Latin America

French-born pianist Daniel Ericourt (1903-88) boasted an impressive artistic resumé, including working relationships with Isadora Duncan, Nadia Boulanger, Aaron Copland, and Georges Enescu. In his teens Ericourt got to know Claude Debussy and his family, collaborated with the composer in a benefit concert, and turned pages at the premiere of his Cello Sonata. Following decades of international touring, Ericourt joined the Peabody Conservatory faculty and later became Artist-in Residence at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.  He travelled in South and Central America in the 1940s/50s. His 1942-43 tour  - organised by Ernesto de Quesada - was a tremendous opportunity that led to numerous others. Before flying to South America, Ericourt made concert stops in Mexico City~where he performed at Teatro de Bellas Artes - and in Panama. He has very pleasant memories of the Panama experience: "The plane, a DC-3, was delayed on the trip from Mexico City to Panama. I arrived there very late, with only enough time to go to the hotel, get dressed, and go to the concert hall. The theatre was packed, mostly by American soldiers and their wives who were stationed at the Panama base. It was war time and there were no other distractions..." After the concert, Ericourt was informed that a representative of Quesada would see him the following morning to deliver the concert proceeds. As promised, the agent went to his hotel the next morning, carrying a briefcase filled with currency; he handed Ericourt more than two thousand dollars in cash. "That was a tremendous sum in those days," exclaims Ericourt. He is quick to add that history unfortunately does not repeat itself, as subsequent performances in Panama never came close to yielding the amazing sum of money of his first concert. From Panama, Ericourt's next concert was to be in Argentina. He explains, however, that traveling in DC- 3s made necessary a few overnight stops on the way—in this instance, Colombia and Peru. He also mentions that during the war it was necessary to have "priorities" in order to be assured a seat on the DC-3 flights. Although the American Embassy always assisted in such matters, there were occasional problems in meeting concert schedules. Finally in Buenos Aires, Ericourt made his debut at the Teatro Colón where he performed the Ravel G Major Concerto with conductor Albert Wolf. Ericourt refers to the famous Teatro Colón as one of the largest and most beautiful theatres in the world, ranking with La Scala, the Paris Opera, and the Vienna Opera. As his 1942-43 tour continued, Ericourt performed in Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela before returning to Panama, and then the United States. Only two years later (1945) Ericourt made a second tour to South America which included Mexico and the Caribbean countries.  His success was such that he returned to South America the same year (end of 1945) for a seven-month tour.  Ericourt was re-engaged in practically every city where he appeared on his tour a year ago. Ericourt built a huge following in South American countries during the 1940s and would have many opportunities throughout his career to return.  Ericourt was extremely fortunate to become associated with the concert management in Madrid known as "Conciertos Daniel". The owner of the firm was Ernesto de Quesada, who had organized Ericourt's first South American tour of 1942-43. Quesada was a Cuban by birth who went to Spain and started the business long before Ericourt knew him. "It was an empire, really, because he controlled the whole of Central and South America. He had three sons, one in Buenos Aires ... another one in Venezuela... and one in Mexico City, who were managers also. The old man (Ernesto) was extraordinary. He would... travel with some artists, the very important ones (Arthur Rubinstein, for instance), or he would go alone. In those days he wasn't writing letters. He would go to a Western Union office and stay the whole afternoon sending cables everywhere. He would spend a thousand dollars on cables in one day. He was a manager... not a concert agent. A concert agent is a man who has an artist and books. This one (Ernesto) knew the possibilities, the potential of artists he engaged ... he made many artists on those premises. He knew, he had the flair, the nose to guess if [the artist] was going to go somewhere." Ericourt states that after Ernesto's death, he remained with Conciertos Daniel and has continued to use the services of the four Quesada sons. "They all are gifted and have a flair for managing concerts and knowing which artists are good, which artists are going to be successful." ​ "South America was a very, very rewarding place. First of all, the public in Buenos Aires is very knowledgeable about music. It probably is the best public in South America. And they are very warm, very enthusiastic ... they shout bravos, and they stamp their feet; it's most rewarding to play in those places."  Ericourt considers the years which he spent living and performing in South America among his most memorable. He left the United States in the early 1950s and lived the next six or seven years in Buenos Aires and then in Madrid. As he reminisces, Ericourt travels mentally once again to various cities and towns where he played: "I played in Chile... you can go way south, close to the strait of Magellan, but Chile mainly is Santiago... and of course music in Santiago, Chile is very serious and well organized. They have a beautiful theatre. You can play in only a few towns in Peru outside Lima... I love the colonial art of Peru... there are some wonderful things there. Uruguay is a 'stone's throw' from Buenos Aires, and they have a first class orchestra . .. lots of concerts take place there. Montevideo is very important because it is a big city. I played with Fritz Busch in Montevideo. [In Uruguay] there are one or two places outside Montevideo where you can go and that is all." One of the many performances in Montevideo occurred on 24 April 1952 at Teatro Solis. Ericourt played Mozart's Rondo in D; Schumann's Symphonic Etudes, a Chopin group; two works by Ravel; and Debussy's Images. "Brazil is another source of many, many concerts. The size of Brazil is immense, so you can play in Porto Alegre, in Rio, in Sao Paulo ... there are quite a few cities in Brazil where I have played. The biggest portion of concert business is in Argentina, because of its size and the cities ... you have twenty or twenty-five concerts in Argentina easily."  Ericourt performed in Buenos Aires with the Orquesta Sinfonica del Estado, under conductor Jascha Horenstein, in an August 1951 concert. The performance was part of a series that included concerto performances by pianists Julius Katchen, Wilhelm Backhaus, Artur Rubinstein, and William Kapell. ​ In a later concert in Argentina, Ericourt had to make a last-minute substitution when he was informed that the conductor and orchestra did not have the scores for the programmed concerto:  "In Salta, I was supposed to play the Ravel Concerto in G Major. Ricordi House, a big publishing house in Buenos Aires, had the materials and they were supposed to send the scores ... but they had not arrived on the day of the concert. [Paul] Constantinescu [composer, 1909-1963], a Romanian, was the conductor... I went to the rehearsal at the designated time; the conductor turned around and said 'What can you play that we have?' The only thing that I could play (and they didn't have the music, but somebody in town had the orchestra scores) was the second Rachmaninoff... I had played that six months before in Panama. I didn't even have the music myself... but the rehearsal went very well. That night, the performance was a little bit shaky!" ​ The teaching and artistic legacy of French-born pianist Daniel Ericourt Judy Foreman Hutton, thesis, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 1993