“Fearless Vision” Asiya Korepanova on Extreme Repertoire, Interdisciplinary Creation, and Artistic Risk

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Thank you. Welcome to another episode of The
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Pianopod, everyone. This season, we are exploring
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creativity and connection, highlighting artists
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who are reshaping what it means to create, perform,
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and imagine the future of classical music. We
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are so fortunate to have Asiya Kurepanova, an
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exceptional pianist, composer, visual artist,
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and poet whose work defies boundaries and expands
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what classical music can be. Born in Russia into
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a deeply musical family, Asiya began performing
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and composing at a young age and has since built
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a career defined by fearless long -form projects,
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interdisciplinary creation, and bold curatorial
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vision. As a pianist, she is known for undertaking
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monumental cycles, including the complete solo
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piano works of Rachmaninoff during the composer's
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150th anniversary year, lists all 24 etudes,
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and box well -tempered clavier. Her artistry
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extends beyond performance into transcription,
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composition, poetry, and visual art, often woven
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together in immersive multimedia projects. In
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addition to her work on stage and online, Asiya
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is deeply committed to education and access.
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Through her non -profit organization, Music for
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Minds, In her leadership of Festival Flatiron,
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she brings classical music into schools and communities
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while championing meaningful, inclusive programming.
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Before we dive in, thank you to our listeners,
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viewers for tuning in today and supporting The
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Pianopod. Your engagement, whether through listening,
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watching, sharing episodes, or leaving a review.
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helps sustain this growing community of artists
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and thinkers who are reimagining what classical
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music can be today. Here is the PianoPod with
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pianist, composer, visual artist, and poet, Asiya
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Kurepanova. Please enjoy the show. You are listening
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to The Piano Pod, where we talk to the brightest
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minds in the industry about how they are bringing
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the piano into the future and thriving in a complex,
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ever -evolving world. Asya, thank you so much
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for being here today. Where are you actually
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joining from? Thank you so much, Hikimi. I'm
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in my home in Boston area. Oh, okay. It must
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be really cold. New York is freezing. It became
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cold in the recent couple of days. We just got
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our first snow. It looks like Christmas already.
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It's very beautiful. So I want to say at first
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that you're truly an exceptional pianist and
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artist. And the depth, scale, oh my gosh, and
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then the fearlessness of your work are really
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rare. And it is a real privilege to have you
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at the PianoPod. And our former guest, Eleanor
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Byneman. oh yeah she's an incredible person and
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she was our guest last season and spoke so highly
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about you and encouraged me to reach out and
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so thank you for accepting my invitation thank
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you so much yeah and i saw uh watched your conversation
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with her i think it was on a youtube channel
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or something and it made me even more excited
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for today so I have been spending some time with
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your solo performances on YouTube and transcriptions,
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oh my gosh, on YouTube. The breadth of repertoire
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and level of production are remarkable. And of
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course, your work extends far beyond the piano
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into poetry, visual art, and composition. So
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all that leads beautifully into my first question,
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which is, what would you say is the core mission
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or driving passion behind all the work you do
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right now? I would say that I never thought of
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a mission as a label or like what is the message
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of what I'm trying to do. I would say I would
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follow my vision. I always had ideas early on
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about musical ideas, about visual ideas, about
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language, about image in a broad sense of it.
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It also helped that I was one of the earliest
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projects in the realm of homeschooling. My mom
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homeschooled me until I was about 10. So my first
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grade class that I went was the fourth grade.
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And there were some underlying family circumstances.
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We were traveling quite a bit between different
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cities in Russia. And so I was just learning
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as I was going. And I was also a very hyperactive
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child. So my poor mom was always with a suitcase
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of, you know, paper and pencils and books and
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things and everything in between. And so as I
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was getting distracted and would become a little
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bit too active, she would know how to distract
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me with a new activity. So I started drawing
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very, very early. I was given access to a typewriter
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when I was about three and a half to four years
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old. And there are some evidence of how my gibberish
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gradually started to form in some thoughtful
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expression. I remember that period of my life
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with a lot of sweetness because it was a little
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bit nomadic, but very artistic at the same time.
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And I think I carried that sense into my adulthood
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because, you know, today as a performing artist,
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we are on the road all the time. And of course,
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I have some colleagues and friends and family
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who, you know, share their experiences or wondering,
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like, how can you be on the road? It's so daunting.
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I'm thriving on the road. I love to be on the
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road. And it's so strange. I can sleep in any
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position, in any moving object. I'm just, I think
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I was prepared for that from early on. But also,
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I also learned to go for whatever comes to mind
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right away. I have an idea of transcription in
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the morning. Sometimes I already would have a
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few pages of that down in the evening because
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I just like, I have to do this right now. Or
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I have something like a poem, just I have a poem
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idea and then I start working later. I have a
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composition idea. And so this urge and immediacy
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to fulfill that urge i think is still very childlike
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in me but it works for me quite well oh yeah
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well oh yes meaning i'm not saying you're childish
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or anything but you know all the work you do
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it just coming from you just now it really makes
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sense and but i didn't realize your family was
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traveling a lot well um my parents right before
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i was born were postgraduate students at in moscow
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they were studying in moscow conservatory and
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then gnessing academy that's another big school
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in moscow and but my mother was born in the city
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of kazan which is south of moscow quite far and
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my father was born in the city of izhevsk which
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is another maybe 100 miles more south and east
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uh from there and they met as students in kazan
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conservatory kazan conservatory is also a big
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school a wonderful a musical institution and
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uh when i was born my parents at first continued
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their studies and then there were some illnesses
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in the family over traveling to kazan traveling
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to adjust traveling to moscow traveling it was
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just like this eighth that was between this three
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points of this series so by the time i was about
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three or four years old my parents were joking
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that i spent about half of my then lifetime on
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the train so uh it was just different circumstances
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but also uh my mother after she graduated she
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there was a period of time when she was teaching
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at the gnessing academy and i was sitting at
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her lessons and drawing and observing her teaching
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students or performing or practicing and the
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family legend says that i was about three years
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old when i started pushing her uh from the piano
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she was practicing and saying that is my time
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to practice so Even though neither of my parents
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were actively encouraging me to become a musician,
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because especially around the break of Soviet
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Union, it was very difficult times. And becoming
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a professional musician probably was not the
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wisest thing ever. Everybody says that. That's
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universal. Yeah. Wow. So your mom is a pianist
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and your father is... My father is a composer.
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Oh, wow. Yeah. Wonderful. Now I'm going to go
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back to your childhood and training a little
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bit later on, but that's a really wonderful way
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to start. And now I understand. So then I want
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to talk about this. We're going to jump to this
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extreme long form projects. Wow. Your career
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is filled with. what many would consider impossible
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undertakings the complete Rachmaninoff solo piano
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pieces list 24 edges all of them in a Bach complete
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well -tempered clavier so you've performed the
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complete Rachmaninoff solo works during the composer's
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150th anniversary year that was like two years
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ago it was in 2023 right right so let's start
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here can you tell us more about taking on his
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complete solo piano works during the anniversary
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year? It may sound a little maybe strange but
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I decided to do that last minute. With Rachmaninoff's
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project it was maybe an act of resistance on
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my side because it was, I remember it vividly,
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it was July of 2022. And I was watching concert
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organizations in the United States and Russia
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worldwide announcing their upcoming seasons.
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And since Beethoven's 250th anniversary was just
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a few years back, and we... were seeing Beethoven
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on every corner despite the COVID and pandemic
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people were doing so many projects so many pianists
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played completely to Beethoven sonatas symphonies
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were doing complete symphonies and you know there
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were so so much work chamber music and everything
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so I was kind of expecting some similar scale
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to happen for Rachmaninov And then they realize
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there's not. I was saying, well, Yuja Wang announced
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that she's going to perform five Rachmaninoff
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concertos in the same night. A few people, such
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as, I think, Nikolai Lugansky and I think Mikhail
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Plitnev as well, did that in Europe. And there
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were different colleagues that did recitals dedicated
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to Rachmaninoff music. But there was not a single
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person who thought to put out a set or even series
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of complete works. There was later on, last year
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actually, 2024, there was a festival in Colombia
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that did dedicate their entire festival to musical
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Rachmaninoff, and they invited, I think, 10 or
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12 pianists to... played those works over the
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course of several days, but that was also much
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later than the anniversary itself. And I understand
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that the tragic circumstances in Eastern Europe
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might have, you know, influenced the decisions
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of, you know, playing Rachmaninoff's music more
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broadly or, you know, we never know what's in
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people's heads, but I felt offended. I felt that
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this is such an injustice because Rachmaninoff
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is one of the most beloved composers on earth.
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If you want to sell out the house, you put Rachmaninoff's
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second concerto in or his second symphony or
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his symphonic dances. You know that it is something
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that is immensely attractive to people and it
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just really, really touches. people's hearts
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across generations, across cultures, across everything.
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And I know that I can learn fast and I know that
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I can concentrate on things quite deeply. And
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so I thought, well, I guess I need to do something
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about it. In July of 2022 in my repertoire I
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had Rachmaninoff first and second sonata, one
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etude tableau, five morceaux opus 3 and a transcription
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of daisies. That's it. That meant everything
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else I had to learn from scratch. For the following
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year That's what I did and that's what I did
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I divided I constructed six programs out of this
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body of works and I was playing one program every
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two months January March May July September I
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ended up getting violently sick in May and had
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to postpone the series by one month a little
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bit because there was one place in Miami, the
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Revered Friends of Chamber Music of Miami. They
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decided to carry all six programs in the same
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place. That was my home series for these concerts.
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while each individual concert I also played in
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other places but all six I played there and so
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they were incredibly sweet and they were incredibly
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encouraging and excited because They felt that
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this is a very special occasion and very special
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moment. And they definitely never had same pianist
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play six recitals in the same calendar year.
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But that was an immense honor and trust that
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they had. And I'm eternally grateful for them
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for doing that for me. And it also meant that
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I knew that I have an audience that is eager
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to hear the next installment and the next installment.
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uh i would definitely say uh you know like when
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we see sometimes advertisements on television
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and there's a disclaimer don't do this at home
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i would say don't embark on something like this
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on six months notice because the problem was
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not just i had to learn all this music i also
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was premiering on my transcription of Manfred's
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Symphony in February. I was playing the same
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month I was debuting my 24 -list etudes program
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in Merkin Hall in New York City. I was traveling,
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I played four piano concertos in different places
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at the same time. I also learned another list,
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almost a recital worth of program at the request
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of American List Society, such as Gross's concert
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solo that is a very rarely performed work, so
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-called B minor Sonata 101, it's something that
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he wrote right before writing. So I had a lot
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of repertoire in my head and it definitely was
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mentally the most unbelievably exhausting year,
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but it also tested my resilience and my... faith
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in completing what I decided to do and it brought
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eight hours of music into my repertoire well
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I had some of that the two sonatas and little
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pieces but like at least six and a little bit
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of of that I learned then and I continue playing
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this music and it brings me so much joy When
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I was a student back in Russia, in my grade school,
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in my middle school and high school, I was double
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major, doubling as a composer as well. And I
00:19:43.349 --> 00:19:46.250
was studying with an incredible person who also
00:19:46.250 --> 00:19:49.890
was a professor of my father, Albert Lemon, who
00:19:49.890 --> 00:19:53.460
was a student of Shostakovich. oh my goodness
00:19:53.460 --> 00:19:55.799
and i started studying with him when i was nine
00:19:55.799 --> 00:19:59.660
even before i actually went to school and he
00:19:59.660 --> 00:20:02.279
was very encouraging he was a fantastic pianist
00:20:02.279 --> 00:20:07.640
himself but in in russia in central music school
00:20:07.640 --> 00:20:11.039
where i went uh people start tackling very difficult
00:20:11.039 --> 00:20:13.759
repertoire very early it's very competitive and
00:20:13.759 --> 00:20:17.519
uh everyone is trying to start playing rock madness
00:20:17.519 --> 00:20:22.279
as early as possible and he discouraged me from
00:20:22.279 --> 00:20:25.660
doing that. He's like, you have to understand,
00:20:25.740 --> 00:20:28.500
Rachmaninoff is a little bit like Brahms. We
00:20:28.500 --> 00:20:32.859
tend to play Brahms better as we mature, and
00:20:32.859 --> 00:20:37.200
the longer you wait before you play Rachmaninoff,
00:20:37.279 --> 00:20:42.319
the better for you. I don't know what that would
00:20:42.319 --> 00:20:45.920
mean so deeply in his words, because I sort of
00:20:45.920 --> 00:20:50.029
violated the Brahms part heavily. I was playing
00:20:50.029 --> 00:20:54.750
his concertos already in my teen years and some
00:20:54.750 --> 00:20:59.250
other works, but I held off from Rachmaninoff
00:20:59.250 --> 00:21:04.250
for a really long time. My very first Rachmaninoff
00:21:04.250 --> 00:21:07.049
piece that I've ever played was Rachmaninoff
00:21:07.049 --> 00:21:10.210
Cello Sonata. And I was already 19 years old
00:21:10.210 --> 00:21:14.210
when I learned it. fell in love with the piece
00:21:14.210 --> 00:21:16.890
and eventually wrote a solo piano transcription
00:21:16.890 --> 00:21:20.730
of it that now I'm playing as a solo sonata but
00:21:20.730 --> 00:21:27.170
then shortly after that I added second concerto
00:21:27.170 --> 00:21:30.329
and then Paganini Rhapsody and then first concerto
00:21:30.329 --> 00:21:35.990
and then later on third concerto and I even was
00:21:35.990 --> 00:21:38.670
going to perform the fourth concerto learned
00:21:38.670 --> 00:21:42.119
it but There was a circumstance that the concert
00:21:42.119 --> 00:21:45.579
got canceled. So the fourth concerto is the one
00:21:45.579 --> 00:21:50.059
that is still waiting to be performed. But I
00:21:50.059 --> 00:21:53.000
was playing the concertos, but not the solo repertoire.
00:21:53.960 --> 00:21:59.740
And then I came to United States and became a
00:21:59.740 --> 00:22:05.619
pupil of Santiago Rodriguez. a fantastic Cuban
00:22:05.619 --> 00:22:09.039
-American pianist who is a god in Rachmaninov.
00:22:09.059 --> 00:22:12.400
His recordings of Rachmaninov are just unbelievable.
