Ribbons Everywhere! (May 12, 2025)

From left to right: My hair all wrapped up in a bow, literally; Joan Sutherland and Piero Cappucilli, two singers whose recordings I’m listening to in order to get ready for my performance with singers at CCF; We’ll miss you, Graziella!

Today I found myself in a “ribbon” sort of mood, and made the decision to wear a ring that is in the shape of a ribbon, as well as my ribbon socks.  Just a little bit of fun added to the day. I feel I can make bolder fashion choices in New York because it is such an international city.

While practicing today I focused on all of the repertoire for my concert at CCF and thought a lot about the concept of bel canto (beautiful singing) music, and how best to interpret it at the piano. There is an essence to every score that a pianist has to seek out and discover so that the playing is as smooth and elegant as possible, so I am playing things over and over again, while also researching them in order to get the best effects from every measure of the music. Fortunately, this is something that is very easy to do with Mr. Cosmo’s wonderful Steinway.   

In addition to practicing, I also listened to a number of singers performing the different arias I will be accompanying during the concert in order to better understand the lyrics as well the different rubati, as well as the opera scenes themselves.

In addition, I am studying the breathing and potential gestures of the singers in order to get the best sense of how to anticipate what they might do in order to be as ready as possible.

When practicing piano technique my aim is: "Don't work until you get it right. Work until you can't get it wrong."