WEBVTT 00:00:00.040 --> 00:01:09.230 Thank you. Welcome to another episode of The 00:01:09.230 --> 00:01:12.010 Pianopod, everyone. This season, we are exploring 00:01:12.010 --> 00:01:15.010 creativity and connection, highlighting artists 00:01:15.010 --> 00:01:17.709 who are reshaping what it means to create, perform, 00:01:17.989 --> 00:01:21.329 and imagine the future of classical music. We 00:01:21.329 --> 00:01:24.590 are so fortunate to have Asiya Kurepanova, an 00:01:24.590 --> 00:01:27.409 exceptional pianist, composer, visual artist, 00:01:27.590 --> 00:01:31.629 and poet whose work defies boundaries and expands 00:01:31.629 --> 00:01:35.540 what classical music can be. Born in Russia into 00:01:35.540 --> 00:01:38.799 a deeply musical family, Asiya began performing 00:01:38.799 --> 00:01:41.920 and composing at a young age and has since built 00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:45.519 a career defined by fearless long -form projects, 00:01:45.920 --> 00:01:49.640 interdisciplinary creation, and bold curatorial 00:01:49.640 --> 00:01:53.459 vision. As a pianist, she is known for undertaking 00:01:53.459 --> 00:01:56.620 monumental cycles, including the complete solo 00:01:56.620 --> 00:01:59.819 piano works of Rachmaninoff during the composer's 00:01:59.819 --> 00:02:03.980 150th anniversary year, lists all 24 etudes, 00:02:04.180 --> 00:02:08.180 and box well -tempered clavier. Her artistry 00:02:08.180 --> 00:02:11.039 extends beyond performance into transcription, 00:02:11.460 --> 00:02:15.580 composition, poetry, and visual art, often woven 00:02:15.580 --> 00:02:19.740 together in immersive multimedia projects. In 00:02:19.740 --> 00:02:23.060 addition to her work on stage and online, Asiya 00:02:23.060 --> 00:02:26.039 is deeply committed to education and access. 00:02:26.300 --> 00:02:29.759 Through her non -profit organization, Music for 00:02:29.759 --> 00:02:33.840 Minds, In her leadership of Festival Flatiron, 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:37.639 she brings classical music into schools and communities 00:02:37.639 --> 00:02:40.979 while championing meaningful, inclusive programming. 00:02:42.520 --> 00:02:46.020 Before we dive in, thank you to our listeners, 00:02:46.240 --> 00:02:49.000 viewers for tuning in today and supporting The 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:52.280 Pianopod. Your engagement, whether through listening, 00:02:52.599 --> 00:02:55.939 watching, sharing episodes, or leaving a review. 00:02:56.379 --> 00:02:59.219 helps sustain this growing community of artists 00:02:59.219 --> 00:03:02.259 and thinkers who are reimagining what classical 00:03:02.259 --> 00:03:06.000 music can be today. Here is the PianoPod with 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:10.379 pianist, composer, visual artist, and poet, Asiya 00:03:10.379 --> 00:03:18.849 Kurepanova. Please enjoy the show. You are listening 00:03:18.849 --> 00:03:21.169 to The Piano Pod, where we talk to the brightest 00:03:21.169 --> 00:03:23.789 minds in the industry about how they are bringing 00:03:23.789 --> 00:03:27.030 the piano into the future and thriving in a complex, 00:03:27.310 --> 00:03:32.770 ever -evolving world. Asya, thank you so much 00:03:32.770 --> 00:03:34.930 for being here today. Where are you actually 00:03:34.930 --> 00:03:38.270 joining from? Thank you so much, Hikimi. I'm 00:03:38.270 --> 00:03:42.710 in my home in Boston area. Oh, okay. It must 00:03:42.710 --> 00:03:46.780 be really cold. New York is freezing. It became 00:03:46.780 --> 00:03:49.680 cold in the recent couple of days. We just got 00:03:49.680 --> 00:03:52.659 our first snow. It looks like Christmas already. 