Who or what inspired you to take up the piano and make it your career?
My mother brought home from the public library a recording by Vladimir Horowitz. Already, I was studying music and learning to play the piano; but it was those sounds that ignited my musical interest.
Who or what were the most important influences on your playing?
Early on, it was recordings of Horowitz (I only wanted to play pieces he played, for example), and earlier pianists, Hofmann, Petri. Later, I went another direction. My teacher at Juilliard was Jacob Lateiner, an extraordinary virtuoso with nearly Talmudic insights! He offered intensely detailed scrutiny of music and high ideals. He was the most important example to me, and he was my friend. At the same time, my awareness of John Cage’s music and my work with it were important. That makes for some combination of compulsive preparation and considerable letting-go in performance.
What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?
The greatest challenges are simple things, I believe. For virtuosos — or any kind of experts — it’s difficult to resist showing how much you can do, or know, or feel.
Which performances or recordings are you most proud of?
I’m pleased with a new recording of piano music by Meredith Monk that I made with Ursula Oppens. Along with solo pieces, there are 4 new transcriptions of Meredith’s music that I made from pieces that were first written for voices or other instruments.
Do you have a favourite concert venue to perform in?
Many. I play rather frequently in New York at Le Poisson Rouge (LPR). It’s a nightclub where very different kinds of music mingle or collide. One night, I played Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time right before a set by the French star Sylvain Chauveau.
Favourite pieces to perform?
I like performing chamber music. The necessary spontaneity and moment-by-moment awareness when playing with other people make the real pleasure of performing most clear.
What is your most memorable concert experience?
Probably that would be the first time I played in Los Angeles, with the L.A. Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl – but the day before the performance there was an earthquake!
What do you consider to be the most important ideas and concepts to impart to aspiring musicians?
Close listening and curiosity – that’s paying attention!
What are you working on at the moment?
There’s a new piano concerto written for me by William Duckworth. I’m doing a re-editing project based on recordings by Glenn Gould.
What is your present state of mind?
Anxious anticipation. In London at Kings Place on May 19th, I’m offering an improvisation with a backing track I prepared. (As well as composed pieces by Glass, Nico Muhly, and Alvin Curran.) Last season, at the urging of Ran Blake, I did an improv in a public concert. Now I’m hooked.
Bruce Brubaker appears at London’s King’s Place on Sunday 19th May in a concert entitled Plugged and Unplugged: Post-Minimalist Piano Music. Further information and tickets here
Bruce Brubaker is an American artist, musician, concert pianist, and writer born in Iowa. Brubaker trained at the Juilliard School, where he received the school’s highest award, the Edward Steuermann Prize, upon graduation. At Juilliard, where he taught from 1995 to 2004, he has appeared in public conversations with Philip Glass, Milton Babbitt, and Meredith Monk.
The fascinating Rest is Noise festival at the Southbank Centre has now reached its mid-point, with the focus on music created out of oppression and war. In Friday night’s chamber concert at Queen Elizabeth Hall two pieces written in the most straitened circumstances during the Second World War were presented: Shostakovich’s Second Piano Trio, a haunting lament for the tragic victims of the war and conflict in general, and Messiaen’s extraordinary Quatuor pour la fin du temps (“Quartet for the End of Time”), composed and premièred in a German prisoner of war camp. The works were performed by world-renowned musicians – French brothers Renaud and Gautier Capuçon (violin and cello respectively), Denis Kozhukhin (piano) and Jörg Widmann (clarinet). They offered a highly emotional, profound and concentrated performance which demonstrated their commitment to and understanding of this difficult, meaningful repertoire.
Aged four, coming down the stairs in our house to hear my ten year old sister playing the piano very fast. Then I knew that I wanted to play-the-piano-very-fast!
Who or what inspired you to start teaching?
The discovery that music, more even than dancing (I had wanted to be a ballet dancer), was my love, aged fourteen. I also knew that the psychology of it: the relationship with the teacher, as well as the music, was intrinsically important. By that time I had had a critical teacher who’d put me off, and a relaxed teacher who taught nothing much, but didn’t criticise, which was more successful. And I wanted to explore, understand and develop piano teaching from all of these points of view.
Who were your most memorable/significant teachers?
