Saturday, February 20, 2016
My first visit to New Hampshire was a wonderful experience! Not only was it a great audience turnout, I was happily surprised to find Concord to be an intensely musical city. One of the first storefronts in town is a family-run Music Store, followed by a record store. There is a wonderful community music school as well. I had the opportunity to present a masterclass/lecture on Stage Fright, with the cooperation of Skye Reese, a young pianist with a marvelous personality and talent. The Concord concert was significant to me in another way, which is that it was also the 49th state out of 50 where I have performed. (Next week, I will be finishing that personal goal, with a concert in Louisiana!) The results were overwhelming: Debussy across almost all segments, excepting the “under 20” and a very close Round 1. These results are not to be taken lightly either, given that this concert happened just days after the New Hampshire primary, where everyone in the audience had warmed up their voting skills!
