussy, etc, and the non-classical musicians riffed and improvised off of that. Having those two worlds juxtaposed was challenging but very rewarding.
One of the many things that impresses me about your career is your podcast, The Conscious Artist, which you write is “a safe space for conversations around mental health awareness for musicians, artists, and all human beings.” What in your own life prompted you to create this podcast?
The podcast came out of the pandemic, and unintentionally became a healing project for me in many ways. I had been focused on mental health awareness with my students for years, but hadn’t realized the impact these conversations could have on the community and the industry until I launched the podcast. It is a big passion project, and I am grateful to be able to make a small difference in the health of this industry.
Your guests on The Conscious Artist are a glittering array of musicians. How do you choose your interviewees and what do you think is the underlying thread that connects all your guests?
The underlying thread is the fact that my guests are all willing to be open and vulnerable and share. It’s not easy, and it often takes an act of bravery, especially when it’s the first time an incident or story is being shared publicly. But to be vulnerable in my view simply means to be your true, authentic self, so I am very grateful to my guests for their honesty, sincerity, and courage.
Sometimes I’ll have a specific guest in mind and will let them choose the topic they wish to speak about. Other times, I will have a topic in mind I want to share and will search for the right guest to discuss that topic with.
In your opinion, what sorts of mental health challenges are most common to classical musicians, and why do you think we haven’t been willing to talk about these things until recently?
The pressure, the loneliness, the anxiety, the comparisons, the fear of failure/rejection/becoming irrelevant, the limiting belief that there is only one way to be a musician or to be successful in life.
Mental health awareness has only become part of the conversation since covid, and for that I am grateful for the pandemic! It has shed light on the fact that humans are social beings, we are not meant to be alone. It has illuminated the need for connection, through words, emotions, or music. It has highlighted the fact that artists in general, not just classical, are expected to perform at a near perfect level every time, with little to no grace for the fact that we are human beings and not machines—that the toll of high-pressured work is often a loss of mental, physical, and emotional well-being.
How has the experience of creating The Conscious Artist changed your own relationship with yourself and your music?
It has helped me to stop comparing myself to others. It has helped me to trust myself more, to accept that I am human and cannot be “perfect.” To remove the word “perfect” from my vocabulary, and rather strive for growth, knowledge, and spontaneity.
What kind of advice do you offer your students regarding nurturing their mental health?
To listen to their body, to challenge their anxious thoughts. Going from “what if this or that happens?” To “Even if this or that happens, I will be alright.” To focus on their own progress, and not compare to others. And even comparing to themselves, remembering that progress isn’t linear, and that one day 100% looks very different from another day’s 100% and that’s ok.
What current and future projects are you most excited about?
Preparing Season 6 of my podcast and continuing my busy concert schedule!
What advice can you offer young pianists seeking to make careers for themselves in music?
Remember that there is no “one way” to make music, to be a musician, or to make music a career. Find your own path, discover what inspires you, where your own creativity lies, and believe in yourself and go for it. Your people and your audience will find you. Every single person has some sort of talent, has something to offer, and if we start expanding our minds, we will see that the world is actually big enough for all of us.
Praised for her unique artistry and charismatic stage presence, Indian-American pianist Pallavi Mahidhara has appeared in solo and orchestral concerts across five continents, including performances at the Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, the Teatro del Lago in Frutillar, Chile, and the Bolshoi Zal in Saint Petersburg, Russia. She is the Second Prize winner and of the 69th Geneva International Piano Competition, and of the VI International Prokofiev Competition in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Other awards include the Olivier Berggruen Prize at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, the Steinway Förderpreis in Germany, the Astral Artists National Auditions in the US, and on multiple occasions, the “Sobresaliente” Award from the hands of Queen Sofía of Spain.
Pallavi is the Executive Producer, Writer, and Host of the “The Conscious Artist”, a podcast designed to promote Mental Health Awareness for musicians, artists, and all human beings. She holds degrees from The Curtis Institute of Music and Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler, and studied with Dimitri Bashkirov at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía. As the first female Indian pianist to attend these institutions and host a podcast on mental health in Western classical music, she fervently embraces her role as cultural ambassador, artist, and mentor.
Pallavi has performed at important festivals such as Marlboro Music, Verbier Festival, Klavier Festival Ruhr, and Gstaad Menuhin Festival. She has given chamber music performances with renowned artists such as Black Oak Ensemble, Gary Hoffman, Diemut Poppen, Wolfram Christ, Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, Arnold Steinhardt, Peter Wiley, and Michael Rusinek, István Várdai, Pablo Ferrández, Josef Spacek, and Theo Fouchennert. She has performed under the direction of Arjan Tien, Thomas Sanderling, Daniel Boico, Róbert Farkas, Daniel Abad Casanova, and Pablo Gonzalez, among others.
Upcoming performances in the 2024-2025 season include concerto and recital appearances in South Africa, Asia, Europe, and the US. She will also make several debuts this season, in Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Israel. Pallavi is a Steinway Artist.