They all had something very valuable to offer in very different ways. If I were to pick one, it would be Joan Barker who taught me as a postgraduate at Trinity College of Music after I had gained my piano teaching Diploma as well as my Degree. Her superb technical teaching (completely in line with the body’s natural movement) and inspirational musicianship gave me all the tools I needed to perform and teach securely and successfully.
Most memorable/significant teaching experiences?
Seeing students having Aha! moments, grinning from ear to ear, able to play and do what they’ve always wanted to be able to play and do.
What are the most exciting/challenging aspects of teaching adults?
Helping them to play the music that they love, as soon as they can, with fingers that have never done anything like it before.
What do you expect from your students?
That we work together: they tell me what they want to learn, and I help them get there.
That we are realistic: they turn up to lessons even when there has been no time to practise, and we focus on encouragement and support throughout.
What are your views on exams, festivals and competitions?
These are all wonderful if they motivate students, and if students feel that their playing is valued and appreciated. But they can be enormously damaging when students feel unfairly criticised, unappreciated and unsupported.
All such events should be a celebration of the student’s achievements and focus on the positive: If students are told what they have achieved, and what they can do, they do it even more and even better. Nothing else needs be said in a public or formal situation.
What do you consider to be the most important concepts to impart to beginning students, and to advanced students?
Most piano players want to be able to sit down and play wherever there is a piano, whether or not they have any written music with them. So I teach my students to play by ear and improvise, in a very simple step-by-step system, which involves important concepts such as pulse, tonality, harmony, phrase and form. That way they are always to play something whether at home to relax, or in a friend’s house, pub or hotel foyer.
Who are your favourite pianists/pianist-teachers and why?
Martha Argerich for her sheer passion and lightening speed at the piano!
“A teacher and facilitator at heart, I help people help themselves, identify aims and issues, make connections, add depth, develop strengths and skills, and succeed.”
Lucinda Mackworth-Young
For further information please visit Lucinda’s website
I’m afraid this post is all about self-advertisement. I was really surprised when an envelope from Trinity College of Music dropped through my letterbox this morning. I wasn’t expecting exam appointments for students this soon, and I certainly wasn’t expecting my Licentiate Diploma result (it was a full 6 weeks before I received my ATCL results).
I didn’t bother to read the exam report. The numbers at the bottom are what matter in these situations! 84% – Distinction. I admit I was surprised. A colleague told me to expect to drop a grade in my second diploma, and my preparation in the days leading up the exam this time wasn’t ideal: my husband had to go into hospital for heart surgery and then we both came down with horrible chest infections. I went into the exam dosed up on Sudafed and paracetomol, and when I played I felt strangely disconnected. In warm up, I messed up four bars of the Rachmaninov Etude Tableau in E flat (op 33). Always the bug-bear of the programme, the piece felt “jinxed” because it was the only part of my programme I had not put before an audience (except my teacher, a couple of colleagues and the family). Perhaps it was my “que sera sera” attitude (quoting Doris Day!) that did it, for on the report the examiner praised this piece for its “good impetus and energy, with orchestral textures well realised”.
The biggest thanks must go to my teacher, Penelope Roskell, who took me on in November 2008 as a nervous adult who, after 25 years without piano lessons, had developed some very bad habits, and who, through her support and encouragement and expert teaching, has transformed me into a confident and fluent pianist. I would also like to thank those colleagues and friends who heard my diploma programme and who offered support and advice in the last weeks before the exam (you know who you are!). Special thanks also to my piano chum and companion in piano adventures, Lorraine Liyanage, who got me out of my “cave” and onto the stage, peforming in various concerts and events with her and her students and friends. This experience has undoubtedly helped me overcome my shyness and performance anxiety, and has taught me that performing is fun! I must also thank my husband, who knows nothing about classical music, but who knows a lot about the pieces I put into my diploma programme, who, every morning before work, would ask me what I would be practising that day, and who checked up on me when he came home from work with the question “So, what did you practice today?”. He was my “coach” and he dealt with my mood swings and crises of confidence like a professional.
So, what next? At at recent piano course, one of the other students asked me if I was going to try for the Fellowship. To be honest, I don’t know, at this stage. It is another huge step up from the Licentiate and the repertoire is very challenging. But maybe I’ll start learning some of it and see how I feel. The important thing is to keep playing!