00:22:13.140 --> 00:22:18.460
And I started listening to some of his CDs and
00:22:18.460 --> 00:22:21.680
got completely obsessed with the first sonata.
00:22:23.880 --> 00:22:29.380
And learned it and started playing it. And later
00:22:29.380 --> 00:22:33.900
on... decided to learn the second one when I
00:22:33.900 --> 00:22:37.259
discovered the original version of it because
00:22:37.259 --> 00:22:40.660
in Russia almost exclusively people play the
00:22:40.660 --> 00:22:43.660
second version which I never really loved it
00:22:43.660 --> 00:22:48.420
felt kind of like I know tomatoes who's going
00:22:48.420 --> 00:22:51.440
are going to fly into my head as I say it felt
00:22:51.440 --> 00:22:55.180
a little bit potpourri ish hmm it's like it felt
00:22:55.180 --> 00:22:58.619
like almost like pop music comparing to some
00:22:58.619 --> 00:23:02.900
of Rachmaninoff works and then when I discovered
00:23:02.900 --> 00:23:05.859
the original version I realized why because all
00:23:05.859 --> 00:23:11.500
the gloomy and uh philosophical moments he decided
00:23:11.500 --> 00:23:14.740
to take out and make more condensed which he
00:23:14.740 --> 00:23:18.160
cut out six minutes of music he made a much more
00:23:18.160 --> 00:23:22.839
condensed more flashy version and so I was like
00:23:22.839 --> 00:23:29.680
oh and learned the original version and now I'm
00:23:29.680 --> 00:23:33.380
playing happily the original version. But it
00:23:33.380 --> 00:23:40.079
was a long process into Rachmaninoff. I loved
00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:43.920
his orchestral music my entire life. I listened
00:23:43.920 --> 00:23:46.779
to his symphonies obsessively for so many years.
00:23:47.099 --> 00:23:52.269
But I really got to... play and learn the preludes
00:23:52.269 --> 00:23:55.130
and etudes tableaux and Maman musical and all
00:23:55.130 --> 00:23:59.029
these other things and discovered all of the
00:23:59.029 --> 00:24:03.109
baby pieces he wrote when he was 14, 15, 16 that
00:24:03.109 --> 00:24:06.589
I almost never played thanks to this project
00:24:06.589 --> 00:24:12.650
so rounding up for that it's been a great pleasure
00:24:12.650 --> 00:24:17.710
and fulfillment in my life to do that and it
00:24:17.710 --> 00:24:24.519
might seem extreme but extremity of it was never
00:24:24.519 --> 00:24:29.640
the point and it's not because I wanted to you
00:24:29.640 --> 00:24:32.440
know let's do something unusual I just wanted
00:24:32.440 --> 00:24:37.180
to do this because it is due diligence of a pianist
00:24:37.180 --> 00:24:41.779
to say thank you for Rachmaninov for his crazy
00:24:41.779 --> 00:24:47.019
life and incredible music that he brought to
00:24:47.019 --> 00:24:55.880
our lives And following a little bit more your
00:24:55.880 --> 00:24:59.059
question about the extreme projects in general,
00:24:59.259 --> 00:25:07.319
if we look to times before recordings became
00:25:07.319 --> 00:25:13.160
a norm, if we look at times of Busoni, Joseph
00:25:13.160 --> 00:25:20.500
Hoffman, and people like that, Having a big repertoire
00:25:20.500 --> 00:25:26.720
was not something unusual. I would say that also
00:25:26.720 --> 00:25:34.000
in Russia, teachers who are more rigorous, they
00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:39.180
tend to assign complete cycles to students early
00:25:39.180 --> 00:25:42.500
on. It's not unusual to say, you're going to
00:25:42.500 --> 00:25:44.940
learn all of the inventions and then you're going
00:25:44.940 --> 00:25:47.930
to learn on the symphonies. When I was assigned
00:25:47.930 --> 00:25:50.450
proletarian fugues in school, I was not assigned
00:25:50.450 --> 00:25:54.730
one, I was assigned four or five at a time. And
00:25:54.730 --> 00:26:02.450
Mikhail Plitnov was graduating Moscow Conservatory,
00:26:02.509 --> 00:26:06.309
offering any of the proletarian fugues of well
00:26:06.309 --> 00:26:10.390
-tempered clavier at the discretion of the jury
00:26:10.390 --> 00:26:13.869
panel. People just don't talk about these things.
00:26:14.990 --> 00:26:18.549
Joseph Hoffman, in the beginning of 20th century,
00:26:18.710 --> 00:26:23.490
famously played this season in St. Petersburg
00:26:23.490 --> 00:26:30.349
of 13 recitals. About every three weeks, he was
00:26:30.349 --> 00:26:33.450
playing a recital where not a single piece was
00:26:33.450 --> 00:26:37.190
repeated. And he practically played all of the
00:26:37.190 --> 00:26:39.930
standard repertoire, Chopin sonatas, half of
00:26:39.930 --> 00:26:42.630
the Beethoven sonatas, Mozart, you know, romantic
00:26:42.630 --> 00:26:45.960
pieces, transcriptions, like... Everything under
00:26:45.960 --> 00:26:52.019
the sun. It was partially why, when we listen
00:26:52.019 --> 00:26:55.619
to these old masters, I think that they sound
00:26:55.619 --> 00:27:00.200
as if the wisdom is coming through their fingers.
00:27:00.259 --> 00:27:03.160
Because they're going through so much material,
00:27:03.500 --> 00:27:07.200
absorbing so much of the language of the composer.
00:27:07.400 --> 00:27:10.319
Because, let's say, I didn't play a lot of Rachmaninoff.
00:27:10.970 --> 00:27:13.950
in my life for me the most difficult part was
00:27:13.950 --> 00:27:20.670
to quickly figure out the very fine particulars
00:27:20.670 --> 00:27:24.829
about his language because he's not he can be
00:27:24.829 --> 00:27:28.490
somewhat similar to scrabbing they were living
00:27:28.490 --> 00:27:31.309
together at some point and composing side by
00:27:31.309 --> 00:27:37.130
side and scrapping is as dense sometimes uh in
00:27:37.130 --> 00:27:41.670
terms of his texture but it's not the same he's
00:27:41.670 --> 00:27:44.549
not metner either he's not you know it's it's
00:27:44.549 --> 00:27:47.410
a very very particular idiom and the more of
00:27:47.410 --> 00:27:52.529
the same composer you play through the more ideas
00:27:52.529 --> 00:27:55.049
you have oh this is exactly that motive that
00:27:55.049 --> 00:27:57.289
he used in that work in that work in symphony
00:27:57.289 --> 00:28:00.430
concerto quartet whatever i mean in terms of
00:28:00.430 --> 00:28:04.910
uh rock minor quartet would be a little bit of
00:28:04.910 --> 00:28:07.690
approximation but you know you know what i mean
00:28:07.690 --> 00:28:12.890
so i think when recordings became a thing. The
00:28:12.890 --> 00:28:17.609
people's repertoires in general narrowed on average.
00:28:18.569 --> 00:28:21.789
On average, I'm saying, because of course we
00:28:21.789 --> 00:28:24.210
have Marc -André Hamlet, we have Stephen Hubb,
00:28:24.289 --> 00:28:26.829
we have all these people who do massive projects
00:28:26.829 --> 00:28:31.400
as well, but we look at Marta Argerich. He's
00:28:31.400 --> 00:28:34.140
one of the most phenomenal pianists on earth.
00:28:34.299 --> 00:28:37.200
But if you count how many concertos has she played
00:28:37.200 --> 00:28:40.140
in her life and how many solo works she played,
00:28:40.339 --> 00:28:44.839
it's not going to be a lot. Right. Absolutely.
00:28:45.279 --> 00:28:48.000
What she plays, she plays better than anyone
00:28:48.000 --> 00:28:52.660
in the world. But she found her repertoire that
00:28:52.660 --> 00:28:56.829
speaks to her and she can play that. let's say,
00:28:56.849 --> 00:28:59.529
in her sleep. And it is something that is always
00:28:59.529 --> 00:29:03.470
with her. And I think that works for her, but
00:29:03.470 --> 00:29:07.750
it also for somebody like me, who is a greedy
00:29:07.750 --> 00:29:11.990
individual and a curious individual. I think
00:29:11.990 --> 00:29:15.849
I'm thriving when I'm exploring. And so because
00:29:15.849 --> 00:29:21.430
of that, I don't find that it's a good idea to
00:29:21.430 --> 00:29:28.460
sit on the same thing exclusively. without adding
00:29:28.460 --> 00:29:32.039
something else. And that doesn't mean that I
00:29:32.039 --> 00:29:34.680
do not play same things many, many, many times
00:29:34.680 --> 00:29:37.440
and I enjoy when I have an opportunity to play
00:29:37.440 --> 00:29:39.960
same program ten times. That's a joy because
00:29:39.960 --> 00:29:43.779
you grow immensely through that process. But
00:29:43.779 --> 00:29:49.819
an ability to add unusual works and rarely played
00:29:49.819 --> 00:29:53.259
works to your repertoire just makes you a better
00:29:53.259 --> 00:29:55.859
musician, a better pianist, challenges you and
00:29:55.859 --> 00:30:01.549
makes you... wonder how composers were able to
00:30:01.549 --> 00:30:07.769
find new and new and new and new ideas out of
00:30:07.769 --> 00:31:13.180
the same stem of the same language. also do a
00:31:13.180 --> 00:31:17.019
composition and maybe we can talk about that
00:31:17.019 --> 00:31:19.119
let's start with transcriptions because I've
00:31:19.119 --> 00:31:21.700
been listening to your transcriptions you know
00:31:21.700 --> 00:31:25.579
all week long and then this morning I listened
00:31:25.579 --> 00:31:28.019
to it twice actually you know it was on loop
00:31:28.019 --> 00:31:31.660
I really enjoy listening and the way you preserve
00:31:31.660 --> 00:31:34.680
the essence of the original music reimagining
00:31:34.680 --> 00:31:38.380
is just remarkable and you also once described
00:31:38.380 --> 00:31:40.740
the process of transcription as something like
00:31:41.099 --> 00:31:45.039
taming a wild animal very much so and discovering
00:31:45.039 --> 00:31:47.619
whether the music will allow itself to be fully
00:31:47.619 --> 00:31:50.660
realized at the keyboard can you talk about what
00:31:50.660 --> 00:31:53.400
draws you to transcription as a creative act
00:31:53.400 --> 00:32:01.700
it is a complete selfish act it's like i want
00:32:01.700 --> 00:32:11.130
this candy you go through you go through a Shiny
00:32:11.130 --> 00:32:15.690
mall and you see a store of, I don't know, venti,
00:32:15.690 --> 00:32:18.750
Italian chocolate. Like, I want to look at it
00:32:18.750 --> 00:32:26.529
to myself. So it always comes from an obsession
00:32:26.529 --> 00:32:29.970
with something that you like so much, you just
00:32:29.970 --> 00:32:34.430
want to play it yourself. One of the first ideas
00:32:34.430 --> 00:32:38.799
for transcription. was Rachmaninoff's Cello Sonata,
00:32:38.859 --> 00:32:41.339
but I did not even attempt that because I felt
00:32:41.339 --> 00:32:47.240
too much respect for Rachmaninoff. And it was
00:32:47.240 --> 00:32:50.420
actually my professor, Santiago Rodriguez, with
00:32:50.420 --> 00:32:53.079
whom I spoke about this. I said, I have this
00:32:53.079 --> 00:32:55.099
idea, and he's like, what are you waiting for?
00:32:56.119 --> 00:32:58.319
Go for it, go for it! I'm like, really? And he's
00:32:58.319 --> 00:33:03.650
like, yeah! So I went home that night. I started
00:33:03.650 --> 00:33:06.150
sketching things. But the very first transcription
00:33:06.150 --> 00:33:09.970
that I wrote was of Gabriel Fauré's Elegy. Oh,
00:33:09.990 --> 00:33:13.690
the transcription is amazing. It's so emotional.
00:33:14.190 --> 00:33:17.490
Thank you. I played that for a while with cellists.
00:33:17.490 --> 00:33:20.769
And I'm like, I just want to play it myself,
00:33:21.089 --> 00:33:28.609
okay? I have to be honest. My cellist friends.
00:33:30.869 --> 00:33:35.470
approve largely and they said oh this actually
00:33:35.470 --> 00:33:40.349
works we didn't think it would but different
00:33:40.349 --> 00:33:43.589
people told me that they enjoyed hearing that
00:33:43.589 --> 00:33:49.230
and that meant so much because even having let's
00:33:49.230 --> 00:33:58.289
say debates about clarinetists saying Brahms
00:33:58.289 --> 00:34:02.069
sonatas do not sound very well on violas. And
00:34:02.069 --> 00:34:06.569
violists go like, we're much better in Brahms
00:34:06.569 --> 00:34:09.329
sonatas than clarinetists. So there is always
00:34:09.329 --> 00:34:11.650
this, you know, jealousy about repertoire. But
00:34:11.650 --> 00:34:18.929
transcriptions have different kinds. There are
00:34:18.929 --> 00:34:24.369
literal transcriptions. There are transcriptions
00:34:24.369 --> 00:34:27.400
that... One example of a literal transcription
00:34:27.400 --> 00:34:32.280
would be, let's say, Liszt's Beethoven symphonies.
00:34:32.480 --> 00:34:38.139
You do invent some textures, but just only to
00:34:38.139 --> 00:34:44.199
convey what's there in the music. There are works
00:34:44.199 --> 00:34:47.579
like Tannhäuser, Overture by Liszt also, that
00:34:47.579 --> 00:34:51.579
is fairly, fairly close to the original. He tweaked
00:34:51.579 --> 00:34:55.220
certain things, but it's a very... faithful.
00:34:55.220 --> 00:34:58.780
Then there are ornamental transcriptions, let's
00:34:58.780 --> 00:35:04.659
say Rigoletto fantasy, that follows the quartet
00:35:04.659 --> 00:35:10.579
in time, how it progresses, but adds lots of
00:35:10.579 --> 00:35:13.579
flourishing and things like that. And there's
00:35:13.579 --> 00:35:17.219
also complete paraphrasing when things blend
00:35:17.219 --> 00:35:20.500
with each other, concert fantasies are like that.