00:03:52.860 --> 00:03:56.280 It's very beautiful. So I want to say at first 00:03:56.280 --> 00:03:59.379 that you're truly an exceptional pianist and 00:03:59.379 --> 00:04:02.580 artist. And the depth, scale, oh my gosh, and 00:04:02.580 --> 00:04:05.080 then the fearlessness of your work are really 00:04:05.080 --> 00:04:08.020 rare. And it is a real privilege to have you 00:04:08.020 --> 00:04:12.060 at the PianoPod. And our former guest, Eleanor 00:04:12.060 --> 00:04:16.600 Byneman. oh yeah she's an incredible person and 00:04:16.600 --> 00:04:20.560 she was our guest last season and spoke so highly 00:04:20.560 --> 00:04:23.180 about you and encouraged me to reach out and 00:04:23.180 --> 00:04:25.800 so thank you for accepting my invitation thank 00:04:25.800 --> 00:04:29.420 you so much yeah and i saw uh watched your conversation 00:04:29.420 --> 00:04:31.819 with her i think it was on a youtube channel 00:04:31.819 --> 00:04:34.100 or something and it made me even more excited 00:04:34.100 --> 00:04:37.660 for today so I have been spending some time with 00:04:37.660 --> 00:04:41.060 your solo performances on YouTube and transcriptions, 00:04:41.060 --> 00:04:43.879 oh my gosh, on YouTube. The breadth of repertoire 00:04:43.879 --> 00:04:46.620 and level of production are remarkable. And of 00:04:46.620 --> 00:04:49.220 course, your work extends far beyond the piano 00:04:49.220 --> 00:04:54.079 into poetry, visual art, and composition. So 00:04:54.079 --> 00:04:57.120 all that leads beautifully into my first question, 00:04:57.220 --> 00:05:00.819 which is, what would you say is the core mission 00:05:00.819 --> 00:05:04.500 or driving passion behind all the work you do 00:05:04.500 --> 00:05:10.509 right now? I would say that I never thought of 00:05:10.509 --> 00:05:15.050 a mission as a label or like what is the message 00:05:15.050 --> 00:05:17.829 of what I'm trying to do. I would say I would 00:05:17.829 --> 00:05:23.730 follow my vision. I always had ideas early on 00:05:23.730 --> 00:05:30.129 about musical ideas, about visual ideas, about 00:05:30.129 --> 00:05:34.350 language, about image in a broad sense of it. 00:05:35.359 --> 00:05:41.040 It also helped that I was one of the earliest 00:05:41.040 --> 00:05:46.600 projects in the realm of homeschooling. My mom 00:05:46.600 --> 00:05:52.800 homeschooled me until I was about 10. So my first 00:05:52.800 --> 00:05:56.120 grade class that I went was the fourth grade. 00:05:57.250 --> 00:06:00.769 And there were some underlying family circumstances. 00:06:00.930 --> 00:06:03.670 We were traveling quite a bit between different 00:06:03.670 --> 00:06:09.310 cities in Russia. And so I was just learning 00:06:09.310 --> 00:06:13.170 as I was going. And I was also a very hyperactive 00:06:13.170 --> 00:06:17.050 child. So my poor mom was always with a suitcase 00:06:17.050 --> 00:06:22.009 of, you know, paper and pencils and books and 00:06:22.009 --> 00:06:25.769 things and everything in between. And so as I 00:06:25.769 --> 00:06:30.269 was getting distracted and would become a little 00:06:30.269 --> 00:06:32.750 bit too active, she would know how to distract 00:06:32.750 --> 00:06:35.410 me with a new activity. So I started drawing 00:06:35.410 --> 00:06:39.949 very, very early. I was given access to a typewriter 00:06:39.949 --> 00:06:43.470 when I was about three and a half to four years 00:06:43.470 --> 00:06:47.769 old. And there are some evidence of how my gibberish 00:06:47.769 --> 00:06:51.110 gradually started to form in some thoughtful 00:06:51.110 --> 00:06:57.189 expression. I remember that period of my life 00:06:57.189 --> 00:07:04.250 with a lot of sweetness