Hear my Diploma programme (minus Rachmaninov E flat Etude Tableau) here:
The programme running order is:
Bach – Concerto in D minor after Marcello, BWV974
Takemitsu – Rain Tree Sketch II
Mozart – Rondo in A minor K511
Liszt – Sonetto 104 del Petrarca
Rachmaninov – Etude-Tableau Op 33, No. 8 in G minor
Who or what inspired you to take up the piano and make it your career?
Apparently, my grandfather always wanted my mother to play the piano, but they came from a very humble background and decided that instead of going to a conservatory she would be much better off attending a regular school to become a doctor. When I was born, she was 35 and finally started taking lessons. However, it was just too difficult to continue lessons while working and looking after two kids, so she instead spent her free time with me playing games at the piano. I would sit at the instrument, singing and playing with full concentration for hours, which they thought was unusual for a baby. So my mother took me to her teacher, who kept refusing to teach me, saying my fingers were too short to start. She finally took me on when I was five-and-a-half years old, so my formal musical education began at her studio on the weekends.
Who or what were the most important influences on your playing?
I think that the ‘social environment’ is very important, as well as your upbringing. At my home there were two gigantic speakers that my father put up in the living room with much pride. It was always very important to be able to ‘to listen to music’ instead of playing something in the background. I think this made me an ‘active’ listener, paying attention to melodies and just generally being aware of what is happening. Music was also something that connected my family. Despite all the little fights we had, we would turn the music on to dance and laugh. I remember times when the four of us would all wear sunglasses and dance to Rock ’n’ Roll in the living room. My dad had some killer moves – he would spin me in the air. My sister also loved singing – although her voice was pretty awful. (She is now much better and often sings to her own baby son!)
On the weekends when I took lessons, it was much more formal and disciplined. My first teachers made me understand the huge responsibility you take on as a performer, when you are playing a great piece by a classical composer. From the beginning, I knew it was not something you could take ‘lightly’. To me, playing the piano was serious: it needed so much detailed analysis, character and effort. I remember playing a Chopin Waltz when I was 7 years old in front of hundreds of people and it felt like my heart almost stopped backstage. I still get that feeling; but I wouldn’t call it ‘stage fright’ because I always loved going on stage, yet it is the enormous respect you feel towards all these amazing composers and you, as a pianist, should represent their work the best you can, so the audience can understand it.
I think, I took lessons following these two approaches: 1) using music to communicate and to have fun 2) taking it seriously and approaching it with respect and admiration
What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far? What advice do you have for other musicians?
There are amazing talents I’ve met at my schools and it is almost always the same path for musicians: you teach, take part in competitions and accompany people to earn money. Yet, when you do what you have been educated to do (give concerts), they expect you to do it for free. It is not seen as a career, as you do not earn money for the hours you spend practising the piano, and this is such a pity. I see so many of my colleagues spending so much time wasting their skills on things they would not do if they were provided with better financial opportunities. They also do not have any time left to create something new because they spread themselves too thinly. (The tragic truth is even an entry level secretary gets paid more than an experienced professional musician)
This is because funding for arts and music gets cut first whenever there is a financial crisis, and without sponsorship and/or government support it is difficult for musicians to prosper.
Thanks to the digital age, I am lucky to have so many amazing fans around the world that connect with me through Facebook, YouTube and Twitter and make it possible for me to have a busy concert schedule!
I would like to see the same happening to my friends and I think the greatest step they can take is to use self-initiatives, take risks and communicate with their audiences more.
Which performances/compositions/recordings are you most proud of?
I did a peace concert in Moscow along with 11 other pianists, all from conflict-affected countries. It was at The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (the tallest Christian Orthodox church in the world), and was an event where people from different religions, races and political sides came together to promote worldwide peace through classical music. It was so touching, and I had a great time working with everyone there.
Do you have a favourite concert venue to perform in?
I think each venue has its own unique characteristics. I love it when there is good acoustics and a great piano, yet it is also the people who listen to you that affect your performance. I like it when the audience members are willing to interact with me and this can happen the most in the unexpected parts of the world. For example, I was 12 years old performing at a small Greek town when after the concert an old Greek man approached me and told me the lines from a Turkish poem he had memorized, following a “tesekkurler” – (‘thank you’). I guess the magical experiences are created by people, not buildings or pianos. My favourite venues are those where I can inspire as many people as possible through music.