00:35:21.159 --> 00:35:24.360
and things like that. I find myself most comfortable
00:35:24.360 --> 00:35:32.119
in real, between literal transcription and a
00:35:32.119 --> 00:35:37.019
bit of embellishment. Rachmaninoff cello sonata,
00:35:37.019 --> 00:35:41.380
I have not added a single note that is not Rachmaninoff's,
00:35:41.460 --> 00:35:46.039
other than changing the registers and to accommodate
00:35:46.039 --> 00:35:49.820
certain things in figurations. Let's say, na
00:35:49.820 --> 00:35:53.289
-na -na -na. I would go na -na -na -na sometimes
00:35:53.289 --> 00:35:58.730
with the same harmony, right? So it all, with
00:35:58.730 --> 00:36:02.349
exact respect to what Rachmaninov was doing,
00:36:02.710 --> 00:36:06.550
cello line is sometimes put one or two octaves
00:36:06.550 --> 00:36:09.309
higher or sometimes is doubled in octaves, but
00:36:09.309 --> 00:36:15.969
it is all very, very clear. Tchaikovsky's Manfred
00:36:15.969 --> 00:36:20.659
Symphony and Strauss, Einheld and Lehmann. already
00:36:20.659 --> 00:36:25.579
have so much notes in them that your job is to
00:36:25.579 --> 00:36:30.579
find what you can sacrifice not what can you
00:36:30.579 --> 00:36:36.619
add but what you can sacrifice while still portraying
00:36:36.619 --> 00:36:40.099
the thickness of the of the orchestral material
00:36:40.099 --> 00:36:46.989
and sometimes you have to invent techniques and
00:36:46.989 --> 00:36:49.750
things to portray certain things. There is a
00:36:49.750 --> 00:36:56.070
phenomenal climax in Ein Heldenleben's Hero's
00:36:56.070 --> 00:36:59.590
Love section, which is number three. And there
00:36:59.590 --> 00:37:04.849
is like... And there's two harps are playing
00:37:04.849 --> 00:37:09.050
glissandos down. And they're doing them in octaves
00:37:09.050 --> 00:37:11.690
together, so they're very prominent. There are
00:37:11.690 --> 00:37:13.670
so many things going on at the same time, but
00:37:13.670 --> 00:37:18.829
these cascades of glissandos are very, very,
00:37:18.829 --> 00:37:21.489
very loud. They're like, what do you do? They
00:37:21.489 --> 00:37:27.309
are glissandos on harmonically black keys. Good
00:37:27.309 --> 00:37:30.690
luck doing glissando on fortissimo on black keys.
00:37:30.789 --> 00:37:33.510
You're going to lose some of your knuckles and
00:37:33.510 --> 00:37:36.230
some of your skin and maybe some of your bones.
00:37:37.300 --> 00:37:41.000
So I was just experimenting and just... It took
00:37:41.000 --> 00:37:46.599
me maybe a good week. It's one of those moments
00:37:46.599 --> 00:37:50.420
that give me a reason to talk about taming a
00:37:50.420 --> 00:37:55.340
wild animal. The animal goes like... No, I'm
00:37:55.340 --> 00:37:59.300
not gonna give you myself! So I invented a fist
00:37:59.300 --> 00:38:03.579
glissando where you go and do the glissando by
00:38:03.579 --> 00:38:08.280
this part. of your clenched fist. So it's the
00:38:08.280 --> 00:38:12.199
pinky side. It's not even pinky. It's this meat.
00:38:12.320 --> 00:38:15.659
Oh, meat. Okay. Meat of your... Because when
00:38:15.659 --> 00:38:18.460
you clench it, if you just do this, it's flat.
00:38:18.539 --> 00:38:22.000
But if you do this, the muscle rounds up and
00:38:22.000 --> 00:38:26.639
becomes thick and rounded. And you can glide
00:38:26.639 --> 00:38:29.679
through that and you don't break a skin at all.
00:38:30.099 --> 00:38:33.019
And you can be very, very loud at the same time.
00:38:33.039 --> 00:38:36.860
It really works. Wow. So once I figured it out,
00:38:36.900 --> 00:38:41.860
I was like, yes. And the third type of the second
00:38:41.860 --> 00:38:45.820
type of the embellished transcription I have
00:38:45.820 --> 00:38:52.019
done a bit. My Frank's La Mariage des Roses is
00:38:52.019 --> 00:38:56.500
one of them. The original song is very transparent,
00:38:56.820 --> 00:39:00.320
mostly with block chords, and it's not much going
00:39:00.320 --> 00:39:04.199
on. And I kind of... reimagined a thicker texture
00:39:04.199 --> 00:39:10.000
in the style of Frank and made it in a more prominent
00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.880
piece than it was originally. But I have yet
00:39:14.880 --> 00:39:19.760
to go into a mode of complete paraphrasing. I
00:39:19.760 --> 00:39:24.300
have not done quite that so far, but maybe in
00:39:24.300 --> 00:39:27.260
the future. And I also love the Bach Christmas
00:39:27.260 --> 00:39:30.440
Oratorio, you know, transcription arrangement.
00:39:30.659 --> 00:39:33.940
And then also you've done West Side Story, Maria
00:39:33.940 --> 00:39:38.860
from, that's beautiful too. Thank you. Another
00:39:38.860 --> 00:39:43.699
opening choir of Christmas Oratorio is coming
00:39:43.699 --> 00:39:47.519
out this Christmas. And the score and the video
00:39:47.519 --> 00:39:50.420
of it will be available on Christmas Day. Great.
00:39:51.659 --> 00:39:54.139
Most of your arrangements and transcriptions
00:39:54.139 --> 00:39:57.760
are available as a score, right? About half.
00:39:57.900 --> 00:40:01.780
I'm working on that. It takes a long time. But
00:40:01.780 --> 00:40:06.380
where can we go and purchase your transcript?
00:40:06.579 --> 00:40:11.559
On my website, there is a tab shop that leads
00:40:11.559 --> 00:40:16.460
to my Etsy store where I sell all of my scores
00:40:16.460 --> 00:40:19.989
and also some other merchandise such as... prints
00:40:19.989 --> 00:40:23.210
of some artwork and i also have a hobby piano
00:40:23.210 --> 00:40:27.630
stickers that i'm making uh work very well for
00:40:27.630 --> 00:40:31.630
encouraging uh younger students yeah so that's
00:40:31.630 --> 00:40:37.210
yeah so that's asia crepanova .com .com or you
00:40:37.210 --> 00:40:41.250
can also access the same site with just asia
00:40:41.250 --> 00:40:46.780
.us oh yes oh perfect wonderful i will make sure
00:40:46.780 --> 00:42:04.320
to list those links in the show notes Let's talk
00:42:04.320 --> 00:42:07.980
about your original works. I've listened to your
00:42:07.980 --> 00:42:12.780
alto saxophone and piano composition poem. Well,
00:42:12.900 --> 00:42:16.639
I've known this piece for a while because I interviewed
00:42:16.639 --> 00:42:23.139
both Thomas Giles and Eliana for the piano part.
00:42:23.239 --> 00:42:27.440
Yes, both together. Fantastic. Now I'm connecting
00:42:27.440 --> 00:42:30.659
the dots. Yes. So that piece was amazing. It's
00:42:30.659 --> 00:42:33.519
a little jazzy in the middle, like where there,
00:42:33.659 --> 00:42:36.440
you know, gets a bit dense. Yeah, it's cool.
00:42:36.659 --> 00:42:40.699
And also Piano Quintet, Marvel at the Sky, and
00:42:40.699 --> 00:42:45.719
then a combrio for two pianos. So you are composing
00:42:45.719 --> 00:42:50.400
your own original pieces. Yeah. Yes. So how does
00:42:50.400 --> 00:42:53.039
that place you in a different creative space
00:42:53.039 --> 00:42:56.019
from performing? Like, you know, All of your
00:42:56.019 --> 00:43:00.880
life as a solo artist, solo pianist and trained,
00:43:01.079 --> 00:43:04.400
well, also you studied composition, but does
00:43:04.400 --> 00:43:06.219
the composition give you a different perspective
00:43:06.219 --> 00:43:13.480
of yourself, identity, maybe? Absolutely. When
00:43:13.480 --> 00:43:18.440
you compose and you make choices about what to
00:43:18.440 --> 00:43:22.579
put on paper, it makes you look... everything
00:43:22.579 --> 00:43:25.280
else that was put on paper before you differently.
00:43:26.139 --> 00:43:31.840
It also makes you note structural elements and
00:43:31.840 --> 00:43:36.039
that aids in comprehension of the structure and
00:43:36.039 --> 00:43:40.519
in memorization and in forming your interpretation.
00:43:41.039 --> 00:43:46.199
My composition teacher tasked me to write three
00:43:46.199 --> 00:43:48.739
or four voice fugues when I was nine and ten
00:43:48.739 --> 00:43:53.989
years old. and Sonatinas, and then eventually
00:43:53.989 --> 00:43:58.730
Sonata forms when I was about 10 -11. So you
00:43:58.730 --> 00:44:04.230
do it as an exercise, but also you're not trying
00:44:04.230 --> 00:44:07.090
to do that in Bach style, whatever. You're trying
00:44:07.090 --> 00:44:13.030
to use an existing form and adapt your own language
00:44:13.030 --> 00:44:17.289
to it, but it also in order to be able to do
00:44:17.289 --> 00:44:20.739
that. You have to study what it means to use
00:44:20.739 --> 00:44:24.539
that form. What exactly is the form of the fugue?
00:44:24.860 --> 00:44:27.280
What is its subject and counter subject? What
00:44:27.280 --> 00:44:29.320
is the episode? What is the stretta? What is
00:44:29.320 --> 00:44:31.260
the inversion? What kinds of inversions they
00:44:31.260 --> 00:44:36.119
are? What kinds of retrograde, retrograded inversion
00:44:36.119 --> 00:44:41.320
and all these things. And you use these tools.
00:44:42.860 --> 00:44:47.139
what is it to have the counter subject that remains
00:44:47.139 --> 00:44:51.219
the same throughout the fugue or that does not
00:44:51.219 --> 00:44:55.559
what it takes to write a fugue with more than
00:44:55.559 --> 00:45:01.579
one subject and eventually I have written a fugue
00:45:01.579 --> 00:45:05.719
with three subjects for clarinet and piano which
00:45:05.719 --> 00:45:09.659
is a final movement of my triptych for clarinet
00:45:09.659 --> 00:45:13.559
and piano but it it is highly analytical work
00:45:13.559 --> 00:45:19.539
and highly emotional work at the same time because
00:45:19.539 --> 00:45:22.199
you have to analyze consciously what you're doing
00:45:22.199 --> 00:45:27.659
but you also have to make sure it carries an
00:45:27.659 --> 00:45:31.179
emotion and a feeling that you want to portray
00:45:31.179 --> 00:45:34.760
because you know we just put something together
00:45:34.760 --> 00:45:42.369
completely brainy It's not going to sound very
00:45:42.369 --> 00:45:47.429
well. The reason why Berg's late first, like,
00:45:47.429 --> 00:45:51.070
violin concerto is so beautiful, it's a serial
00:45:51.070 --> 00:45:54.610
technique, but you never think about that it
00:45:54.610 --> 00:45:56.130
is a serial technique because it's overwhelmingly
00:45:56.130 --> 00:46:00.010
beautiful. It carries deep emotion while having
00:46:00.010 --> 00:46:02.550
the structure that they were experimenting with
00:46:02.550 --> 00:46:07.789
at the time. So I always encourage my students
00:46:07.789 --> 00:46:11.599
to... try their best to compose something. If
00:46:11.599 --> 00:46:14.559
they're working on polyphonic music, try your
00:46:14.559 --> 00:46:18.440
best to at least write a canon and see how far
00:46:18.440 --> 00:46:23.599
you can go. Try to deeply understand how this
00:46:23.599 --> 00:46:28.159
structure is made. Try to write a sonatina and
00:46:28.159 --> 00:46:33.119
come up with first theme and an episode and a
00:46:33.119 --> 00:46:36.119
second theme and a closing theme and some kind
00:46:36.119 --> 00:46:38.860
of development at least to... to feel what it
00:46:38.860 --> 00:46:42.500
takes to develop the material that you have what
00:46:42.500 --> 00:46:46.099
is it a development of thematic material how
00:46:46.099 --> 00:46:50.320
all these motives that composer takes from his
00:46:50.320 --> 00:46:53.760
existing themes he inverts and creates something
00:46:53.760 --> 00:46:57.579
new and creates new elements right cadences to
00:46:57.579 --> 00:47:01.980
your baroque your classical concertos even if
00:47:01.980 --> 00:47:04.219
you end up not playing them if you're playing
00:47:04.989 --> 00:47:07.849
Beethoven concertos or Mozart concertos I think
00:47:07.849 --> 00:47:11.309
it's a must to try and write your own and see
00:47:11.309 --> 00:47:14.510
how can you develop the material that you know
00:47:14.510 --> 00:47:20.570
so well already in your own way so then you know
00:47:20.570 --> 00:47:25.889
these days as a pianist we talked about how this
00:47:25.889 --> 00:47:31.800
recording the innovation of a recording just
00:47:31.800 --> 00:47:34.920
deprived of pianists of opportunities to learn
00:47:34.920 --> 00:47:37.300
expansive work, like, for example, you know,
00:47:37.320 --> 00:47:39.980
the entire thing of Rachmarinov, for example,
00:47:40.019 --> 00:47:44.000
you mentioned and so on. So then when you mentioned
00:47:44.000 --> 00:47:46.539
about composition and I feel like the performing
00:47:46.539 --> 00:47:50.579
artists, like when you study in college, of course,
00:47:50.599 --> 00:47:55.820
we learn, you know, basic theory, even advanced.
00:47:56.320 --> 00:48:00.280
Then also, what is it? you know, counterpoint
00:48:00.280 --> 00:48:05.480
and so on. But you actually have this extensive
00:48:05.480 --> 00:48:09.119
training of composition and learning about counterpoints.
00:48:09.280 --> 00:48:12.960
Is that because your parents were musicians that
00:48:12.960 --> 00:48:15.880
you knew exactly what to learn? Or is it a very
00:48:15.880 --> 00:48:19.360
common thing back in Russia? Back in Russia,
00:48:19.480 --> 00:48:23.679
there are music schools for kids, first to seventh
00:48:23.679 --> 00:48:27.400
grade. It's kind of evening school. That is...