because it was a little 00:07:04.250 --> 00:07:06.990 bit nomadic, but very artistic at the same time. 00:07:07.110 --> 00:07:12.129 And I think I carried that sense into my adulthood 00:07:12.129 --> 00:07:16.569 because, you know, today as a performing artist, 00:07:16.670 --> 00:07:19.790 we are on the road all the time. And of course, 00:07:19.790 --> 00:07:21.870 I have some colleagues and friends and family 00:07:21.870 --> 00:07:25.089 who, you know, share their experiences or wondering, 00:07:25.149 --> 00:07:28.529 like, how can you be on the road? It's so daunting. 00:07:28.629 --> 00:07:31.689 I'm thriving on the road. I love to be on the 00:07:31.689 --> 00:07:34.709 road. And it's so strange. I can sleep in any 00:07:34.709 --> 00:07:39.689 position, in any moving object. I'm just, I think 00:07:39.689 --> 00:07:44.110 I was prepared for that from early on. But also, 00:07:44.230 --> 00:07:50.050 I also learned to go for whatever comes to mind 00:07:50.050 --> 00:07:53.629 right away. I have an idea of transcription in 00:07:53.629 --> 00:07:55.750 the morning. Sometimes I already would have a 00:07:55.750 --> 00:07:57.750 few pages of that down in the evening because 00:07:57.750 --> 00:08:01.449 I just like, I have to do this right now. Or 00:08:01.449 --> 00:08:04.389 I have something like a poem, just I have a poem 00:08:04.389 --> 00:08:06.490 idea and then I start working later. I have a 00:08:06.490 --> 00:08:13.930 composition idea. And so this urge and immediacy 00:08:13.930 --> 00:08:19.720 to fulfill that urge i think is still very childlike 00:08:19.720 --> 00:08:22.879 in me but it works for me quite well oh yeah 00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:26.560 well oh yes meaning i'm not saying you're childish 00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:29.699 or anything but you know all the work you do 00:08:29.699 --> 00:08:32.360 it just coming from you just now it really makes 00:08:32.360 --> 00:08:35.179 sense and but i didn't realize your family was 00:08:35.179 --> 00:08:42.480 traveling a lot well um my parents right before 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:47.909 i was born were postgraduate students at in moscow 00:08:47.909 --> 00:08:51.090 they were studying in moscow conservatory and 00:08:51.090 --> 00:08:53.629 then gnessing academy that's another big school 00:08:53.629 --> 00:09:00.250 in moscow and but my mother was born in the city 00:09:00.250 --> 00:09:05.149 of kazan which is south of moscow quite far and 00:09:05.149 --> 00:09:07.470 my father was born in the city of izhevsk which 00:09:07.470 --> 00:09:12.110 is another maybe 100 miles more south and east 00:09:13.049 --> 00:09:17.230 uh from there and they met as students in kazan 00:09:17.230 --> 00:09:19.429 conservatory kazan conservatory is also a big 00:09:19.429 --> 00:09:23.210 school a wonderful a musical institution and 00:09:23.210 --> 00:09:28.990 uh when i was born my parents at first continued 00:09:28.990 --> 00:09:32.029 their studies and then there were some illnesses 00:09:32.029 --> 00:09:34.450 in the family over traveling to kazan traveling 00:09:34.450 --> 00:09:37.049 to adjust traveling to moscow traveling it was 00:09:37.049 --> 00:09:41.669 just like this eighth that was between this three 00:09:41.669 --> 00:09:46.470 points of this series so by the time i was about 00:09:46.470 --> 00:09:49.389 three or four years old my parents were joking 00:09:49.389 --> 00:09:53.250 that i spent about half of my then lifetime on 00:09:53.250 --> 00:09:57.909 the train so uh it was just different circumstances 00:09:57.909 --> 00:10:03.990 but also uh my mother after she graduated she 00:10:04.639 --> 00:10:07.419 there was a period of time when she was teaching 00:10:07.419 --> 00:10:09.980 at the gnessing academy and i was sitting at 00:10:09.980 --> 00:10:15.600 her lessons and drawing and observing her teaching 00:10:15.600 --> 00:10:20.220 students or performing or practicing and the 00:10:20.220 --> 00:10:25.080 family legend says that i was about three years 00:10:25.080 --> 00:10:29.259 old when i started pushing her uh from the piano 00:10:29.259 --> 00:10:31.679 she was practicing and saying that is my time 00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:35.990 to practice so Even though neither of my parents 00:10:35.990 --> 00:10:40.009 were actively encouraging me to become a musician, 00:10:40.110 --> 00:10:43.870 because especially around the break of Soviet 00:10:43.870 --> 00:10:47.090 Union, it was very difficult times. And becoming 00:10:47.090 --> 00:10:49.549 a professional musician probably was not the 00:10:49.549 --> 00:10:53.049 wisest thing ever. Everybody says that. That's 00:10:53.049 --> 00:10:58.649 universal. Yeah. Wow. So your mom is a pianist 00:10:58.649 --> 00:11:01.110 and your father is... My father is a composer. 00:11:01.570 --> 00:11:06.779 Oh, wow. Yeah. Wonderful. Now I'm going to go 00:11:06.779 --> 00:11:09.139 back to your childhood and training a little 00:11:09.139 --> 00:11:12.039 bit later on, but that's a really wonderful way 00:11:12.039 --> 00:11:16.039 to start. And now I understand. So then I want 00:11:16.039 --> 00:11:19.580 to talk about this. We're going to jump to this 00:11:19.580 --> 00:11:23.899 extreme long form projects. Wow. Your career 00:11:23.899 --> 00:11:26.450 is filled with. what many would consider impossible 00:11:26.450 --> 00:11:29.470 undertakings the complete Rachmaninoff solo piano 00:11:29.470 --> 00:11:33.509 pieces list 24 edges all of them in a Bach complete 00:11:33.509 --> 00:11:37.009 well -tempered clavier so you've performed the 00:11:37.009 --> 00:11:40.370 complete Rachmaninoff solo works during the composer's 00:11:40.370 --> 00:11:43.669 150th anniversary year that was like two years 00:11:43.669 --> 00:11:48.029 ago it was in 2023 right right so let's start 00:11:48.029 --> 00:11:51.210 here can you tell us more about taking on his 00:11:51.210 --> 00:11:54.029 complete solo piano works during the anniversary 00:11:54.029 --> 00:12:00.409 year? It may sound a little maybe strange but 00:12:00.409 --> 00:12:08.669 I decided to do that last minute. With Rachmaninoff's 00:12:08.669 --> 00:12:14.110 project it was maybe an act of resistance on 00:12:14.110 --> 00:12:17.710 my side because it was, I remember it vividly, 00:12:17.710 --> 00:12:25.509 it was July of 2022. And I was watching concert 00:12:25.509 --> 00:12:28.889 organizations in the United States and Russia 00:12:28.889 --> 00:12:32.529 worldwide announcing their upcoming seasons. 00:12:33.169 --> 00:12:38.230 And since Beethoven's 250th anniversary was just 00:12:38.230 --> 00:12:41.889 a few years back, and we... were seeing Beethoven 00:12:41.889 --> 00:12:47.309 on every corner despite the COVID and pandemic 00:12:47.309 --> 00:12:50.210 people were doing so many projects so many pianists 00:12:50.210 --> 00:12:53.929 played completely to Beethoven sonatas symphonies 00:12:53.929 --> 00:12:56.789 were doing complete symphonies and you know there 00:12:56.789 --> 00:12:59.149 were so so much work chamber music and everything 00:12:59.149 --> 00:13:07.750 so I was kind of expecting some similar scale 00:13:07.750 --> 00:13:11.600 to happen for Rachmaninov And then they realize 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:17.679 there's not. I was saying, well, Yuja Wang announced 