You are listening to the PianoPod, where we talk to the brightest minds in the industry
about how they are bringing the piano into the 21st century.
Welcome back to another episode of the PianoPod.
I'm Yukimi Song.
I'm Clara Zhang.
And I'm Eric Hunter.
Let me start by asking some questions to you, viewers and listeners.
And I'm sure you still clearly remember the moment that the pandemic became reality for
you and for your loved ones and the moment you knew your life was about to change completely.
My questions are, where were you in that moment?
And were you with anyone?
What did you hear?
What was the feeling you experienced?
Any physical symptoms you had?
So I want to share my personal story.
And that was back in early March 2020.
And I was still living in the pre-pandemic lifestyle.
And New York City was still open.
And then I was teaching in-person lessons still.
So I took a subway, but I was wearing the pair of latex gloves.
And I bought this most expensive mask from Amazon.
And then I was equipped and I took the subway.
Then as I got out of the subway, there was a phone call.
That phone call to me was the moment I realized, wow, this is real.
I mean it.
The life is changing completely.
What was the phone call?
The phone call, yeah, I was going to say the phone call on the other end was actually a
very good friend of mine who is the guest of this episode.
And then, so let me just before I continue my story, let me just introduce you to our
guest today who is a pianist, composer, and educator of over two decades.
He lived for six years abroad in Macau, China where he created and managed entertainment
programs for the world's largest casino company, Las Vegas Sands.
He's been back in the United States now and is now a senior executive overseeing operations
and sales at Mid-America Productions, the most prolific presenter of choral concerts
in the history of Carnegie Hall.
So everyone, let's welcome Mr. James Redkay.
Welcome James.
Thank you so much.
Thank you for having me.
Thank you.
So let's just continue the story.
So I received a call from you and then, you know, one of the things was that we usually
text each other because our work schedules are so different.
So you know, either email exchange or text.
So that was just like a biggest alert.
Oh my gosh, right.
Then what also struck me was the tone of your voice, that tone of distress.
And you know, usually you're like totally chilled and poised, but that wasn't the case.
So that got me thinking, whoa, I am panicked.
I am fearful.
And so, and I was like trying to comfort you, but the only thing I could say was, oh, you
know, it's going to be only three weeks.
It started out as three weeks and then that became three months.
And hopefully it's not going to be three years.
Anyway, so let's talk about that content of the phone call.
So I want to know exactly where you're calling from and what was the background?
Well I was, it was a pretty remarkable time.
I was in the middle of representing my company at a handful of regional conventions for the
American Choral Directors Association or the ACDA, regional conventions that they hold
every two years.
And I had the first week of was March 2020.
I was in Little Rock, Arkansas doing a convention there and COVID was, it was something that
was in the news, but it wasn't something that seemed to be, you know, of great concern to
everyone.
And then that convention wrapped up and I ended up taking a short road trip through
the South and made my way to Mobile, Alabama for the second convention that I was doing.
And that's when I called you.
And I remember that, I will never forget that convention.
It was around the second week of March and you know, COVID had just started to be this
thing that everyone was now starting to worry about.
And I remember it very well.
The convention ended on a Saturday, but this was Friday when Carnegie Hall announced that
they were going to start closing and Broadway was going to close and cancel performances
and concerts and you know, being there on the convention floor with all of these little
booths that all of the vendors operate, we were just kind of having to bear witness to
all of these things just closing and being canceled all across the country and especially
in New York and in big metropolitan areas.
And I remember very well, I was talking to a director who was talking to me about her
program and you know, all the things that they were doing and all of these performances.
And in the middle of talking to me, she had to stop and take a phone call from the president
of her university who told her that she needed to get on a bus and get the kids and get them
back to their hometown because the whole university was closing and she wasn't legally allowed
to have the children on a trip, you know, have these students.
And she had to just drop everything and run away, you know, completely end our conversation
in the middle of it.
And I just thought it was, it seemed like the beginning of, you know, the apocalypse
or something happening.
Everyone was heading for the hills.
So you know, the convention ended early on Saturday.
I remember the organizers came to us and they told the vendors, all the performances are
canceled.
Everyone's heading home.
You're welcome to, you know, head out yourselves.
There's probably not going to be anybody here and that really was the case.
And I remember talking to you, I was on the balcony of, I think it was the downtown quality
in Mobile, Alabama, where my hotel was living luxuriously, you know, and I just, you know,
everything seemed to be kind of falling apart, you know.