00:48:28.440 --> 00:48:30.460
throughout the country something that you can
00:48:30.460 --> 00:48:35.440
subscribe to but there is also so -called specialized
00:48:35.440 --> 00:48:41.420
music schools that combine music musical and
00:48:41.420 --> 00:48:45.219
regular subjects from the first grade through
00:48:45.219 --> 00:48:48.480
11th so it's a whole run it's the same school
00:48:48.480 --> 00:48:51.719
from elementary through middle to high this is
00:48:51.719 --> 00:48:56.519
one of the schools that i went to but In Russia,
00:48:56.539 --> 00:49:00.079
if you go to a musical school, you get an instrument,
00:49:00.300 --> 00:49:05.719
choir, and theory right away. The course of music
00:49:05.719 --> 00:49:09.739
theory starts in the first grade and finishes
00:49:09.739 --> 00:49:13.280
at the fourth grade. At 10 years old, anyone
00:49:13.280 --> 00:49:16.820
who was born in Russia passes the whole course
00:49:16.820 --> 00:49:21.500
of music theory. So for us, it is because of
00:49:21.500 --> 00:49:26.139
that. It is introduced like a language, so to
00:49:26.139 --> 00:49:32.440
speak. So because of that, for me, music theory
00:49:32.440 --> 00:49:35.199
is elementary. And it's called elementary music
00:49:35.199 --> 00:49:38.739
theory. For me, it is elementary because it was
00:49:38.739 --> 00:49:43.159
introduced so long time ago. It became a second
00:49:43.159 --> 00:49:46.300
nature. I didn't think about it when I came to
00:49:46.300 --> 00:49:48.360
United States and I realized that people who
00:49:48.360 --> 00:49:51.780
already play advanced pieces on their instruments
00:49:51.780 --> 00:49:55.739
start. learning music theory in college, and
00:49:55.739 --> 00:49:58.300
they do not know what the, I don't know, seventh
00:49:58.300 --> 00:50:01.159
chord is, they do not know what the Neapolitan
00:50:01.159 --> 00:50:05.440
sixth is, and things like that, it felt a little
00:50:05.440 --> 00:50:12.280
bit counterintuitive. That said, way before conservatories,
00:50:12.539 --> 00:50:18.539
when composers that we know now as great composers,
00:50:18.679 --> 00:50:22.340
Tchaikovsky, Balakirev, Borodin in Russia, but
00:50:22.800 --> 00:50:27.039
you know bach and bach studied with his uh brother
00:50:27.039 --> 00:50:31.739
right and beethoven uh was beaten up by his father
00:50:31.739 --> 00:50:35.380
but he also started taking lessons with uh his
00:50:35.380 --> 00:50:42.659
teaching affairs like he was at 9 10 11. at that
00:50:42.659 --> 00:50:45.980
time i don't think anything was given to anyone
00:50:45.980 --> 00:50:50.860
in simplified way so information was given at
00:50:50.860 --> 00:50:55.190
once So you already had a bar to which you were
00:50:55.190 --> 00:51:02.170
to aspire. And so when I went to study with Professor
00:51:02.170 --> 00:51:06.670
Lemon, who, you know, studied with Shostakovich,
00:51:06.670 --> 00:51:09.230
and Shostakovich would not necessarily be very
00:51:09.230 --> 00:51:12.849
easy on him either, he instantly presented me
00:51:12.849 --> 00:51:14.769
like, I don't care how old you are, this is what
00:51:14.769 --> 00:51:19.460
you're supposed to know how to do. And so he
00:51:19.460 --> 00:51:24.300
would just give me tasks that he felt I was able
00:51:24.300 --> 00:51:28.400
to accomplish, but he also was not necessarily
00:51:28.400 --> 00:51:33.869
giving me much discount on any of that. Things
00:51:33.869 --> 00:51:36.650
are gradually changing. A lot of people like
00:51:36.650 --> 00:51:40.269
to complain that I would never need math in my
00:51:40.269 --> 00:51:42.510
life. Why would I have to study? I will never
00:51:42.510 --> 00:51:44.389
need physics in my life. Why would I need this?
00:51:44.630 --> 00:51:48.449
I will never need harmony, four -part harmony
00:51:48.449 --> 00:51:54.250
in my life. Why would I need to study that? Well,
00:51:54.349 --> 00:51:59.150
it is done so that this gray matter in your head
00:51:59.150 --> 00:52:04.230
knows how to move around. primarily because when
00:52:04.230 --> 00:52:07.110
you have to analyze harmony for a four -part
00:52:07.110 --> 00:52:11.929
harmony task you analyze tensions in the harmony
00:52:11.929 --> 00:52:16.550
you realize internally how one chord resolves
00:52:16.550 --> 00:52:21.050
to another how strong the pull between these
00:52:21.050 --> 00:52:24.730
harmonies are and it aids immensely in how you
00:52:24.730 --> 00:52:27.230
then construct a phrase in your interpretation
00:52:27.230 --> 00:52:30.010
people don't think directly in these matters
00:52:30.010 --> 00:52:34.210
unfortunately but it is true uh in you know school
00:52:34.210 --> 00:52:39.030
the ear training class goes from the first grade
00:52:39.030 --> 00:52:44.070
through the 11th grade every year two times a
00:52:44.070 --> 00:52:47.190
week you come you listen to dictations you answer
00:52:47.190 --> 00:52:51.670
chord progressions you think you sing by yourself
00:52:51.670 --> 00:52:55.550
you sing with a partner you sing as a group and
00:52:55.550 --> 00:52:59.480
it also when you sing you also learn how to build
00:52:59.480 --> 00:53:03.159
the phrase in yours in your singing you you know
00:53:03.159 --> 00:53:06.960
how to create a sense of progress in your playing
00:53:06.960 --> 00:53:10.860
which is incredibly important so i would say
00:53:10.860 --> 00:53:16.320
uh there is a system in russia that is uh sometimes
00:53:16.320 --> 00:53:21.480
can be a bit too traditional because at times
00:53:21.480 --> 00:53:24.280
when you want to venture especially in terms
00:53:24.280 --> 00:53:27.559
of interpretation to your own ideas they those
00:53:27.559 --> 00:53:31.300
ideas may not be very much appreciated because
00:53:31.300 --> 00:53:34.739
the belief is in order to invent something new
00:53:34.739 --> 00:53:38.219
you need to really know all of the fundamentals
00:53:38.219 --> 00:53:44.199
when we are 18 years old and we are passing examinations
00:53:44.199 --> 00:53:47.639
to Moscow Conservatory or St. Petersburg Conservatory
00:53:47.639 --> 00:53:50.699
or any other conservatory in the country you
00:53:50.699 --> 00:53:56.699
play your program that you prepare 45 minutes
00:53:56.699 --> 00:54:01.460
of music then you have an interview at which
00:54:01.460 --> 00:54:07.719
you are asked random questions uh from the course
00:54:07.719 --> 00:54:10.480
entire course of music history that you did in
00:54:10.480 --> 00:54:13.940
school they can ask you virtually anything How
00:54:13.940 --> 00:54:17.480
many symphonies this man wrote? What was this
00:54:17.480 --> 00:54:22.239
Beethoven sonata? Who was the dedicatee of this
00:54:22.239 --> 00:54:25.699
Beethoven sonata? When was this written? Can
00:54:25.699 --> 00:54:29.000
you play us an opening of this piece or that
00:54:29.000 --> 00:54:31.179
place or this piece? And they also make you to
00:54:31.179 --> 00:54:33.239
sit down and sight -read something that you do
00:54:33.239 --> 00:54:38.280
not know. Then you have oral ear training exam,
00:54:38.480 --> 00:54:42.150
where you... are played uh chord progression
00:54:42.150 --> 00:54:48.510
of 32 24 to 32 chords they played twice and then
00:54:48.510 --> 00:54:51.750
you have in those two times you have to memorize
00:54:51.750 --> 00:54:55.170
that and tell from memory what course that they
00:54:55.170 --> 00:54:58.829
were and uh in what what was in the soprano line
00:54:58.829 --> 00:55:02.349
it is not a random thing you train for that 11
00:55:02.349 --> 00:55:04.409
years for that this is something that we do all
00:55:04.409 --> 00:55:07.320
the time so it's part of our training You have
00:55:07.320 --> 00:55:12.340
to sing something, sight -sing something. The
00:55:12.340 --> 00:55:15.300
next day there is a written ear training exam.
00:55:15.559 --> 00:55:21.519
You write a dictation. Typically 16 measures
00:55:21.519 --> 00:55:26.579
played 8 times. The next day there is an oral
00:55:26.579 --> 00:55:30.659
harmony exam. You are given a beginning for a
00:55:30.659 --> 00:55:33.059
period. You have to improvise a period with no...
00:55:34.030 --> 00:55:37.929
wrong voice leadings and you also have to answer
00:55:37.929 --> 00:55:40.670
some specific questions on the course of harmony
00:55:40.670 --> 00:55:45.269
the next day is the written harmony exam you're
00:55:45.269 --> 00:55:50.409
given a 16 measure melody piece of paper pencil
00:55:50.409 --> 00:55:53.449
and eraser and four hours without instrument
00:55:53.449 --> 00:55:59.449
in the class and you realize this so that means
00:55:59.449 --> 00:56:04.590
you have to hear your head what you see in order
00:56:04.590 --> 00:56:08.849
to really realize that so it really the course
00:56:08.849 --> 00:56:11.989
of harmony trains you to have this ability to
00:56:11.989 --> 00:56:15.630
really really internalize the sound and then
00:56:15.630 --> 00:56:21.909
the last exam in that is essay they give you
00:56:21.909 --> 00:56:26.130
random three topics from the course of the history
00:56:26.130 --> 00:56:29.079
of literature typically Russian literature and
00:56:29.079 --> 00:56:34.340
you write a saying about, you know, history of
00:56:34.340 --> 00:56:38.219
this character in this novel or broad ideas of
00:56:38.219 --> 00:56:40.300
Dostoyevsky, let's say, or that and this and
00:56:40.300 --> 00:56:42.500
that. And nobody knows what these topics are
00:56:42.500 --> 00:56:45.980
going to be. So you presume that you've all read
00:56:45.980 --> 00:56:48.840
and you have read all of these novels. So from
00:56:48.840 --> 00:56:51.280
memory, you can reconstruct an idea and stuff
00:56:51.280 --> 00:56:58.570
like that. So seven exams. the education is free
00:56:58.570 --> 00:57:03.389
but it is highly competitive because if you get
00:57:03.389 --> 00:57:07.809
lower grades in any of these exams after your
00:57:07.809 --> 00:57:13.190
instrument it gives you it brings you lower and
00:57:13.190 --> 00:57:16.190
lower and lower in the list and then if you do
00:57:16.190 --> 00:57:21.010
not make a cut you don't make a cut so it's a
00:57:21.010 --> 00:57:23.130
very different system it also kind of puts you
00:57:23.130 --> 00:57:27.929
in a lot of stress because you grow up everyone
00:57:27.929 --> 00:57:30.570
who's studying together would use your direct
00:57:30.570 --> 00:57:34.269
competitor because you always you have to excel
00:57:34.269 --> 00:57:36.469
to make the cut to make the cut because they
00:57:36.469 --> 00:57:40.409
also in the special music school they your grades
00:57:40.409 --> 00:57:43.010
are not good they eliminate you and you no longer
00:57:43.010 --> 00:57:48.699
can study so it's a very different Very different
00:57:48.699 --> 00:57:52.420
philosophy, very different upbringing. It has
00:57:52.420 --> 00:57:56.840
its benefits because it builds resilience, but
00:57:56.840 --> 00:58:00.820
it also has its downsides because it's a lot
00:58:00.820 --> 00:58:03.019
of stress and it breaks a lot of people as well.
00:58:05.420 --> 00:58:08.639
but you made it and uh all the training you received
00:58:08.639 --> 00:58:12.659
as tough as they were but it becomes who you
00:58:12.659 --> 00:58:15.800
are as a you know artist and you can also contribute
00:58:15.800 --> 00:58:20.260
to this american society now then you move to
00:58:20.260 --> 00:58:23.920
the united states and you from russia to miami
00:58:23.920 --> 00:58:30.039
yes yes wild west so how how is it how how um
00:58:31.079 --> 00:58:33.360
How did being in the United States expand or
00:58:33.360 --> 00:58:37.480
challenge your sense of artistic freedom? I've
00:58:37.480 --> 00:58:41.940
been asked whether I have any regrets about moving
00:58:41.940 --> 00:58:47.239
to the United States. And I said, indeed, I do
00:58:47.239 --> 00:58:53.480
have those. And people ask what those regrets
00:58:53.480 --> 00:58:56.760
are. And I say, well, I regret that I did not
00:58:56.760 --> 00:59:03.179
make the move earlier. I came here when the time
00:59:03.179 --> 00:59:07.659
was right, of course. And I came to Miami straight
00:59:07.659 --> 00:59:10.500
from Moscow, which was a crazy move, especially
00:59:10.500 --> 00:59:16.320
since my stipend, my scholarship, for whatever
00:59:16.320 --> 00:59:18.780
reason, was starting in the spring semester.
00:59:18.820 --> 00:59:24.460
So I came in January. And I came from very cold.
00:59:24.579 --> 00:59:28.710
It was a very cold winter. colder than average,
00:59:29.030 --> 00:59:34.030
and I'm coming to Miami, it's 85 degrees, and
00:59:34.030 --> 00:59:36.869
I'm opening the doors of the airport, this warm,
00:59:37.010 --> 00:59:40.010
moist air washing my face. I'm like, oh my God,
00:59:40.050 --> 00:59:46.650
I'm supposed to study here? Like, what? But coming
00:59:46.650 --> 00:59:50.369
to Professor Rodriguez's class was one of the
00:59:50.369 --> 00:59:57.619
best decisions of my life. And he has been one
00:59:57.619 --> 01:00:01.639
of the most helpful and amazing teachers I've
01:00:01.639 --> 01:00:05.179
ever had and extremely encouraging and extremely
01:00:05.179 --> 01:00:11.119
supportive in a way that he wanted me to be me.
01:00:11.980 --> 01:00:17.760
And he never tried to make a mini me out of me.