00:13:17.679 --> 00:13:21.340 that she's going to perform five Rachmaninoff 00:13:21.340 --> 00:13:24.500 concertos in the same night. A few people, such 00:13:24.500 --> 00:13:26.980 as, I think, Nikolai Lugansky and I think Mikhail 00:13:26.980 --> 00:13:31.379 Plitnev as well, did that in Europe. And there 00:13:31.379 --> 00:13:35.960 were different colleagues that did recitals dedicated 00:13:35.960 --> 00:13:41.110 to Rachmaninoff music. But there was not a single 00:13:41.110 --> 00:13:46.769 person who thought to put out a set or even series 00:13:46.769 --> 00:13:51.429 of complete works. There was later on, last year 00:13:51.429 --> 00:13:56.129 actually, 2024, there was a festival in Colombia 00:13:56.129 --> 00:14:02.549 that did dedicate their entire festival to musical 00:14:02.549 --> 00:14:04.669 Rachmaninoff, and they invited, I think, 10 or 00:14:04.669 --> 00:14:09.850 12 pianists to... played those works over the 00:14:09.850 --> 00:14:12.950 course of several days, but that was also much 00:14:12.950 --> 00:14:16.370 later than the anniversary itself. And I understand 00:14:16.370 --> 00:14:22.009 that the tragic circumstances in Eastern Europe 00:14:22.009 --> 00:14:25.990 might have, you know, influenced the decisions 00:14:25.990 --> 00:14:29.809 of, you know, playing Rachmaninoff's music more 00:14:29.809 --> 00:14:32.789 broadly or, you know, we never know what's in 00:14:32.789 --> 00:14:39.259 people's heads, but I felt offended. I felt that 00:14:39.259 --> 00:14:43.940 this is such an injustice because Rachmaninoff 00:14:43.940 --> 00:14:46.480 is one of the most beloved composers on earth. 00:14:47.559 --> 00:14:51.240 If you want to sell out the house, you put Rachmaninoff's 00:14:51.240 --> 00:14:54.740 second concerto in or his second symphony or 00:14:54.740 --> 00:15:00.899 his symphonic dances. You know that it is something 00:15:00.899 --> 00:15:03.500 that is immensely attractive to people and it 00:15:03.500 --> 00:15:07.840 just really, really touches. people's hearts 00:15:07.840 --> 00:15:10.639 across generations, across cultures, across everything. 00:15:13.360 --> 00:15:22.740 And I know that I can learn fast and I know that 00:15:22.740 --> 00:15:28.399 I can concentrate on things quite deeply. And 00:15:28.399 --> 00:15:33.919 so I thought, well, I guess I need to do something 00:15:33.919 --> 00:15:41.210 about it. In July of 2022 in my repertoire I 00:15:41.210 --> 00:15:44.889 had Rachmaninoff first and second sonata, one 00:15:44.889 --> 00:15:52.409 etude tableau, five morceaux opus 3 and a transcription 00:15:52.409 --> 00:16:02.610 of daisies. That's it. That meant everything 00:16:02.610 --> 00:16:06.759 else I had to learn from scratch. For the following 00:16:06.759 --> 00:16:10.779 year That's what I did and that's what I did 00:16:10.779 --> 00:16:16.259 I divided I constructed six programs out of this 00:16:16.259 --> 00:16:22.500 body of works and I was playing one program every 00:16:22.500 --> 00:16:28.320 two months January March May July September I 00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:32.480 ended up getting violently sick in May and had 00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:36.169 to postpone the series by one month a little 00:16:36.169 --> 00:16:40.129 bit because there was one place in Miami, the 00:16:40.129 --> 00:16:43.549 Revered Friends of Chamber Music of Miami. They 00:16:43.549 --> 00:16:47.789 decided to carry all six programs in the same 00:16:47.789 --> 00:16:56.049 place. That was my home series for these concerts. 