So at that time we thought that and that was only, I think we had two concerts canceled
at Carnegie Hall at that point in time, which was two out of, I think, 15.
Little did I know that only a month or so later, everything would be canceled for the
entire year.
And you know, the company I worked for has done 38 years of concerts, almost 600 concerts
in that hall without ever having anything canceled on us.
So it was quite an experience.
Wow.
Thank you for describing all that.
I mean, I could only really sense, but what kind of scary experience that must have been,
you know.
So, but everybody can relate to that in so many ways because everybody experienced maybe
in different ways, but the same thing.
So now just to, I'm just curious to know, you know, New York state, tri-state area announced
Monday that they're lifting all, almost all the pandemic restrictions by May 19th.
And then mayor of New York city announced that the New York city will open a hundred
percent by July 1st.
So does that mean, does that include Carnegie Hall?
Do you know anything about?
I think part of the provisions in that, if I'm not mistaken, and I'm certainly not a
public health official, but I've also seen that they're essentially planning to maintain
social distancing, I think at various venues and restaurants and all of that in the city
and the state.
But Carnegie has a plan to reopen now for their fall season.
I think that's September, October.
It's been, it's been interesting working with them and you know, the company I work for
has a huge history with them.
And they've been very kind with us and been keeping us up to date as soon as they know
what their, what their plans are, but they've been very incremental.
And we understand that, you know, when you're the Metropolitan Opera or you're a Broadway
production, you have huge sets and huge casts.
And you know, it's, it's very difficult to open for one month out of an entire season.
Whereas, you know, Carnegie can do a solo piano recital or a string quartet concert,
and they have social distancing essentially built in, at least for the performers.
They seem very optimistic about reopening in the fall, and we're very hopeful for that
as well.
Mid-America season operates essentially in from spring and summer of every year.
So thankfully, our first concerts are not until March 2022.
And I think we've learned our lesson in terms of trying to be prognosticators for the future.
You know, the situation on the ground in September will be certainly different from the situation
on the ground in March.
So thankfully, we're being updated and we're just trying to follow, you know, as everyone
is, I think, CDC guidelines and New York State and New York City public health guidelines.
And who knows what the world will look like in a year or two.
Everything looks pretty positive and hopeful.
And I imagine we've all been vaccinated here.
I hope so.
And a lot of the people that I've been talking to around the country, because I talk to groups
every day from Alaska to Florida and Maine to California, a lot of folks are as well.
So everything looks like it's moving in the right direction.
But I know all of these venues are being very, very careful about their plans, because social
distancing is still going to, I think, be a part of any performance that happens certainly
in 2021.
Right.
Thank you for updating that.
Yeah.
Hope that everything comes back, you know, as soon as possible.
I miss going to shows and concerts.
So who doesn't, right?
So yeah, I've never seen the amount of desire to come and do live music concerts in New
York, anywhere in the world.
And so we're very optimistic about having a very big season in 2022.
I mean, the only concert I played live personally as a pianist last year was a Christmas concert
in a church a block from my home.
And I was just so happy to be playing jingle bells, let alone a big cup of snot.
It is what it is.
Yeah.
Let's just turn the clock backwards now.
And so we went to NYU together.
I mean, you're much younger, so I shouldn't say together, but you were undergrad and I
was a graduate student, and we were in the same studio.
So tell us about your background and what led to, you know, working and going to foreign
country and so forth.
But first of all, maybe your NYU and also as a composer.
Sure, I, you know, as a child, piano was a big part of our family life.
I have a lot of musicians in the family and both of my sisters had studied piano.
And so as the baby of the family, it just seemed to be a natural thing that I started
teaching myself to play when I was very young.
And you know, for a long time throughout my adolescent childhood, I really actually wanted
to be a concert pianist.
And I was very fortunate at the time to study with a really excellent teacher in my teens
who she was very harsh and very strict and a real disciplinarian.
But one of the things that she really insisted that I practice and learn were all of the
well-tempered clavier, preludes and fugues.
And that was the thing that really actually started me thinking about composition and
really thinking about, you know, getting under the hood of the car and seeing how everything
actually worked.
And so I started composing at a very late age.
I was 15, 16 years old.
But I decided that that was actually what I wanted to do as opposed to just be a pianist.
So you know, when I was and I think I also valued a liberal arts education and being
well-rounded, it's something that my parents also valued very much.
And so NYU was it was a really a wonderful decision that I, you know, and that I was
able to get in and that I was able to go.
You know, I mean, I think you remember, you know, from our friendship and our time there,
it was just being there was an education, musically in and of itself, let alone being
in class and actually, you know, studying counterpoint and all of that.