01:00:18.980 --> 01:00:25.239
So he was able to see my... personal aspirations
01:00:25.239 --> 01:00:30.239
and personal features and helped me to realize
01:00:30.239 --> 01:00:34.679
them even with that comment of of what are you
01:00:34.679 --> 01:00:36.980
waiting for in the Rachmaninoff cello sonata
01:00:36.980 --> 01:00:40.599
because that validation from him and he's a big
01:00:40.599 --> 01:00:43.699
Rachmaninoff person that validation from him
01:00:43.699 --> 01:00:47.820
sort of opened a pandora box in me because I
01:00:47.820 --> 01:00:51.980
started writing Rachmaninoff transcription but
01:00:51.980 --> 01:00:55.659
then And about a month later, I simultaneously
01:00:55.659 --> 01:00:59.380
started writing Ein Heldenleben and then something
01:00:59.380 --> 01:01:01.679
else and then something else. And it just kind
01:01:01.679 --> 01:01:07.280
of like my hunger grew and I started to satisfy
01:01:07.280 --> 01:01:10.559
it. And so it's been such an integral part of
01:01:10.559 --> 01:01:12.900
my life these days. And I started also to write
01:01:12.900 --> 01:01:16.340
transcriptions for Piano for Hands as I collaborate
01:01:16.340 --> 01:01:21.639
with a number of colleagues. And I love. two
01:01:21.639 --> 01:01:24.800
piano and four piano playing because it's a type
01:01:24.800 --> 01:01:26.780
of chamber music that is very different from
01:01:26.780 --> 01:01:31.380
playing with other instruments. And I enjoy that
01:01:31.380 --> 01:01:35.960
very much. So I love brewing ideas for hand and
01:01:35.960 --> 01:01:39.539
two piano repertoire as well. Can't wait for
01:01:39.539 --> 01:01:42.099
the next composition or transcription that comes
01:01:42.099 --> 01:01:44.820
out of you. But it's fascinating because you
01:01:44.820 --> 01:01:50.239
rediscovered, basically, Rachmaninoff. in miami
01:01:50.239 --> 01:01:53.440
you know what i mean like of all places you know
01:01:53.440 --> 01:01:58.039
so yeah yeah in a sense that's true yes that's
01:01:58.039 --> 01:02:01.760
wild yeah yeah but about miami you know i had
01:02:01.760 --> 01:02:05.619
a very different perception of miami when you
01:02:05.619 --> 01:02:10.000
when you're not in miami the stereotype of that
01:02:10.000 --> 01:02:15.719
being a paradise touristy destination is so strong
01:02:15.719 --> 01:02:19.480
worldwide That people think, oh, Miami, beach,
01:02:19.679 --> 01:02:25.599
palms, I don't know, coconut water and maybe
01:02:25.599 --> 01:02:28.739
some jet skiing and stuff like that. It's a very
01:02:28.739 --> 01:02:34.500
vibrant and rich and huge city. And it's one
01:02:34.500 --> 01:02:38.860
of its main benefits. It has still a lot of room
01:02:38.860 --> 01:02:43.699
to grow. And many, many things are being invented
01:02:43.699 --> 01:02:49.170
in Miami. I'm sure in about a decade, Miami is
01:02:49.170 --> 01:02:52.250
going to be very close to New York City in terms
01:02:52.250 --> 01:02:55.650
of how many happenings there are. There's Art
01:02:55.650 --> 01:02:59.349
Basel, there are so many new concert series and
01:02:59.349 --> 01:03:02.670
new ensembles, many, many things. And there are
01:03:02.670 --> 01:03:05.909
people there who like to be there and they want
01:03:05.909 --> 01:03:11.500
their communities to be. culturally rich University
01:03:11.500 --> 01:03:14.679
of Miami where I went as a doctoral student and
01:03:14.679 --> 01:03:17.360
artist diploma after my artist diploma after
01:03:17.360 --> 01:03:21.639
that transformed in these last 12 -14 years immensely
01:03:21.639 --> 01:03:24.760
new concert hall was just recently opened there
01:03:24.760 --> 01:03:28.860
which I was very honored to be a part of the
01:03:28.860 --> 01:03:33.269
opening of and they build new buildings for the
01:03:33.269 --> 01:03:37.989
music school, they build new hospitals, new student
01:03:37.989 --> 01:03:42.590
dorms, and it just, it grows and many new festivals
01:03:42.590 --> 01:03:46.510
are started and many new events. So it's a very
01:03:46.510 --> 01:03:49.730
special place and it's very, very far from just
01:03:49.730 --> 01:03:52.789
being the beach and the palms, even though the
01:03:52.789 --> 01:03:55.159
beach and the palms are quite nice. yeah yeah
01:03:55.159 --> 01:03:58.559
i i've lived in florida so i know what you mean
01:03:58.559 --> 01:04:03.099
so but is that where you met liana heron uh liana
01:04:03.099 --> 01:04:06.559
and i met as students uh doctoral students okay
01:04:06.559 --> 01:04:08.780
okay professor rodriguez actually introduced
01:04:08.780 --> 01:04:12.000
us for the first time because she mentioned you
01:04:12.000 --> 01:04:15.480
know she also traveled actually uh she mentioned
01:04:15.480 --> 01:04:18.280
about you know coming out of miami so she drove
01:04:18.280 --> 01:04:20.900
herself to new york and then she came here so
01:04:20.900 --> 01:04:23.880
yeah yeah i remember that Wonderful. She's also
01:04:23.880 --> 01:04:28.000
a wonderful pianist. Yeah, I want to talk about
01:04:28.000 --> 01:04:31.539
your other part of you. You know, we talked about
01:04:31.539 --> 01:04:36.699
being a pianist, a composer and, you know, arranger,
01:04:36.699 --> 01:04:40.079
but also your visual artist and poet. And actually
01:04:40.079 --> 01:04:43.900
you bring those all elements together into your
01:04:43.900 --> 01:04:48.460
multidisciplinary. event or concert so tell us
01:04:48.460 --> 01:04:51.119
because you were way ahead of everybody because
01:04:51.119 --> 01:04:54.159
now people are doing it but since 2007 you have
01:04:54.159 --> 01:04:57.639
these pictures at the exhibition event and the
01:04:57.639 --> 01:05:00.860
euphoria after list and so many others so tell
01:05:00.860 --> 01:05:05.800
us as i have mentioned i've been drawing my entire
01:05:05.800 --> 01:05:08.139
life this is something that i really really loved
01:05:08.139 --> 01:05:14.940
my mother also had this very fun idea of using
01:05:17.019 --> 01:05:22.079
catalogs of art museums that she and my dad were
01:05:22.079 --> 01:05:27.960
collecting as picture books for me. There is
01:05:27.960 --> 01:05:32.519
this funny photo of me at maybe four or five
01:05:32.519 --> 01:05:37.579
months old. I'm sitting on my mom's lap and we're
01:05:37.579 --> 01:05:41.559
examining the National Gallery of Washington
01:05:41.559 --> 01:05:48.260
DC's catalog. Which is also, I must say this,
01:05:48.420 --> 01:05:53.780
in March, I'm making my debut at Buenos Aires
01:05:53.780 --> 01:05:57.539
with Buenos Aires Philharmonic Orchestra. And
01:05:57.539 --> 01:06:01.119
I will be playing Amy Beach's South American
01:06:01.119 --> 01:06:03.500
premiere of her piano concerto with them, which
01:06:03.500 --> 01:06:09.539
is an enormous privilege and honor. But my mom
01:06:09.539 --> 01:06:14.469
has a faint link to that because... many many
01:06:14.469 --> 01:06:18.389
many years ago my mom had a duo partner in russia
01:06:18.389 --> 01:06:26.010
a very wonderful violinist who they've played
01:06:26.010 --> 01:06:30.510
many many recitals together and i witnessed them
01:06:30.510 --> 01:06:33.329
practicing together and everything alia at some
01:06:33.329 --> 01:06:38.489
point met a young man from argentina who was
01:06:38.489 --> 01:06:43.599
from buenos aires and eventually which was very
01:06:43.599 --> 01:06:46.880
difficult to do during Soviet times. They got
01:06:46.880 --> 01:06:51.099
married and left. And for that period, the connection
01:06:51.099 --> 01:06:56.219
with my mom got, unfortunately, had to be put
01:06:56.219 --> 01:06:59.920
on pause because they couldn't meet and rehearse
01:06:59.920 --> 01:07:05.760
anymore. But they were sometimes able to send
01:07:05.760 --> 01:07:11.880
something from abroad. So one of the gifts that...
01:07:12.219 --> 01:07:17.920
this lady Alia sent to my mom was the art catalog
01:07:17.920 --> 01:07:22.079
of a National Gallery of Washington DC that is
01:07:22.079 --> 01:07:27.139
present in that picture with me so I grew up
01:07:27.139 --> 01:07:33.260
looking through that catalog hundreds of times
01:07:33.260 --> 01:07:38.119
it became the the portraits and the artwork in
01:07:38.119 --> 01:07:41.840
there became as familiar as if, you know, you
01:07:41.840 --> 01:07:45.780
have a Tom and Jerry, you know, picture book
01:07:45.780 --> 01:07:47.519
or something like that. So it was like that.
01:07:47.579 --> 01:07:50.139
Oh, Perseus and Andromeda by Rubens are like,
01:07:50.239 --> 01:07:54.579
oh, this and that. So I was so enamored by that.
01:07:54.860 --> 01:07:59.239
And it was such a normal thing that years later,
01:07:59.320 --> 01:08:05.039
when I went to the gallery, National Gallery,
01:08:05.079 --> 01:08:07.659
I was walking around and crying because like,
01:08:08.059 --> 01:08:13.280
i just saw in person every single uh picture
01:08:13.280 --> 01:08:17.500
that i knew by heart from being a toddler it
01:08:17.500 --> 01:08:22.439
was it was the most extraordinary thing so needless
01:08:22.439 --> 01:08:26.220
to say i spent a lot of my time as a child trying
01:08:26.220 --> 01:08:31.020
to copy just try to trace and just make a copy
01:08:31.020 --> 01:08:34.609
and whatever i was doing a lot of that And I
01:08:34.609 --> 01:08:41.810
enjoyed drawing in also in a style close to beginning
01:08:41.810 --> 01:08:46.229
of 20th century ink artists such as Aubrey Bursley
01:08:46.229 --> 01:08:50.529
and something like that. So it was a combination
01:08:50.529 --> 01:08:53.930
for me of different styles that I enjoyed doing.
01:08:54.869 --> 01:08:58.689
And that was fine. I was doing that. I was writing
01:08:58.689 --> 01:09:03.149
some poetry as well. all in their own timelines
01:09:03.149 --> 01:09:11.189
and their own realms, in a sense. One day, in
01:09:11.189 --> 01:09:17.970
my late teens, it was actually my mom's idea
01:09:17.970 --> 01:09:20.949
and wondering, she's like, have you ever thought
01:09:20.949 --> 01:09:27.270
of drawing something about the music you're playing
01:09:27.270 --> 01:09:35.420
or writing something? and I thought that could
01:09:35.420 --> 01:09:40.279
be a very fruitful thought especially since in
01:09:40.279 --> 01:09:43.239
the beginning it was more of a task for me because
01:09:43.239 --> 01:09:48.840
I don't think visually music at all even when
01:09:48.840 --> 01:09:54.920
I play a music that is openly programmatic my
01:09:54.920 --> 01:10:03.720
my sense of associations is not depictive in
01:10:03.720 --> 01:10:11.479
that instantaneous sense so when I decided to
01:10:11.479 --> 01:10:15.039
attempt this it was the time when I wasn't initially
01:10:15.039 --> 01:10:20.159
absorbing the collecting transcendental it's
01:10:20.159 --> 01:10:24.760
a list three of them another three and another
01:10:24.760 --> 01:10:30.539
two and that was coming together And so I started
01:10:30.539 --> 01:10:35.579
doing drawings for these etudes and writing for
01:10:35.579 --> 01:10:41.039
these etudes. But it's more of a drawing that
01:10:41.039 --> 01:10:45.579
is inspired by the music rather than drawing
01:10:45.579 --> 01:10:50.659
that tries to depict the music. It's sort of
01:10:50.659 --> 01:10:55.260
a commentary on the music but not an illustration.
01:10:57.050 --> 01:11:02.050
i don't illustrate and i also don't describe
01:11:02.050 --> 01:11:05.130
in my poetry what is happening in the music it's
01:11:05.130 --> 01:11:08.369
rather than what i hear puts me in a particular
01:11:08.369 --> 01:11:13.750
state what what do i think about that so i like
01:11:13.750 --> 01:11:17.210
the process because it also kind of puts you
01:11:17.210 --> 01:11:19.710
as a thinker in music in a completely different
01:11:19.710 --> 01:11:24.979
uh state because you are reflecting not as a
01:11:24.979 --> 01:11:27.460
performer not as a listener but as a thinker
01:11:27.460 --> 01:11:31.239
like what it is that it draws me to in my thought
01:11:31.239 --> 01:11:35.899
so i did that and then i did um drawings for
01:11:35.899 --> 01:11:41.359
vachwell table clavier book one and then i did
01:11:41.359 --> 01:11:51.430
um i did um mix technique series for 18 pieces
01:11:51.430 --> 01:11:55.130
of Tchaikovsky Op. 72, his last piano cycle.
01:11:55.770 --> 01:12:01.409
Beautiful collection of pieces that are, other
01:12:01.409 --> 01:12:04.210
than his meditation, are very, very rarely played.
01:12:04.270 --> 01:12:08.470
There is a video of the entire set from a live
01:12:08.470 --> 01:12:11.289
concert on my YouTube channel that I'm playing.
01:12:11.970 --> 01:12:14.670
It's very, very beautiful. It's a very, very
01:12:14.670 --> 01:12:20.020
beautiful... colorful and very nostalgic music
01:12:20.020 --> 01:12:24.539
he wrote it in his last year of life which was
01:12:24.539 --> 01:12:27.539
intended like a knickknack salon music but it's
01:12:27.539 --> 01:12:31.720
actually much deeper than that and then the last
01:12:31.720 --> 01:12:35.939
project that I'm also bringing on the road next
01:12:35.939 --> 01:12:41.260
fall is pictures at an exhibition with my own
01:12:41.260 --> 01:12:49.420
pictures and that It was very interesting work
01:12:49.420 --> 01:12:54.239
because I always felt of pictures at an exhibition
01:12:54.239 --> 01:12:58.100
as a very tragic work in general, despite so
01:12:58.100 --> 01:13:07.420
many major keyed movements. And my series kind
01:13:07.420 --> 01:13:11.720
of made it a little bit of a horror story. But
01:13:11.720 --> 01:13:18.029
it's just, there was a viewer. I did premiere
01:13:18.029 --> 01:13:25.689
this series of artworks in New York City. I played
01:13:25.689 --> 01:13:28.750
right before the pandemic at the end of 2019.
