Guinness is no stranger to Romania-born pianist Thurzó Zoltán. He decided to try to break all the Guinness records connected with piano, and even to list two more new categories over the years.
Thurzó Zoltán is a classical music concert pianist. He grew up in a family of musicians that for several generations were involved in the musical life of Oradea so that they formed a part of the musical history of the city from the end of the 18th century.
On 13 June, history was made. At an altitude of 5,325.77 m, for exactly 132 minutes, at a temperature between +1.0°C and +3.0°C, Thurzó Zoltán played 63 pieces, officially setting the newest record for “Highest altitude grand piano performance.”
Though as one can imagine, it wasn’t all roses.
Before even attempting to climb the mountain, Thurzó Zoltán has had to complete rigorous physical and alpine training for months. Then, after climbing the unforgiving Mount Everest up to its 5364m base camp, things started to go south. Though he was prepared to play right away, he had to wait for 9 days at EBC before he could finally perform because the piano got stuck in a small village nearby, and the helicopter did not receive permission to fly. There was a ban in all of Nepal during this time due to storms and clouds in the lower regions.
The weather was fine up in the air, but that wasn’t the case at the base of the mountain. Gales and rainstorms made it impossible for the helicopter that was supposed to carry the piano to the base camp to take off. By the time the dark clouds dissipated, nine days had passed, which Thurzó Zoltán had had to spend isolated in the mountains, in a place where the most prepared alpinists camp for a maximum of three days.
“The weather was fine up in the air but that wasn’t the case at the base of the mountain. Gales and rainstorms made it impossible for the helicopter that was supposed to carry the piano to the base camp to take off. By the time the dark clouds dissipated, nine days, which I had to spend isolated in the mountains, had passed. I spent nine days waiting for the instrument to arrive,” Thurzó Zoltán stressed referring to the obstacles he met during his hiking.
The piano was transported by a helicopter whose doors were removed to carry the grand instrument. On June 13, over one week and two days later than the planned date, the grand piano finally reached its destination. Not less than an hour after landing on the snow, the piano was eventually in use and the concert was to become the highest-altitude concert ever performed.
Among the 63 pieces, Thurzó Zoltán played 37 classical piano pieces, and 26 national anthems of various countries. He played for a total of 2 hours and 12 minutes.
As the author states, this performance was tough to achieve, and it required significant funds of EUR 21,000. You might wonder why one would risk their lives to climb Mt. Everest just to perform at an altitude of over 5325 m.
The record holder’s motivation was to put classical music in the spotlight, and also to fortify the peaceful coexistence of nations with different cultures, as well as to draw attention to the importance of peace itself, and hopefully bring him one step closer to fulfilling his dream of opening a Museum of Music in the city of Oradea.