I mean, just to be there, you had the opportunity to to perform with other people who were like-minded
and you were able to go and see 15 different concerts every night in New York City.
And so I was fortunate in that I was able to actually work on my way through college
and get a lot of experience.
And you know, the education was, of course, top notch, too.
So that didn't hurt anything.
And also, I learned a lot from actually outside of campus.
I learned a lot from streets of New York.
Yeah.
So I love the location of NYU.
You know, you learn a lot.
You see a lot.
I just wanted to say that, James, although you say you started composing very late at
15 or 16, I did not begin really composing myself seriously until I was 30.
So I just want to remind our viewers that it's never too late.
I always say that to students, too.
Especially in this pandemic, I have seen so many adults.
I mean, it was one of the things that I've actually seen.
I thought that and I'm sure you all would agree.
I thought that I would lose students from my private studio teaching throughout 2020
because people would move or financial concerns.
But I've grown a studio and it's been amazing to see how many people have flocked back to
music and many adults that wanted to pick it up again.
And I always tell folks the same thing.
It's not too late to pick it up.
Yeah.
Okay.
So now I want to know all experiences after you graduated.
So tell us what happened.
So at the time, I graduated with my undergraduate degree and I had happened to be in a relationship
with a person that was from Macau, China.
And so I had thought in just my own crazy way, I would take a year off and I would go
and live there and I would work abroad.
And it seemed to me to be essentially a sort of a personal study abroad in a way to have
another experience that was outside the usual mainstream way of graduating and getting a
job and doing things.
And so I think two days after I graduated at NYU, I actually got on a flight and I moved.
I had been there a few times prior to visit.
And so I ended up by a circuitous way, I ended up teaching for the Macau Conservatory there
and doing things like ballet accompanying at the piano and all of these things.
And I taught there for about three years.
And I had briefly considered coming back and doing graduate work or whatnot, but I ended
up meeting, it's a small place, it's only about 10 square miles as the country goes.
So everybody knows everybody, especially in the arts.
I ended up meeting someone who managed the entertainment program for the Venetian Macau,
which was at the time, it was the largest casino in Macau.
And of course, Macau is this huge gambling mecca that makes six or seven times what Las
Vegas makes.
And the Venetian there is essentially a copy of the Venetian that's in Las Vegas.
So I met this person that had managed these programs and they needed someone, amazingly,
who had a composition background to come on board and rearrange shows that they did live
in the casino, in the shopping malls that they had.
They have a 300 shop mall there.
And they did programs with classically trained vocalists, violinists, pianists, cellists,
guitarists, flautists, you name it.
And they would do a 30 minute show here, a 10 minute show there.
And I had gotten into, it was something that was very not in my wheelhouse is an understatement
to be in that kind of an industry and that kind of a business setting.
It is, there is a big gap between entertainment and the arts in some ways.
And that was very scary for me.
But I thought, what the heck, I will give it a try.
And I ended up re-editing and rearranging all of these shows that they did.
And then it was very fun to do.
It was a big challenge.
And I ended up also seeing that the department that was there was, they had about 120 to
about 130 full time musicians that were incredibly capable, incredibly talented.
Some really of the finest musicians that I had met.
And they hailed from all of these countries around Southeast Asia.
And it was really kind of, it was really remarkable.
So I made many friends there.
And it was something that I ended up finding that I really enjoyed it.
You know, I know you as, especially you're more like a Mozart Bach Beethoven player.
So knowing that and then working in casino just always blows my mind.
It's a huge mental transition from the wall tempered clavier to O Sole Mio.
But it can be done.
And so I was there and I was working in kind of this coordinator supervisor, technically
sort of a lead artist capacity in this department.
And the company was always building, building, building, building more casinos, building
more hotels.
And I was there for about six months.
And I had put in a lot of time and worked weekends and all of that.
This was around 2011 when after the global recession in 2008, things were starting to
pick up again and the economy was roaring and booming, especially there.
And the company started construction again on a property across the street from the Venetian
called Sands Cotai Central.
And when it was built, it was actually the largest integrated resort in the world.
It was a 6,000 room hotel.
And they needed someone in the company to go over and create and manage and lead the
entertainment department there.
And so I was very fortunate that I was there at the time and I must have done enough overtime
that they asked me to go and do that.
So that was another just it was an incredible learning experience.
I was very fortunate to be able to do that job.
Wow.
James, I have so many questions for you now.
