sharing music, not perfection
Tonight I turned on my camera and told myself to film and share whatever the first take would be. Because Mozart is beautiful and ultimately…..does it matter if I wasn’t wearing shoes?
Stepping on Stage
Returning to “normal” performances on stage has shaken everything I used to understand about live performances. And to explain why, I need to tell you about two performances that defined this past year for me.
Bridging Connections
I used to think of classical music as a universal language that allowed me to non-verbally communicate all of my unspoken thoughts and emotions.
The Boston Moves To Boston
As a 10 year old I dreamt about the day I would live in a tiny studio apartment, preferably in Paris, with my 9 foot Steinway piano. I intended to sleep under the piano and eat on top of the piano to conserve space in my artistic flat.
Finding Happiness
Shifting my performance expression to sharing emotions with others, (instead of just expressing my own) as part of a collective human experience has been one of the most freeing experiences
Breaking The Fourth Wall
One of the underlying principles of the Spirit of Harmony concert series is to focus on bringing a reimagined concert format directly to an audience in listeners’ own settings. However this has required dismantling my conceptions of what a concert should be.
Creating a program for a hidden audience
This led to many questions, namely, how do I interact with a hidden audience to make a personalized and interactive concert experience? One thing was certain, I didn’t want to walk on to camera, bow, play one Liszt Etude, smile, and walk off. For this concert series to be meaningful, it had to be specially curated.
Love is a Song
What started as a simple idea of sharing music with hospital staff and patients has been blooming into a shared vision that is bigger than I could have imagined. From its inception I have been blown away by how many people have contributed to this project with ideas, shared experiences, and expertise. The most resounding message I am learning during this project is that performing is not about me. Performing is about sharing meaningful time, space, and an intentional message of shared hope and beauty with an audience.
Music During Covid-19
Holding on to somebody’s hand seems so simple, yet so vital. I have always been drawn to music because it has allowed me to feel connected with others in a dimension that transcends the physical. I received a call from a concert organizer in England in December of 2017 with a request: Could I perform a concert for a gentleman with terminal cancer?