Each time I am in New York I am filled with an immense happiness.  I truly love the energy of this city, and the fact that it is always so full of promise.  One feels that whatever your goals or ambitions, dreams can come true here in a way that is not possible in any other part of the world.

Having done so much research for my performances on “The Fountains of the Villa d’Este” and knowing that I would be performing it for the concert next week, Mr. Cosmo and I looked it over again in order to add a few more finishing touches.

With Liszt having written such a superb work about the fountains at Villa d’Este, I thought it important to look at the fountains themselves, in order to find out more about why they proved such a source of inspiration. 

Whenever I am in New York time seems to fly by, and this trip was certainly no exception.

My concert this past Tuesday in New York entitled "Venice...and Beyond", worked out very well, and once again I am very grateful to Mr. Cosmo, Mr. Alexander, and the Alexander & Buono Foundation for their help and cooperation in making the event a success.

It seems hard to imagine, but my Carnegie Hall solo recital debut is exactly six months from today!

It seems hard to imagine, but I will be leaving for New York in a matter of days, and there is no way I can describe how very excited I am.  There is so much to do and prepare, but I am very much looking forward to being there.

Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2

(Quasi una fantasia) (“Moonlight”)

i Adagio sostenuto     ii. Allegretto     iii. Presto agitato

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770—1827)

As I get ready for my trip to New York there are, as you might imagine, any number of thoughts racing through my mind. First of all, being in New York in the fall is something that makes the city take on its own special kind of magic.  There is, in fact, a song by Vernon Duke written in 1934 entitled “Autumn in New York”.

This past weekend in New York there were two CD release parties in celebration of the latest recording of Anna Shelest with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Neeme Järvi.

During my lesson with Mr. Cosmo on this piece we discussed again the importance of "relaxation" in playing very soft, delicate sounds to express the beautiful, subtle movement of water. Relaxation is very important in playing any piece, but I think it is especially important in this piece, which has so much tremolo, representing the movement of water.

Today I would like to take the time to congratulate truly great pianist, Anna Shelest.

Today would like to talk about the importance of why listening to myself as I play is important for me as a performer.

With today being the first day of fall, I have begun to think about how the concert season is about to go into full force. People have come back from their summer vacations and will be in performance venues all over the world for an autumn, winter, and spring of great music.

Today, I would like to talk about how artists can concentrate and get into the zone just before they play the first note of their performance.

When it comes to the piano, one often hears a great deal of discussion about “tone.” This is both understandable from the standpoint of the piano itself, and also the person playing it.

As I look at the pianists who are playing at Carnegie Hall in the coming season, the list is full of extremely impressive names. Everyone from Lang Lang to Emanuel Ax, Daniil Trifonov to Víkingur Ólafsson, among many others.

As I look more and more deeply into Chopin’s “Barcarolle”, the work that will close out the program at my next New York concert, I am discovering lots of wonderful things that are helping to expand not only my understanding of the work, but also my interpretations.

In my posts this past week I have been discussing how to choose pieces for a program, and some of the ideas I use in order to create a complete story for the audience.  It can sometimes help to think of each work as one would chapters of a book.

As important as it is to choose the right repertoire for a concert, it is equally as important to be certain one chooses the right encores. They should, like all the other pieces, take into consideration the entire concert, the audience, and just as important, the general atmosphere and tone of the last work on the planned program.