Daniel Adam Maltz brings authentic classical music to hometown of Aiken

Sep. 15—Music has been a part of Daniel Adam Maltz's life since the moment he was born, and on Sept. 24 he will be bringing his Viennese fortepiano recital to Aiken.

Maltz knew he would be a pianist at the age of 7 after growing up surrounded by music. His father is a composer, and his mother is a cellist.

"I had a great start," he said. "Kind of came quite honestly because both my parents were musicians and so I knew from the age of 7 that I was going to be a pianist."

He was born in Lexington before moving to Aiken for part of his childhood. His father taught at USC Aiken for 20 years, Maltz said.

His connection with Aiken always brings him back, even after leaving to study in Vienna, Austria, Maltz said.

"I really feel embedded into the community in a really special way, that I know there are lots of people that I will recognize the audience," he said. "It's just so nice to be able to come back and share where I am, my own particular process with the people that I've known for so long."

Maltz moved to Vienna to immerse himself in classical music and to experience it the same way musicians like Mozart and Beethoven did, he said.

"I had moved to Vienna to be close to classical music, which I love so much," Maltz said. "Mozart, Beethoven always spoke for me the most. So, I knew that by putting myself in Vienna, that I would be able to be close to that music. Experiencing that world, walking their streets speaking their language, understanding their philosophy and everything like that, I could be closer to the music. So, through the course of my studies, when I finally started experimenting on the piano, that was just sort of the last piece of the puzzle."

He studied at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien in Vienna as well as the Royal Academy of Music in London.

While he was still playing the modern piano when first traveling to Vienna, Maltz started to learn the fortepiano after being encouraged to take a class in historical instruments.

He said he realized the fortepiano was a way to play these classical pieces the way they were originally played.

"We have the opportunity to express the music the composers wrote exactly as they intended because the unique characteristics of the Viennese fortepiano was specifically designed to express their musical language," Maltz said. "All of the, sort of, detailed matters of articulation, phrasing, even pedaling, things like that, on their piano you can approach it in an authentic way, which is very exciting."

There are several differences between the modern piano and the Viennese fortepiano, the biggest one being that the fortepiano makes a softer sound because the keys are lighter than a piano's keys, he said.

"I perform the music of Mozart, Beethoven, on the piano as they knew," Maltz said. "It's really hard to overstate just how different the instruments are."

Maltz travels with a historically accurate reproduction of a 1792 after A. Walter that was built by Paul McNulty.

Maltz is currently touring around the United States.

"I love classical era music," Maltz said. "I love what it expresses. I love the philosophy behind it. I think that the messages there are just as important if not more important today than they were in their time. The messages of balance, order, harmony, reason, the rational discourse that was happening in the Age of Enlightenment, this is all stuff that is meaningful to me, and that I think is meaningful to a broader audience."

Playing in Aiken is always meaningful for Maltz as it gives him the opportunity to give back to the community that has given him so much.

He will be making a stop in Aiken to play a solo recital.

The concerts will be at 7 p.m. Sept. 23 with a matinee on Sept. 24 in the Brown Pavillion of the Aiken Center for the Arts. The recital will feature rarely played classical songs by Beethoven.

Tickets are $25 and can be purchased online at aikencenterforthearts.org.

"It's so refreshing to play concerts for a hometown crowd, so to speak," he said. "I play a lot of concerts for a lot of people and it's so nice for there to be individuals in the audience who have watched me grow artistically. I had a great start in the South. I had to leave to mature and grow into that I wanted to become, but now I get to bring what I've learned to the South Carolina community."

More information about Maltz and his music, visit danieladammaltz.com.