01:13:29.029 --> 01:13:32.609
I played a concert at the Rockefeller University's
01:13:32.609 --> 01:13:35.989
Gaspary Auditorium. They have big projectors,
01:13:35.989 --> 01:13:41.159
so I did. played there and there was an audience
01:13:41.159 --> 01:13:43.899
member that came and said like it was very very
01:13:43.899 --> 01:13:46.600
interesting to see how your fears manifested
01:13:46.600 --> 01:13:53.239
in these artworks i'm like that's right very
01:13:53.239 --> 01:13:57.220
keen view i didn't even want to say no no no
01:13:57.220 --> 01:14:01.100
no like yes yes good eye you couldn't even deny
01:14:01.100 --> 01:14:04.659
it but yeah so do you show your drawings while
01:14:04.659 --> 01:14:10.430
you're performing Yes. So the very first concert
01:14:10.430 --> 01:14:15.710
that I've done in 2007 with the Transcendental
01:14:15.710 --> 01:14:22.350
Etudes was in a theater that had a very, very
01:14:22.350 --> 01:14:28.630
tall hall. And they had a projector there and
01:14:28.630 --> 01:14:32.739
a screen. It was able to hang it vertically.
01:14:33.039 --> 01:14:35.699
All of my pictures are vertical for that cycle.
01:14:36.199 --> 01:14:40.060
And it was a massive, huge screen. And also I
01:14:40.060 --> 01:14:42.140
had a microphone. So it was a recital in which,
01:14:42.319 --> 01:14:46.739
before each work, I would recite my poem, and
01:14:46.739 --> 01:14:48.760
the picture would be projected. I would play
01:14:48.760 --> 01:14:50.859
the corresponding etude, and I would take a microphone
01:14:50.859 --> 01:14:52.539
and say, not a poem, the picture would change,
01:14:52.699 --> 01:14:57.479
so it would be going like that. And it's not
01:14:57.479 --> 01:15:00.840
always possible. in different venues to do it
01:15:00.840 --> 01:15:06.760
like that, but in most of them where I'm doing
01:15:06.760 --> 01:15:17.000
that it is something that I found through lots
01:15:17.000 --> 01:15:21.399
of tries and errors a method that works for changing
01:15:21.399 --> 01:15:27.430
the slides in the right time. I outsourced it
01:15:27.430 --> 01:15:30.090
to different people, but sometimes somebody was
01:15:30.090 --> 01:15:33.010
listening and kind of got absorbed and forgot
01:15:33.010 --> 01:15:35.789
to change the slide and things like that. And
01:15:35.789 --> 01:15:38.930
it's easier when you apply cyclical work, such
01:15:38.930 --> 01:15:42.430
as list etudes, because the etude clearly ends,
01:15:42.649 --> 01:15:46.689
and you can also, you know, bow and what have
01:15:46.689 --> 01:15:48.630
you. But if you're playing, like, pictures in
01:15:48.630 --> 01:15:50.710
an exhibition, if you do not know where exactly
01:15:50.710 --> 01:15:52.729
one, because there are some of them are tacked
01:15:52.729 --> 01:15:56.409
or whatever. So I use the same Bluetooth pedal
01:15:56.409 --> 01:15:59.489
that I use for my iPad, except that Bluetooth
01:15:59.489 --> 01:16:02.489
pedal is linked to a PowerPoint in my computer.
01:16:02.510 --> 01:16:04.810
The computer is hidden on stage. And I'm just
01:16:04.810 --> 01:16:08.210
pressing the visit pedal to change the slide
01:16:08.210 --> 01:16:11.250
and that works for a while. Yeah. now did do
01:16:11.250 --> 01:16:13.569
you think like you needed to do that is that
01:16:13.569 --> 01:16:17.149
for your own sort of satisfaction combining those
01:16:17.149 --> 01:16:19.810
or maybe you wanted to do a little bit more immersive
01:16:19.810 --> 01:16:22.670
experience for your audience because there was
01:16:22.670 --> 01:16:25.130
something maybe missing you know what i mean
01:16:25.130 --> 01:16:28.569
like for modern audiences where maybe it's too
01:16:28.569 --> 01:16:30.409
much i don't think i don't think i don't think
01:16:30.409 --> 01:16:32.770
there's anything missing in music for anyone
01:16:32.770 --> 01:16:37.979
i just think this is a sort of A commentary,
01:16:38.180 --> 01:16:43.100
a curiosity, something unusual. But also, a few
01:16:43.100 --> 01:16:47.460
years after I first time did the Liszt project,
01:16:47.800 --> 01:16:52.819
I started seeing different musicians coming up
01:16:52.819 --> 01:16:58.520
with presentations of other artists, let's say.
01:16:58.640 --> 01:17:01.960
We're doing a night of French music and we...
01:17:02.920 --> 01:17:05.239
playing Debussy, Ravel, Chaminade or whatever
01:17:05.239 --> 01:17:08.340
and we have Manet and we have Renoir and Cezanne
01:17:08.340 --> 01:17:15.279
to kind of blend in together so it's to create
01:17:15.279 --> 01:17:22.039
an atmosphere and also to help to focus on something
01:17:22.039 --> 01:17:31.449
that also you may listen to music plainly. You
01:17:31.449 --> 01:17:34.329
just listen to music. You may listen to music
01:17:34.329 --> 01:17:37.590
and think what associations you can have. But
01:17:37.590 --> 01:17:40.649
sometimes people listen to music and they see
01:17:40.649 --> 01:17:43.250
an artwork and they're like, huh, this is the
01:17:43.250 --> 01:17:46.329
association that these artists have. But I disagree.
01:17:47.369 --> 01:17:50.550
I have different associations. And I like that
01:17:50.550 --> 01:17:52.949
people sometimes come, I don't really agree with
01:17:52.949 --> 01:17:55.289
what I saw in your pictures because I felt this
01:17:55.289 --> 01:17:57.390
music was about something else or I felt something
01:17:57.390 --> 01:18:01.279
else. I'm like, great! Because you're going to
01:18:01.279 --> 01:18:05.119
walk out of the performance having your own opinion
01:18:05.119 --> 01:18:08.460
of what you felt about this music. Because you
01:18:08.460 --> 01:18:14.100
had a trigger. So the point is not to help you
01:18:14.100 --> 01:18:19.119
to understand. It's not. My view and my drawing
01:18:19.119 --> 01:18:25.220
and my artwork is just sort of a screenshot of
01:18:25.220 --> 01:18:28.640
my mind at the time when I... did make these
01:18:28.640 --> 01:18:32.359
images but since i made them my opinion may have
01:18:32.359 --> 01:18:34.800
changed and even in transcendental uses sometimes
01:18:34.800 --> 01:18:40.260
i think like now that almost 20 years passed
01:18:40.260 --> 01:18:43.239
it's time to make new ones because there's there's
01:18:43.239 --> 01:18:46.800
so many new ideas that i have and they also may
01:18:46.800 --> 01:18:50.079
come in a clash with someone else's opinions
01:18:50.079 --> 01:18:55.539
which is good it's in a little bit in parallel
01:18:55.539 --> 01:19:00.210
with an activity that i'm doing as a part of
01:19:00.210 --> 01:19:05.609
my outreach things that i'm doing through my
01:19:05.609 --> 01:19:09.430
organization music for months i go to classrooms
01:19:09.430 --> 01:19:17.430
and i play unabridged repertoire for kids i know
01:19:17.430 --> 01:19:20.829
that the best thing to get someone interested
01:19:20.829 --> 01:19:24.039
in something is to overwhelm Nobody wants to
01:19:24.039 --> 01:19:26.899
hear Marilee to have a little lamb or nutcracker
01:19:26.899 --> 01:19:29.479
or something that is already so well -known.
01:19:30.180 --> 01:19:32.199
You want to play something that people are like,
01:19:32.239 --> 01:19:36.560
ah, we had no idea, you know. And what I do,
01:19:36.680 --> 01:19:41.380
I come to classroom and I play four or five short
01:19:41.380 --> 01:19:48.600
works for them that have programmatic element
01:19:48.600 --> 01:19:54.079
to them, let's say. Ravel's Andine. or Chopin's
01:19:54.079 --> 01:19:58.180
Polonaise, which is dance, or something like,
01:19:58.319 --> 01:20:01.140
I don't know, Balakir of Islame, I played for
01:20:01.140 --> 01:20:07.859
kids sometimes, Rage Over Lost Penny. It's not
01:20:07.859 --> 01:20:12.840
too short, not too long, but I also request that
01:20:12.840 --> 01:20:17.579
every kid has paper and colorful pencils. And
01:20:17.579 --> 01:20:19.680
I tell them, I'm going to play for you this and
01:20:19.680 --> 01:20:22.300
this piece. It is about that and that and that.
01:20:23.560 --> 01:20:25.779
And you listen to that and that and that. And
01:20:25.779 --> 01:20:30.539
these pieces point to certain key moments. And
01:20:30.539 --> 01:20:35.539
then I want them to draw what they hear. And
01:20:35.539 --> 01:20:39.779
then at the end of the class you see a wild array
01:20:39.779 --> 01:20:43.880
of ideas. And also, you know, you have 30 kids.
01:20:44.220 --> 01:20:48.279
Typically in 30 kids you have 2 or 3 people.
01:20:48.800 --> 01:20:51.520
who have clear talent for visual artists, something
01:20:51.520 --> 01:20:55.159
like enormously elaborate that was created out
01:20:55.159 --> 01:20:57.979
of scratch in nine minutes or like in seven minutes
01:20:57.979 --> 01:21:03.300
or something completely like unusual in thought
01:21:03.300 --> 01:21:08.600
and reaction. But it also makes kids listen deliberately.
01:21:08.720 --> 01:21:12.460
They're trying to listen to get a feedback for
01:21:12.460 --> 01:21:18.220
themselves to draw, right? So it... ups the chances
01:21:18.220 --> 01:21:21.479
that they would remember what they heard besides
01:21:21.479 --> 01:21:25.319
just, you know, being educated and like, oh,
01:21:25.340 --> 01:21:29.359
this is Beethoven, this is, you know. So it's
01:21:29.359 --> 01:21:34.319
triggers. So I like it because it's a kind trigger.
01:21:34.539 --> 01:21:40.520
It's not something that is going to spark much
01:21:40.520 --> 01:21:46.460
of a debate, but it is going to focus. uh listeners
01:21:46.460 --> 01:21:52.579
uh memory on what they heard so you spoke about
01:21:52.579 --> 01:21:56.899
your community uh outreach so music for minds
01:21:56.899 --> 01:21:59.659
tell us a little bit more you you mentioned about
01:21:59.659 --> 01:22:02.739
okay you bring all these pieces you said short
01:22:02.739 --> 01:22:04.979
pieces but they're extremely difficult islam
01:22:04.979 --> 01:22:09.239
is very difficult you know fyi anyway so you
01:22:09.239 --> 01:22:11.899
perform these pieces for these children is that
01:22:11.899 --> 01:22:14.810
what you do or is there any other elements to
01:22:14.810 --> 01:22:18.430
your organization the organization initially
01:22:18.430 --> 01:22:23.869
was formed after i had first of these kind of
01:22:23.869 --> 01:22:29.390
experiences in back in 2012 i became gold medalist
01:22:29.390 --> 01:22:32.649
at nina weidman piano competition in shreveport
01:22:32.649 --> 01:22:37.949
louisiana and then competition music director
01:22:37.949 --> 01:22:42.859
lester central wilson who unfortunately passed
01:22:42.859 --> 01:22:45.899
away last year but she was an incredible human
01:22:45.899 --> 01:22:50.180
being trained as a pianist and a singer she had
01:22:50.180 --> 01:22:55.779
a big operatic and concert vocal career and she
01:22:55.779 --> 01:23:00.439
also was a very good pianist and she arranged
01:23:00.439 --> 01:23:04.720
for this competition to not just have monetary
01:23:04.720 --> 01:23:09.659
prize but to have a lineup of concerts for the
01:23:09.659 --> 01:23:14.090
winner and she would travel with a winner to
01:23:14.090 --> 01:23:16.390
all of these concerts to support to present them
01:23:16.390 --> 01:23:19.949
and to teach them certain things about concert
01:23:19.949 --> 01:23:23.590
life in the meantime one of the first concerts
01:23:23.590 --> 01:23:28.310
that i did was a solo recital in jackson mississippi
01:23:28.310 --> 01:23:34.329
and she literally maybe the night before i had
01:23:34.329 --> 01:23:38.090
to perform she said you know we have a very wonderful
01:23:38.090 --> 01:23:42.800
arts school private school, St. Andrew's school
01:23:42.800 --> 01:23:47.659
here, and they were just wondering whether you
01:23:47.659 --> 01:23:51.500
would agree to come in the morning and play a
01:23:51.500 --> 01:23:55.460
little bit for the kids. And it was just like
01:23:55.460 --> 01:24:00.319
an impromptu situation. She asked me that in
01:24:00.319 --> 01:24:02.920
the evening. Of course, if we were to do that,
01:24:02.960 --> 01:24:06.260
it had to be like 8 .30 or 9 in the morning.
01:24:07.000 --> 01:24:09.539
so just like we go there and we're literally
01:24:09.539 --> 01:24:13.659
driving there i'm like what do i what do i i
01:24:13.659 --> 01:24:16.979
have no idea like demographics how old they are
01:24:16.979 --> 01:24:21.060
what do i do i i don't have anything that kind
01:24:21.060 --> 01:24:25.279
of necessarily matches like kids repertoire or
01:24:25.279 --> 01:24:28.979
something that you do for children and i have
01:24:28.979 --> 01:24:33.500
a big program to play in the evening and i come
01:24:33.500 --> 01:24:37.539
in we walk through the hallways And there was
01:24:37.539 --> 01:24:44.979
a main hallway in the school. There was a suspiciously
01:24:44.979 --> 01:24:49.319
beaten looking upright piano in the corner. And
01:24:49.319 --> 01:24:56.460
about 200 kids on the floor. From, I think, first
01:24:56.460 --> 01:25:00.659
through third grade or fourth grade. It was just
01:25:00.659 --> 01:25:04.930
like enormous audience. And they're all on the
01:25:04.930 --> 01:25:06.810
floor and they're all impatient and they're all
01:25:06.810 --> 01:25:13.770
rustling and, you know. So I'm like, I'm just
01:25:13.770 --> 01:25:17.529
going to play excerpts from my recital program.
