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So I was coaching the Gavotte from Manon the other day.  “Tell me about her,” I said. “She loves pleasure,” said my student. Because that is what the libretto states, over and over. So she wasn’t wrong, but something rose in me. And then it fell. Here‘s how it all worked back then for those women, I was about to say.  But I didn’t say … Continue Reading →

MtMn and I are stretched out in our Aspen lodging after a long travel weekend, from the mountains of Virginia to the Rockies. Music on a mountain – it’s what classical musicians do. It’s inspiring. More than a little untouchable. There’s so much I want to tell you, but after … Continue Reading →

I will never forget the day the piano came home. I was fourteen and didn’t yet know that my teacher had told my parents that she thought I could maybe be a pianist for real, but for that to be possible I needed to start practicing on a good instrument. … Continue Reading →

Two television shows have recently made a huge impression on me: the BBC Janet Baker documentary, and “Fosse/Verdon,” the fabulous story of that artistic and personal partnership. And as I finally have a chance to stroll around in the mountains as summer begins, I’ve been processing what exactly those shows … Continue Reading →

My myAt Waterloo Napoleon did surrenderOh yeahAnd I have met my destiny in quite a similar wayThe history book on the shelfIs always repeating itself In 1983, halfway through my junior year, I was summoned to a meeting with my piano teacher. He was a star, a winner of the … Continue Reading →