Favourite pieces to perform? Listen to?
I listen to a lot of romantic classical music as well as oldies, rock and pop music up until the early 2000s. I love performing Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Liszt. I also love Beethoven because he was such a revolutionary guy.
Who are your favourite musicians?
I admire those ‘giants’ who are sadly no longer with us, among them are Vladimir Horowitz, Arthur Rubinstein, S. Richter, Rosalyn Tureck and Artur Schnabel. Currently, my favourite pianists include Menahem Pressler and Arcadi Volodos, who always make their performances ‘magical’ and ‘inspiring’.
I also admire Lang Lang for being so open-minded, creative, hugely talented, for inspiring so many young people with his music and for his entrepreneurship. I think we need more people like him in this world.
What is your most memorable concert experience?
My first concert with orchestra when I was 9, playing J S Bach’s 5th Keyboard Concerto was so important to me. It was the first time I showed I was able to handle this work. It was also very stressful, as there were more than 700 people in the audience hearing me for the first time. In the end it was a success. I received a huge toy dog from an audience member as a present, which I still keep.
What do you consider to be the most important ideas and concepts to impart to aspiring musicians?
I think the most important thing is to be honest with what you do. Do not try to hide your own characteristics, in fact exaggerate them! I hear so many people who play so robotically just to be ‘perfect’ – yet their music becomes nothing more than a ‘photocopy’ of other people’s performances. It is important to be spontaneous on the stage and really let your emotions control your performance.
What are you working on at the moment?
I am working on the rest of my Pink Floyd arrangements for the full album to be released this summer, along with chamber music performances and solo classical concerts. It is very busy, arranging, practicing, rehearsing and performing. I also like doing some creative and not-so-classical productions to really enjoy music.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Happiness to me means always having a project ready to inspire people with.
What is your most treasured possession?
I do not treasure objects. I treasure people, and the time you spend with them. Most of it is with those who inspire me and open my eyes, help broaden my thinking and allow me to see the world differently.
What do you enjoy doing most?
I love getting reactions from audience members after concerts. It reminds me of why I chose this career.
What is your present state of mind?
I am in a state of ‘production’ – focusing a lot on creating my own path.
AyseDeniz Gokcin is giving a private recital in London on Tuesday 14th May. Programme includes her own ‘Pink Floyd Lisztified’ and Liszt’s “Apres un Lecture de Dante”: Fantasia Quasi Sonata, plus works by Chopin and Mozart. Further information and tickets here
AyseDeniz’s Billie Jean Smooth Criminal Thriller Mashup – a tribute to Michael Jackson on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of his performance of ‘Billie Jean’ on the Motown Records 25th anniversary tv show.
AyseDeniz recently completed her Masters in Piano Performance at Royal Academy of Music in London with Merit, under the tutelage of Christopher Elton, receiving the Maud Hornsby Award and completing the LRAM Teaching Certificate. In 2009, she finished her Bachelors Degree at Eastman School of Music (Rochester NY) in the studio of Douglas Humpherys, where she received Howard Hanson and Clements Scholarships as well as the John Celentano Excellence in Chamber Music Award.
AyseDeniz made her concerto debut when she was nine, with Gordion Chamber Orchestra playing J.S. Bach’s Keyboard Concerto No. 5. At thirteen, she had already performed as a soloist with various orchestras under conductors including Ibrahim Yazici, Fahrettin Kerimov, Antonio Pirolli, Cem Mansur, Engin Sakpinar, Ertug Korkmaz, Rengim Gokmen, Vladimir Sirenko, and Kirill Karabits.
Upon receiving an invitation from Nikolai Petrov, she has performed in Kremlin Palace (Moscow, Russia). She has also appeared in L’Eglise (Verbier, Switzerland); Duke’s Hall, Kings Place (London, UK); Central Park of Culture and Resort Open Air Hall, Lysenko Hall (Kiev, Ukraine); ‘PepsiCo Hall’ Texas, ‘Kilbourn Hall’ New York, ‘Harris Hall’ Colorado, ‘Lehmann Hall’ California (USA); Bellapais Antique Monastry (Northern Cyprus) and most of the important art centers in Turkey, including the Sureyya Opera House during the 38th Istanbul International Music Festival.