01:25:20.909 --> 01:25:23.630
I said, and Islame was actually part of that
01:25:23.630 --> 01:25:26.670
program. So I said, well, kids, I'm going to
01:25:26.670 --> 01:25:30.029
play three works for you. One was Beethoven 32
01:25:30.029 --> 01:25:36.380
Variations in C minor. Poor first graders. They
01:25:36.380 --> 01:25:39.739
were explained what Beethoven is, what the variation
01:25:39.739 --> 01:25:42.340
cycle is, what is thing, what is a variation,
01:25:42.699 --> 01:25:46.359
what to listen for. And it's fairly short, not
01:25:46.359 --> 01:25:50.100
too short, but like 11 minutes. They were listening.
01:25:51.460 --> 01:25:53.579
Then I played Gaspard Delannoye in the first
01:25:53.579 --> 01:25:58.760
half of my concert. I did not play the entire
01:25:58.760 --> 01:26:02.149
thing for them, but I played. And they narrated
01:26:02.149 --> 01:26:06.350
the poem for them. And, you know, in that poem,
01:26:06.590 --> 01:26:12.069
the character of Andine is trying to seduce this
01:26:12.069 --> 01:26:16.770
man to join her in the underwater world and become
01:26:16.770 --> 01:26:21.329
the king of the rivers and things. She describes
01:26:21.329 --> 01:26:26.869
her life and everything. And he tells her, thank
01:26:26.869 --> 01:26:31.750
you so much, but I love a mortal woman. And then
01:26:31.750 --> 01:26:35.770
she gets, she laughs, she gets angry and disappears
01:26:35.770 --> 01:26:39.390
in the streams of water. So I got to the point,
01:26:39.449 --> 01:26:42.630
but he replies, I'm sorry, but I love mortal
01:26:42.630 --> 01:26:51.329
girl. And every girl in that room goes. Needless
01:26:51.329 --> 01:26:54.430
to say, needless to say, I have been playing
01:26:54.430 --> 01:26:59.149
Undine almost at every outreach event ever since.
01:27:00.300 --> 01:27:03.899
And a variation of that reaction is almost always
01:27:03.899 --> 01:27:08.039
present. They love that. So then I tell them
01:27:08.039 --> 01:27:10.300
that you need to listen to that moment. There
01:27:10.300 --> 01:27:12.899
will be a pause and there will be this one line
01:27:12.899 --> 01:27:16.939
and then there will be this cascade. And they
01:27:16.939 --> 01:27:20.159
really link to that. They want to hear when this
01:27:20.159 --> 01:27:25.739
rejection happens. They're so enthralled to find
01:27:25.739 --> 01:27:30.489
out. And then I played at the end of Islame,
01:27:30.630 --> 01:27:35.670
and during Islame the audience was, I mean, not
01:27:35.670 --> 01:27:39.989
completely silent, but they were quiet. And then
01:27:39.989 --> 01:27:43.689
after the performance I had a line of, I don't
01:27:43.689 --> 01:27:48.079
know, 40 kids. With questions like oh, we didn't
01:27:48.079 --> 01:27:50.600
didn't know the piano can sound like that. We
01:27:50.600 --> 01:27:52.760
didn't know all my parents wanted me to take
01:27:52.760 --> 01:27:55.520
lessons I didn't know this could be oh, I want
01:27:55.520 --> 01:27:59.199
to take more piano now They were all you know,
01:27:59.239 --> 01:28:02.340
they were excited because they were there was
01:28:02.340 --> 01:28:04.979
a shock moment, right? They could not expect
01:28:04.979 --> 01:28:09.939
something like this and then I realized aha That's
01:28:09.939 --> 01:28:14.720
the way to do it So we're not doing something
01:28:14.720 --> 01:28:18.479
condescending and abridged or whatever. We're
01:28:18.479 --> 01:28:23.520
just hitting them with all what we have because
01:28:23.520 --> 01:28:26.460
they totally can get it and they get excited
01:28:26.460 --> 01:28:29.560
from that because our competitors is video games,
01:28:29.720 --> 01:28:34.520
cartoons with very elaborate music. Video games
01:28:34.520 --> 01:28:36.779
now have very elaborate score. Everything is
01:28:36.779 --> 01:28:39.899
big sound, very, very colorful. Everything is...
01:28:40.520 --> 01:28:44.539
attacking your senses right so you have to provide
01:28:44.539 --> 01:28:51.520
same impact and so i had some a few months after
01:28:51.520 --> 01:28:55.840
that i registered uh uh organization because
01:28:55.840 --> 01:29:00.800
i realized i cannot go to a school without having
01:29:00.800 --> 01:29:02.939
a credible name of a non -profit organization
01:29:02.939 --> 01:29:05.380
because most most schools are very suspicious
01:29:05.380 --> 01:29:08.880
of individuals so you have to have something
01:29:08.880 --> 01:29:12.260
that has a history of doing that and and and
01:29:12.260 --> 01:29:16.060
so one of those missions for my organization
01:29:16.060 --> 01:29:21.979
was education of this kind but also an ability
01:29:21.979 --> 01:29:24.539
to create music series with unusual programming
01:29:24.539 --> 01:29:29.079
i did three years of a festival with academy
01:29:29.079 --> 01:29:33.159
in baltimore it was called festival baltimore
01:29:33.159 --> 01:29:35.960
was done before the pandemic 2017 through 2019.
01:29:37.579 --> 01:29:41.239
The mission was crazy. It was a festival of complete
01:29:41.239 --> 01:29:44.199
cycles. Every concert was presenting a complete
01:29:44.199 --> 01:29:48.560
collection of works in a certain instrumentation.
01:29:51.420 --> 01:29:53.439
24 list attitudes, all of the list attitudes,
01:29:53.619 --> 01:29:57.319
let's say. Five Beethoven cello sonatas in one
01:29:57.319 --> 01:30:00.359
night. Complete works of Paul Creston for alto
01:30:00.359 --> 01:30:02.859
saxophone and piano. Complete Hindemith viola
01:30:02.859 --> 01:30:06.890
sonatas in two evenings. complete works for uh
01:30:06.890 --> 01:30:10.529
viola and clarinet by robert schumann with piano
01:30:10.529 --> 01:30:15.350
you know these kind of surveys and we recruited
01:30:15.350 --> 01:30:20.729
students to form concerts like this too our first
01:30:20.729 --> 01:30:25.430
year we recruited three pianists and 12 string
01:30:25.430 --> 01:30:28.930
players to have a concert of complete brahms
01:30:28.930 --> 01:30:32.840
piano quartets and All of the artists who came
01:30:32.840 --> 01:30:35.579
to perform the concerts, they were coaching the
01:30:35.579 --> 01:30:39.000
students. So the students got a very multifaceted
01:30:39.000 --> 01:30:43.659
coaching. The second year we did complete Tchaikovsky
01:30:43.659 --> 01:30:47.039
string quartets and complete Rachmaninoff piano
01:30:47.039 --> 01:30:53.899
duos. So just a very kind of unusual look on
01:30:53.899 --> 01:30:56.260
programming, but also a little bit of resistance
01:30:56.260 --> 01:31:00.960
in that. Worldwide concert programs are shrinking.
01:31:01.060 --> 01:31:04.300
When I was growing up, a recital program was
01:31:04.300 --> 01:31:07.079
first half 50 minutes, second half 45 minutes.
01:31:07.239 --> 01:31:10.399
That was a norm. Now they tell you first half
01:31:10.399 --> 01:31:12.880
30 minutes, second half 25 minutes. That's a
01:31:12.880 --> 01:31:18.260
joke to me. So having experience of growing up
01:31:18.260 --> 01:31:21.739
like that, but that also means that audiences
01:31:21.739 --> 01:31:26.710
are gradually getting more impatient. television
01:31:26.710 --> 01:31:29.949
and it's now well studied that in the 70s there
01:31:29.949 --> 01:31:34.229
were certain tv seven minute tv shows that kind
01:31:34.229 --> 01:31:37.590
of framed people's attention to seven minutes
01:31:37.590 --> 01:31:40.970
at a time and so it's more difficult to hear
01:31:40.970 --> 01:31:45.050
longer works so i think when you can entice a
01:31:45.050 --> 01:31:48.310
person that yes you're going to be in a concert
01:31:48.310 --> 01:31:51.090
for over than two more than two hours but those
01:31:51.090 --> 01:31:53.649
two or two and a half hours you're gonna hear
01:31:53.649 --> 01:31:59.109
a lifetime a composer in this particular genre
01:31:59.109 --> 01:32:03.369
right you're gonna hear all Beethoven cellos
01:32:03.369 --> 01:32:05.789
another than a stretch throughout his life or
01:32:05.789 --> 01:32:09.489
you're gonna hear all of the works of you know
01:32:09.489 --> 01:32:13.310
Paul Hindemith that also were not really at the
01:32:13.310 --> 01:32:15.270
same time they were written over a period of
01:32:15.270 --> 01:32:19.029
time we had a colleague of mine fantastic pianist
01:32:19.029 --> 01:32:24.380
Randy Lupa played at my request, complete piano
01:32:24.380 --> 01:32:29.159
sonatas of George Walker. And those five piano
01:32:29.159 --> 01:32:33.800
sonatas span 56 years of his life. And you see
01:32:33.800 --> 01:32:36.479
there that the concert itself is just an hour.
01:32:36.539 --> 01:32:39.500
The sonatas are not very long. But in those,
01:32:39.779 --> 01:32:44.940
that hour, you hear how composers... language
01:32:44.940 --> 01:32:48.020
was changing from sonata to sonata and that's
01:32:48.020 --> 01:32:50.920
absolutely amazing and there's definitely demographic
01:32:50.920 --> 01:32:53.380
of the audience that appreciates that and is
01:32:53.380 --> 01:32:55.800
interested in that we had come people come with
01:32:55.800 --> 01:32:58.279
scores to our concerts and we're sitting with
01:32:58.279 --> 01:33:00.760
scores listen that's that's the best thing that's
01:33:00.760 --> 01:33:04.640
the biggest compliment wow that is incredible
01:33:04.640 --> 01:33:09.569
then you also created this uh concert series
01:33:09.569 --> 01:33:13.750
uh festival flatiron and i meant to go last summer
01:33:13.750 --> 01:33:16.489
because you started last summer right yes this
01:33:16.489 --> 01:33:19.430
past yeah and then i saw the advertisements on
01:33:19.430 --> 01:33:22.390
facebook or something i think so or maybe i'm
01:33:22.390 --> 01:33:25.630
part of this email thread or uh through group
01:33:25.630 --> 01:33:30.750
muse and so but you play the chopin's concerto
01:33:30.750 --> 01:33:34.789
with a smaller ensemble yeah it was it was our
01:33:34.789 --> 01:33:40.390
it was our uh closing night uh one of my mentors
01:33:40.390 --> 01:33:44.909
uh kevin kenner with whom i studied uh during
01:33:44.909 --> 01:33:47.029
my artist diploma at the university of miami
01:33:47.029 --> 01:33:51.630
he created together with his colleagues a new
01:33:51.630 --> 01:33:57.010
arrangement of for piano and string quintet of
01:33:57.010 --> 01:34:00.720
both chopin concertos And he recorded, there's
01:34:00.720 --> 01:34:04.819
a fantastic recording of his. Everyone needs
01:34:04.819 --> 01:34:08.819
to listen to that. It's beautiful. And he was
01:34:08.819 --> 01:34:14.020
extremely kind to share with me these scores
01:34:14.020 --> 01:34:17.239
and let me perform them. So the closing night
01:34:17.239 --> 01:34:23.720
of our series was these two concertos, which
01:34:23.720 --> 01:34:26.920
we played in the... order of completion because
01:34:26.920 --> 01:34:30.039
the second concerto was earlier so we played
01:34:30.039 --> 01:34:32.640
second concerto in the first half and first concerto
01:34:32.640 --> 01:34:36.699
in the second half and it was a beautiful experience
01:34:36.699 --> 01:34:41.300
because um the string players can now play from
01:34:41.300 --> 01:34:44.520
ipad they can play from full score they do not
01:34:44.520 --> 01:34:46.899
need conductor they can just follow you like
01:34:46.899 --> 01:34:49.680
in chamber music so closely so it was beautiful
01:34:49.680 --> 01:34:53.800
experience so beautiful that this coming year
01:34:53.800 --> 01:34:58.670
i am cooking something along those lines. I can't
01:34:58.670 --> 01:35:01.170
quite yet say what that is, but it will be announced
01:35:01.170 --> 01:35:04.489
in the beginning of the year. So you'll be continuing
01:35:04.489 --> 01:35:07.270
this flat iron? We are going to continue the
01:35:07.270 --> 01:35:11.289
series, yes. It's going to be having very, very
01:35:11.289 --> 01:35:14.430
interesting programs and some tributes to what
01:35:14.430 --> 01:35:16.609
would be a concert attributed to Shostakovich
01:35:16.609 --> 01:35:20.569
with all of his duo sonatas, Violins on the Cello
01:35:20.569 --> 01:35:23.640
Sonata and Viola Sonata. There will be... some
01:35:23.640 --> 01:35:27.680
very, very beautiful music played, but also would
01:35:27.680 --> 01:35:34.119
be a festival finale that also features some
01:35:34.119 --> 01:35:38.479
piano concertos with strings. Where exactly is
01:35:38.479 --> 01:35:40.520
the venue? Flatiron, so that's in Manhattan.