You know, I'm originally from China, so I've been to my Cal a few times.
Well, actually, really after I came here because I was too young to, I guess, go gamble, you
know.
So I was in Hong Kong teaching some master classes.
We just took a boat.
I mean, first of all, what language do you speak?
Do you just use English when you're in Macau because they use Portuguese and Cantonese?
No.
My Portuguese is terrible.
I only know a few words.
And there's not much you know, it's interesting.
The accountants, there's the official there's two official languages, which are Cantonese
and Portuguese.
But really in business, you know, people mostly speak English or they speak either Mandarin
or Cantonese.
When I worked at the Macau Conservatory, everything was in Mandarin or Cantonese.
And I was the only Westerner in the school.
And so nothing was done in English.
Even the documents weren't done in English.
Do you understand Mandarin?
My Mandarin is very limited.
Okay.
Mostly to ballet terminology and then anything else.
But I learned quite a bit of Cantonese while I was there.
So I was able to get around and take care of myself and not be totally lost.
Wow.
You're a living a dream.
That must be fun.
I mean, I know I'm thinking I've been to Macau a few times, but I think I've only been to
the casinos.
That's that's like the only places people go.
Right.
But so when you were there, like, where do the musicians like what do they do other than,
I mean, they play for the shows.
So you said there's a big conservatory as well.
There is.
I mean, it still is in some ways a sleepy fishing town, you know, that it's been for
thousands of years.
I mean, it's an interesting place because it is it is the oldest and it was the first
and it was the last European colony in Asia.
Actually, the Portuguese were there before the British were in Hong Kong.
And they gave it back to China two years after the British gave back Hong Kong.
So it has an incredible assimilation of cultures there.
I mean, there are times there are streets when you walk down that you think you're in
Lisbon and not in China.
And I think much like in Hong Kong, people appreciate being somewhat separate from the
mainland, just quite frankly.
But there is there's just an incredible culture there and an incredible history.
You know, there's all these UNESCO World Heritage sites.
And I think it's very different from Vegas in that way.
You know, Vegas was created as this stopover point in this gambling town.
McConnell was there for thousands of years before the Portuguese got there.
Really before the gambling industry, of course, started, which was not that old.
It's only been there for 60, 70 years.
So I mean, the musicians there, there's a symphony orchestra that's there.
There are opera performances that are there.
There's actually a pretty lively musical scene in terms of classical music concerts.
So there's there's quite a bit to do, but I think in general, a lot of the musicians
also teach privately and have studios and things like that.
That's very interesting.
Yeah.
But with all these interesting encounter with people and experiences, then after six years,
you're back in the United States again in New York City area and you're working as right
now at Mid America.
So can you tell us about what exactly you do?
Oh, absolutely.
Mid America is a very, very, I think, kind of fascinating entity in and of itself.
So the company was started in 1983 by its founder, Peter Taboris.
And essentially, Mid America is kind of the original company that in New York has created
festival choir performances at Lincoln Center, some, but by and large in majority at Carnegie
Hall.
At this point, we've done something like five hundred and ninety two concerts in Stern Auditorium
and a number of concerts in the hundreds in in Wild Hall as well.
And essentially what we do is we invite conductors from all around the country, largely from
the United States, but sometimes from Canada, Mexico, all around the world.
And these are folks that are directors of choral activities at major universities.
Sometimes they're very accomplished directors from community masterwork, adult choirs.
Sometimes they're very accomplished children's choir directors on the national scene.
And we invite them to participate in a concert, in a program that they do the vast majority
of the programming themselves from a repertoire standpoint.
And then we invite choirs on their behalf at their personal recommendation and referral
to us to participate in that program.
The choirs all pay a small per person registration fee and they get to come here for five days
to New York City and do rehearsals with the conductor.
They all come together.
They kind of have this educational collaborative experience.
They do a concert with a full orchestra, which we contract to do the concerts.
We do the concert at Carnegie Hall.
We do a cruise after the after every concert.
We must have done six hundred cruises now down through New York Harbor and Statue of
Liberty and all that.
And then they go home.
And that has not changed in thirty eight years, really.
Wow.
It includes a lot of different elements to it.
Educational and and it's fun.
You know, people from outside of New York come to learn and also to enjoy the tourists
tourism.
Yeah.
I always call what we do an experience.
And it's kind of ironic to me because that was a word that I never really used until
I worked for Sands in Macau.
And we always talked about that as the integrated resort experience.
You're having entertainment and then you're having shopping and then you're going gambling
and then you have a hotel and all of that kind of stuff.
