Photo: © Felix Broede / Deutsche Grammophone

Well, for the orchestra, the anticipation came to an end around 11:00 a.m. this morning.  The unassuming, young, Armani-clad Asian pianist strode onto the stage, was introduced to the orchestra to polite applause, and then proceeded to mesmerize much of the orchestra with his off-the-beaten-path approach to the beginning of Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto.  I won’t give away how he does the beginning - it’s probably not much of a secret, but it’s better experienced with no advance knowledge, so I’ll leave it for you to discover if you have tickets to tonight’s sold out performance. [Read more →]

It’s not a good idea to take photos while rehearsing (it’s basically verboten), but taking a few before things get started are always fun. Here’s the view from my chair: [Read more →]

Rehearsals are an interesting animal. Maybe this is because they are run by conductors, who are very interesting animals, while they are largely inflicted upon orchestral musicians, who are very, very interesting animals. [Read more →]