01:35:40.760 --> 01:35:43.539
I love Flatiron District. Yeah, it's in that
01:35:43.539 --> 01:35:47.500
district, yeah. Does it take place at a certain
01:35:47.500 --> 01:35:50.760
venue? Because Group Muse is about... you know
01:35:50.760 --> 01:35:54.100
bringing the concert to homes and you know almost
01:35:54.100 --> 01:35:56.779
like basically providing there is a there is
01:35:56.779 --> 01:36:01.739
a fantastic uh he's a pianist himself an extremely
01:36:01.739 --> 01:36:05.239
talented pianist but also he has made his career
01:36:05.239 --> 01:36:07.979
in finance and he is a philanthropist his name
01:36:07.979 --> 01:36:12.960
is uh jonathan de perry a few years back he moved
01:36:12.960 --> 01:36:17.300
to white iron district and he looking for an
01:36:17.300 --> 01:36:22.380
apartment that The primary objective was not
01:36:22.380 --> 01:36:25.800
a place to live in, but a place to hold concerts
01:36:25.800 --> 01:36:33.600
in. So he bought a loft that has wonderful acoustics,
01:36:33.659 --> 01:36:38.739
sits up to about 80 people. He has an incredible
01:36:38.739 --> 01:36:44.260
piano, which we later discovered is a piano on
01:36:44.260 --> 01:36:47.420
which I did my Carnegie Hall debut at the Stern.
01:36:48.250 --> 01:36:54.350
In 2017, he bought a Hamburg Steinway Auditorium.
01:36:55.029 --> 01:36:58.390
It's a beautiful instrument, one of the finest
01:36:58.390 --> 01:37:00.949
instruments in the recital space in Manhattan.
01:37:01.430 --> 01:37:05.250
And he holds about 30 concerts a year in his
01:37:05.250 --> 01:37:08.729
home. It is his passion, and some of them he
01:37:08.729 --> 01:37:12.149
participates himself. We have a traditional...
01:37:13.899 --> 01:37:16.840
a four -hand program that we play every year
01:37:16.840 --> 01:37:22.220
together. But also he likes to present music
01:37:22.220 --> 01:37:26.340
that otherwise one would not hear anywhere else.
01:37:26.840 --> 01:37:31.239
So he heard about my aspirations with Festival
01:37:31.239 --> 01:37:34.899
Baltimore that it came to conclusion in that
01:37:34.899 --> 01:37:36.859
location. He's like, well, maybe you want to
01:37:36.859 --> 01:37:39.880
do something interesting in my space and you're
01:37:39.880 --> 01:37:43.300
welcome to do that. So it is an honor to do it
01:37:43.300 --> 01:37:46.939
there, but it also allows me to again do interesting
01:37:46.939 --> 01:37:50.079
programming and do things that are really hard
01:37:50.079 --> 01:38:13.260
to find somewhere else. So I know we're coming
01:38:13.260 --> 01:38:15.340
toward the end of our conversation, but before
01:38:15.340 --> 01:38:18.779
we go, is there any other things like we didn't
01:38:18.779 --> 01:38:23.880
cover or maybe something to promote? Well, I
01:38:23.880 --> 01:38:28.380
would say that there are many things that I look
01:38:28.380 --> 01:38:34.920
forward to in this coming year of 2026. I will
01:38:34.920 --> 01:38:38.399
be making my South American debut with Buenos
01:38:38.399 --> 01:38:42.350
Aires and write. After that, the following week,
01:38:42.510 --> 01:38:47.109
I will go to Santiago and play with National
01:38:47.109 --> 01:38:51.350
Symphony of Chile. I will be playing Beethoven's
01:38:51.350 --> 01:38:54.850
Emperor Concerto. There are many beautiful collaborations
01:38:54.850 --> 01:39:01.609
that I'm looking forward to this year, but there
01:39:01.609 --> 01:39:03.930
will be some time spent in the recording studio
01:39:03.930 --> 01:39:08.649
as well. I will be... In February, recording
01:39:08.649 --> 01:39:14.829
my beautiful and beloved program of Liszt's Complete
01:39:14.829 --> 01:39:19.750
Etudes. And also later in the year, I will embark
01:39:19.750 --> 01:39:24.149
on recording the Rachmaninoff. Oh, my goodness.
01:39:24.329 --> 01:39:28.729
Wonderful. Wonderful. So for our listeners, please
01:39:28.729 --> 01:39:33.149
visit Asiya. crepanova .com and connect with
01:39:33.149 --> 01:39:35.930
her through her social media accounts instagram
01:39:35.930 --> 01:39:41.649
at pianist underscore asia and a youtube at her
01:39:41.649 --> 01:39:45.430
the entire name asia crepanova to learn more
01:39:45.430 --> 01:39:48.510
about her projects performances and latest updates
01:39:48.510 --> 01:39:50.789
now before i let you go we have to do one more
01:39:50.789 --> 01:39:53.310
thing the piano part rapid fire questions and
01:39:53.310 --> 01:39:55.949
then now we take this segment very seriously
01:39:55.949 --> 01:39:58.770
you've shared your stories expertise today but
01:39:58.770 --> 01:40:03.369
these questions will may reveal who you truly
01:40:03.369 --> 01:40:07.470
are so let's do this okay okay okay so uh please
01:40:07.470 --> 01:40:10.029
answer each question as shortest response as
01:40:10.029 --> 01:40:13.649
possible no explanation is necessary level one
01:40:13.649 --> 01:40:16.029
question number one what is your comfort food
01:40:16.029 --> 01:40:22.869
oh it's a good question um um roasted eggplant
01:40:22.869 --> 01:40:27.510
so good how do you like your coffee in the morning
01:40:28.759 --> 01:40:36.319
With a tiny bit of cream. Cats or dogs? I had
01:40:36.319 --> 01:40:42.539
cats a number of times. I had dog once. I would
01:40:42.539 --> 01:40:47.119
say both. And at the same time, I would say I
01:40:47.119 --> 01:40:51.279
cannot afford having a pet. with my schedule
01:40:51.279 --> 01:40:55.500
traveling and with my husband's travel he has
01:40:55.500 --> 01:40:59.560
also a career that has a travel so about every
01:40:59.560 --> 01:41:06.100
maybe six to eight weeks we open pet finder we
01:41:06.100 --> 01:41:10.279
browse through available pets in our area We
01:41:10.279 --> 01:41:15.199
sigh, we close, and we move on. In about two
01:41:15.199 --> 01:41:20.920
months, the process repeats. I get it. Sunrise
01:41:20.920 --> 01:41:27.739
or sunset? Both. Summer or winter? I can't, I
01:41:27.739 --> 01:41:34.399
can't. Because when I moved to Miami, I spent
01:41:34.399 --> 01:41:37.960
five and a half years in Miami. In the beginning,
01:41:38.039 --> 01:41:40.420
I was just like, oh my God. there's no seasons
01:41:40.420 --> 01:41:44.859
there how can i be without my seasons five years
01:41:44.859 --> 01:41:48.420
later i'm like who needs seasons like i want
01:41:48.420 --> 01:41:54.359
this eternal summer and then i moved up to boston
01:41:54.359 --> 01:41:58.420
and i was completely miserable first winter because
01:41:58.420 --> 01:42:03.140
i lost all of my tolerance but we had snow yesterday
01:42:03.140 --> 01:42:09.609
and a lot of people are complaining I'm so happy
01:42:09.609 --> 01:42:15.170
when snow comes in. Yeah, so I think it's 50
01:42:15.170 --> 01:42:20.229
-50, definitely. All right. Level two. What skill
01:42:20.229 --> 01:42:22.649
have you always wanted to learn but haven't had
01:42:22.649 --> 01:42:27.250
a chance to? Playing a string instrument. Oh,
01:42:27.409 --> 01:42:30.949
yeah, that's a good one. What is your word or
01:42:30.949 --> 01:42:35.739
words to live by? I can have a feeling in my
01:42:35.739 --> 01:42:39.859
head, but I guess I don't typically manifest
01:42:39.859 --> 01:42:44.640
it in literary way. But I can describe it as
01:42:44.640 --> 01:42:53.399
I have endless curiosity. And I love trying things.
01:42:54.439 --> 01:43:00.000
And it brings me great joy to do things by my
01:43:00.000 --> 01:43:04.949
hands. whatever creative process there is. And
01:43:04.949 --> 01:43:11.729
I always try to do more because it teaches, you
01:43:11.729 --> 01:43:17.310
know. So I guess that could be a broad answer
01:43:17.310 --> 01:43:21.729
to your question. Any favorite venue you ever
01:43:21.729 --> 01:43:25.529
performed in or dream venue maybe? It's really
01:43:25.529 --> 01:43:29.920
hard. It is really hard to pick one. Because,
01:43:29.960 --> 01:43:32.640
of course, there are legendary venues that you
01:43:32.640 --> 01:43:37.520
always dream to go and to play to. Growing up
01:43:37.520 --> 01:43:42.420
as a little student in Moscow, the biggest dream
01:43:42.420 --> 01:43:44.739
was to play in the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory.
01:43:44.800 --> 01:43:47.359
Of course, you play in the Great Hall of Moscow
01:43:47.359 --> 01:43:49.760
Conservatory, then I wanted to play in an international
01:43:49.760 --> 01:43:52.380
venue, then go and play in different places.
01:43:52.800 --> 01:43:56.319
And I played in Carnegie Hall, and it was, of
01:43:56.319 --> 01:44:00.760
course... such a milestone, and I'm about to
01:44:00.760 --> 01:44:04.859
play in Theater Cologne next year, which is also
01:44:04.859 --> 01:44:09.359
another milestone, but sometimes small venues
01:44:09.359 --> 01:44:13.500
or venues that you don't expect to be anything
01:44:13.500 --> 01:44:18.659
special becomes the most special in your entire
01:44:18.659 --> 01:44:25.279
life. I will give you a couple of examples. I
01:44:25.279 --> 01:44:33.739
had experience playing in juvenile prison for
01:44:33.739 --> 01:44:38.920
boys between 14 and 17 years of age that committed
01:44:38.920 --> 01:44:41.939
different kinds of crimes. Is that in the United
01:44:41.939 --> 01:44:44.819
States? No, it was in Russia. Oh, it was in Russia.
01:44:45.720 --> 01:44:50.319
And I came there and I played a lot of kind of
01:44:50.319 --> 01:44:54.319
unassuming repertoire for them. I played things
01:44:54.319 --> 01:44:58.840
that most of them probably have never heard before,
01:44:59.000 --> 01:45:05.560
and probably have not heard since, but one of
01:45:05.560 --> 01:45:09.399
the works that I played was Schubert's small
01:45:09.399 --> 01:45:16.560
A major sonata. There is this room of about 200
01:45:16.560 --> 01:45:23.359
of them, and there is, of course, military units,
01:45:23.380 --> 01:45:26.699
and everyone is, you know... Sort of supposed
01:45:26.699 --> 01:45:28.760
to behave and the piano is not very good. It's
01:45:28.760 --> 01:45:32.300
an upright and I'm playing And there's this very
01:45:32.300 --> 01:45:36.340
interesting silence that comes from both them
01:45:36.340 --> 01:45:40.560
not quite understanding what to do with what
01:45:40.560 --> 01:45:45.699
they hear but also from Objectifying me because
01:45:45.699 --> 01:45:49.739
you know as they walk by me they, you know, say
01:45:49.739 --> 01:45:52.199
things and they probably haven't seen a real
01:45:52.199 --> 01:45:54.739
girl for a while so they kind of like look at
01:45:54.739 --> 01:45:58.859
me in a certain way but then after the performance
01:45:58.859 --> 01:46:04.319
there are a few guys that come through and they're
01:46:04.319 --> 01:46:11.119
in tears and they say we we don't know what it
01:46:11.119 --> 01:46:14.699
is and we haven't heard this music before we
01:46:14.699 --> 01:46:17.859
don't know what it is but we just we we couldn't
01:46:17.859 --> 01:46:23.890
help cry that was schubert and you know when
01:46:23.890 --> 01:46:28.409
you ask about what's the venues and what's the
01:46:28.409 --> 01:46:31.029
most memorable kind of experience this experience
01:46:31.029 --> 01:46:36.250
comes in the first few most overwhelming ones
01:46:36.250 --> 01:46:39.909
because it's just this act of sharing and kind
01:46:39.909 --> 01:46:46.510
of connecting so deeply that such outcome happens
01:46:46.510 --> 01:46:50.220
you know or also if you have an experience of
01:46:50.220 --> 01:46:53.800
playing for someone who is on their deathbed
01:46:53.800 --> 01:46:58.180
and you know that your performance is the last
01:46:58.180 --> 01:47:00.939
thing they would ever hear in this life it also
01:47:00.939 --> 01:47:05.560
becomes some of the most important venues of
01:47:05.560 --> 01:47:08.300
your lifetime even if it is someone's bedroom
01:47:08.300 --> 01:47:10.319
where you brought a keyboard to play you know
01:47:10.319 --> 01:47:14.520
so There's all sorts of experiences, glorious
01:47:14.520 --> 01:47:19.000
and shiny ones and not so glorious, but shiny
01:47:19.000 --> 01:47:22.720
in a different way. Beautifully said. That's
01:47:22.720 --> 01:47:25.920
great. Well said. So the last question, fill
01:47:25.920 --> 01:47:31.239
in the blank. Music is blank. Eternity. Beautiful.
01:47:31.359 --> 01:47:34.779
Thank you. Asia, thank you so much for joining
01:47:34.779 --> 01:47:37.039
us today and for sharing your artistry, your
01:47:37.039 --> 01:47:39.439
journey and thoughtful reflections with such
01:47:39.439 --> 01:47:41.789
openness. Thank you for having me. Of course,
01:47:41.789 --> 01:47:45.199
and depth and generosity. Amazing person. So
01:47:45.199 --> 01:47:47.319
to our audience, if you would like to explore
01:47:47.319 --> 01:47:51.619
more of Asia's incredible work, visit asiakorepanova
01:47:51.619 --> 01:47:54.380
.com and explore her performances, compositions,
01:47:54.640 --> 01:47:57.600
multimedia projects, and educational initiatives.
01:47:57.859 --> 01:48:00.380
And of course, a huge thank you, all of you to
01:48:00.380 --> 01:48:03.319
our litigated listeners for tuning in today.
01:48:03.420 --> 01:48:05.539
If you enjoyed today's episode, please give it
01:48:05.539 --> 01:48:08.020
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01:48:16.890 --> 01:48:18.989
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01:48:18.989 --> 01:48:22.130
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01:48:22.130 --> 01:48:24.390
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01:48:24.390 --> 01:48:27.350
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01:48:27.350 --> 01:48:29.350
we'll see you in the next episode of the piano
01:48:29.350 --> 01:48:31.729
thank you i'll see you once again appreciate
01:48:31.729 --> 01:48:33.329
you thank you so much thank you