TAKING CHANCES New Gilmore director believes in serendipity
Two things happened a world away from
each other when Pierre van der Westhuizen was 10 that would come together for him many years later in an unexpected, but very fortunate way. In 1989, van der Westhuizen started piano lessons in his hometown of Heidelberg, South Africa. The same year, more than 8,600 miles away, in Kalamazoo, an organization formed to launch the Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival. And now, three decades later, the nearly 40-year-old van der Westhuizen is the new director of the Gilmore Keyboard Festival, taking the helm as The Gilmore’s director of nearly 18 years, Daniel R. Gustin, takes a bow. “I am firm believer in serendipity in how things work out,” says van der Westhuizen. As a boy, van der Westhuizen says, he played the piano but didn’t begin to take it seriously until he was 10, which, he says, “was considered late.“ “I remember the teacher saying, ‘Now don’t expect anything … ,’” he says, laughing. “She was one of those old, stodgy teachers, but I knew after the first lesson that I loved it and that this was ‘it.’” His parents were nearly as discouraging as his piano teacher. “My family said, ‘This is a terrible career,’ which I agree with. Music is a terrible career because it’s so brutal. They wanted me to study medicine and yada yada, but when you know, you know. My father, thankfully, said, ‘If you do what makes you happy, you won’t work a single day in your life.’”
Two for one
Van der Westhuizen went on to get a bachelor’s degree in music performance at North-West University, in South Africa, which is where he met his future wife, Sophie, who is also a pianist. “We met as undergrads, and it’s just one of those stories where I was eyeing her from the
get-go and knew we were going to study with the same teacher, so I went to the teacher and asked if I could play some duets with Sophie. We’ve been playing duets ever since.” Rather than becoming dueling pianists, the couple found their fates and careers ultimately intertwined. They were both recruited to attend the doctoral program at the University of Cincinnati CollegeConservatory of Music.
As they were wrapping up their doctoral program, they both applied for and interviewed for a position on the faculty at Heidelberg University, in Tiffin, Ohio. “They jokingly told me, ‘We have to give you the job. You’re from a Heidelberg,’” he recalls, laughing. In actuality, though, the university had only one position, but two outstanding candidates who were married to each other. w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 27