She attended prestigious summer festivals including Verbier Academy; Music Academy of the West, Aspen Music Festival and School, PianoTexas, Goslar Konzerterbeitswochen, Tel-Hai and Beijing International Music Festival and Academy, studying with renowned piano pedagogues such as Menahem Pressler, Jerome Lowenthal, Arie Vardi, Yoheved Kalpinsky, as well as Lang Lang. Having been invited by the world renowned Bach interpreter Rosalyn Tureck to Spain, AyseDeniz had the privilege to study with her for a semester during her last years.
AyseDeniz has appeared on various TV channels, radio stations and in magazines including CNN Turk, NTV, TRT, The Voice of Russia and Vogue Turkey. She is currently working on solo and recording projects, as well as giving concerts to raise money for charities around the world.
As part of this year’s Brighton Fringe Festival, Music of Our Time (MOOT) presents a unique series of concerts focusing on Music and Disability with an imaginative and exciting range of artists and programmes.
One of the highlights of the series will be a concert by left-handed pianist Nicholas McCarthy, who more than amply demonstrates through his virtuosity and pianistic sensitivity that having only one hand need not be a hindrance to extraordinary piano playing. His programme features works by Bach, Scriabin, Schubert, Richard Strauss and Liszt.
Meanwhile, ‘The Bionic Ear Show’ is an award-winning fun, interactive show about hearing and how to protect your ears for the future. ‘Lost and Sound’ is a moving documentary film by partially deaf filmmaker Lindsey Dryden, with stories of sound and silence including a young pianist who lost her hearing as a baby, and a music critic facing sudden hearing loss.
An afternoon workshop on Saturday 18th May with Dr Paul Whittaker OBE and singers from the British Voice Association explores how deaf people can enjoy singing and vocalising.
Other concerts in the series include a performance of Stravinsky’s ground-breaking The Rite of Spring one hundred years to the day since its controversial 1913 premiere in Paris. The programme also includes Debussy’s Épigraphes antiques and a short film about The Rite and the infamous riot at its premiere.
The brilliant young Ligetti Quartet perform works by Adams, Górecki’s Arioso, Huang Hai-Huai, Webern, and Laura J. Bowler’s Hay Fever (includes a teapot and four copies of The Sunday Times). Plus György Ligeti’s Poème symphonique for 100 metronomes (don’t forget to bring yours!).
Paul Silverthorne (Principal Viola, London Symphony Orchestra) & pianist Aglaia Tarantino perform Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata, followed by a tribute in memoriam to Elliott Carter, Hans Werner Henze and Richard Rodney Bennett with imaginative works by each composer, ending with Paul’s own transcription of Stravinsky’s elegant Suite Italienne.
Full details of all the concerts in the series, and tickets, here
MOOT also present a special free Spectrum Music Day with Thalia Myers. Pianists are invited to play any piece from the eight Spectrum books published by ABRSM. There will be a workshop with Thalia Myers followed by a concert.
MOOT is a non-profit group for the public benefit promoting contemporary music arts education. Artistic director: Norman Jacobs. To keep up to date with MOOT events, join the MOOT Meetup group.
I recently reviewed Gregg Kallor’s new CD A Single Noon, his pianistic hommage to his home city of New York and daily life in the city, of which one important ritual is enjoying the caffeine-induced buzz from drinking espressos!
Gregg is running a photograph competition via his Facebook page for the chance to win 2 tickets to the release party for his CD, your photograph as the cover photo on his Facebook page, and a signed copy of his CD A Single Noon.
It’s easy to enter:
Post your photograph to Gregg’s Facebook timeline
You can also enter by Twitter or Instagram by including @GreggKallor and #EspressoNContest in your post
On 13th May, Gregg will upload an album of his favourites and you can vote for your own picture (and others). The image with the most “likes” wins, so enlist friends and family to support you.
More here, including a link to Gregg’s Facebook page
Here’s Gregg playing Espresso Nirvana to inspire you!
What is your first memory of the piano? 
I recently reviewed Gregg Kallor’s new CD A Single Noon, his pianistic hommage to his home city of New York and daily life in the city, of which one important ritual is enjoying the caffeine-induced buzz from drinking espressos!