00:16:56.879 --> 00:16:59.340 while each individual concert I also played in 00:16:59.340 --> 00:17:03.259 other places but all six I played there and so 00:17:03.259 --> 00:17:05.819 they were incredibly sweet and they were incredibly 00:17:05.819 --> 00:17:11.950 encouraging and excited because They felt that 00:17:11.950 --> 00:17:14.369 this is a very special occasion and very special 00:17:14.369 --> 00:17:17.549 moment. And they definitely never had same pianist 00:17:17.549 --> 00:17:20.630 play six recitals in the same calendar year. 00:17:21.549 --> 00:17:25.490 But that was an immense honor and trust that 00:17:25.490 --> 00:17:28.369 they had. And I'm eternally grateful for them 00:17:28.369 --> 00:17:32.069 for doing that for me. And it also meant that 00:17:32.069 --> 00:17:35.930 I knew that I have an audience that is eager 00:17:35.930 --> 00:17:38.529 to hear the next installment and the next installment. 00:17:39.450 --> 00:17:43.029 uh i would definitely say uh you know like when 00:17:43.029 --> 00:17:45.250 we see sometimes advertisements on television 00:17:45.250 --> 00:17:47.509 and there's a disclaimer don't do this at home 00:17:47.509 --> 00:17:53.410 i would say don't embark on something like this 00:17:53.410 --> 00:17:57.390 on six months notice because the problem was 00:17:57.390 --> 00:18:01.950 not just i had to learn all this music i also 00:18:01.950 --> 00:18:04.990 was premiering on my transcription of Manfred's 00:18:04.990 --> 00:18:10.509 Symphony in February. I was playing the same 00:18:10.509 --> 00:18:14.529 month I was debuting my 24 -list etudes program 00:18:14.529 --> 00:18:18.170 in Merkin Hall in New York City. I was traveling, 00:18:18.250 --> 00:18:21.750 I played four piano concertos in different places 00:18:21.750 --> 00:18:24.349 at the same time. I also learned another list, 00:18:24.529 --> 00:18:29.650 almost a recital worth of program at the request 00:18:29.650 --> 00:18:35.150 of American List Society, such as Gross's concert 00:18:35.150 --> 00:18:39.309 solo that is a very rarely performed work, so 00:18:39.309 --> 00:18:43.529 -called B minor Sonata 101, it's something that 00:18:43.529 --> 00:18:46.710 he wrote right before writing. So I had a lot 00:18:46.710 --> 00:18:49.549 of repertoire in my head and it definitely was 00:18:49.549 --> 00:18:53.490 mentally the most unbelievably exhausting year, 00:18:53.710 --> 00:19:00.910 but it also tested my resilience and my... faith 00:19:00.910 --> 00:19:04.849 in completing what I decided to do and it brought 00:19:04.849 --> 00:19:08.529 eight hours of music into my repertoire well 00:19:08.529 --> 00:19:11.410 I had some of that the two sonatas and little 00:19:11.410 --> 00:19:15.430 pieces but like at least six and a little bit 00:19:15.430 --> 00:19:19.750 of of that I learned then and I continue playing 00:19:19.750 --> 00:19:25.930 this music and it brings me so much joy When 00:19:25.930 --> 00:19:33.089 I was a student back in Russia, in my grade school, 00:19:33.170 --> 00:19:37.450 in my middle school and high school, I was double 00:19:37.450 --> 00:19:43.349 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 a thumbs up and subscribe to the PianoPod YouTube 01:48:08.020 --> 01:48:11.199 and share and review this episode on your favorite 01:48:11.199 --> 01:48:14.369 podcast, favorite platform. platform and tag 01:48:14.369 --> 01:48:16.890 us at the piano pod it's one of the best ways 01:48:16.890 --> 01:48:18.989 to help our community grow and we love hearing 01:48:18.989 --> 01:48:22.130 your feedback for the latest updates just news 01:48:22.130 --> 01:48:24.390 and stories that inspire creativity and connection 01:48:24.390 --> 01:48:27.350 follow the piano pod on substack tiktok and linkedin 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