And here it's it's in a similar way.
It's just a very multifaceted thing.
You know, you can of course you can book a recital and come in, practice, do your recital
and then leave.
And you can do that whether you're a pianist or you're a two hundred person choir.
But the the the value in what we do is that you're giving an opportunity to be on the
world's one of the world's greatest stages, if not this country's greatest stage, to folks
from every walk of life, every socioeconomic background, really.
And without a sort of aesthetic judgment as to what they can and cannot program, you know,
as long as it fits within a time limit that we have for every program and the orchestra
that we contract, which is a 60 person professional orchestra, we will do that.
And even though the choirs do the members pay to perform, essentially, they they have
an experience that is, you know, by and large, you can be in New York for five days and go
shopping on Madison Avenue and spend a heck of a lot more money doing so.
I would say every year I get a call from one or two teachers that tell me that they were
students on a concert that in America did in 1987 or 88.
And now they want to bring their choir.
So there's a huge legacy to what has been achieved just by doing these concerts and
having people having all of these people.
We estimated somewhere around one hundred and fifty thousand individuals have passed
through the stage over these 38 years.
So a lot of people that wouldn't have had that opportunity if Carnegie Hall's internal
concert season had to come a knocking, you know, really.
And maybe they and by and large, many of them have deserved that that opportunity and then
come.
So, yeah, been a wonderful thing.
And if anything, I think it's a motivating experience to, you know, when I I remember
when I was when I first came to this country, I went to Kansas to study.
And but Carnegie Hall, I mean, I came I was out here on tour at first before I moved to
Kansas.
But then they perform in all like Lincoln Center, you know, but we didn't get to perform
in Carnegie Hall.
And partially, it's just like to me, like to play in Carnegie Hall, you have to be somebody.
Right.
Like that was in Kansas and they were going on this tour.
And I think I remember I was being chosen as a conductor, the only female conductor.
And they were like, oh, you could go on this tour and we're going to have a concert.
It was like too good to be true that I I couldn't even trust it.
So I actually never came.
And I actually later on auditioned at NYU.
And I remember I was sitting across the street from the deli.
Like whenever we had a second, you know, I would just like observe all the glory in Carnegie
Hall.
And then I remember there was Kissin that just came out of like the rehearsal hall or
something with his students.
And I was like in shock.
And my friend was like taking a picture of me.
So I'm curious to know what was like for you to be inside.
You know, I mean, I remember I finally played in Carnegie Hall when I was like 28.
It was like finally a dream come true.
But for you, you were there all the time.
No.
Well, it's an interesting note.
You mentioned him.
You mentioned Kissin.
I mean, I remember once being at the hall and I was right at the backstage door talking
with talking with the owner of our company.
And he just kind of stormed in and walked past us.
And I had to do a double take that it was him walking in.
But you know, I went backstage then to Stern Hall, the largest hall.
And he was they have, you know, TV cameras that are monitors for all of the halls in
the backstage of each one of them.
And I happened to see that he was practicing in I think it was Zang Hill Hall at the time.
And the some of the stagehands were at the you know, at the mixing board and all of that.
And we we hadn't started our own dress rehearsal yet.
We had, you know, three or four hundred people waiting to go.
And I just turned to some of the stagehands.
I said, you know, was that him?
And they confirmed it was.
And then we had been doing a dress rehearsal for four, maybe three, four hours.
And I went back and he was still there.
And every time I had gone downstairs, he was still there.
And I said to the one of the head stagehands, I said, has he moved?
And they said, no, no, no, we give him the space for eight hours.
And he he doesn't he doesn't move.
He barely gets up to run, you know, run to the restroom.
He doesn't eat.
He just practices straight through.
And he has eight or 10 hours and he's done and he comes back the next day and does the
concert.
And I mean, that's wonderful.
You know, I mean, that is sort of it's what we've all been.
Taught or shown or, you know, kind of shown as a young child, I think, and as we as we
grow up and go through music school, that that is what a musician is, you know.
And I think the experience that I've had with Mid America is that, you know, you start to
see the value in more than just this focused definition of what an artist is.
I mean, there's value in all sides of it, but there's a spectrum, right?
There's people that, you know, perform in recitals from, you know, Texarkana to Tacoma
and to, you know, Santa Fe to wherever.
And they make beautiful music.
You know, I mean, the the great thing about Mid America in a way is we're not in the business
of judging who can and cannot have this experience.
And I thought when I joined, I remember thinking to myself because I I hold myself to a pretty
high standard performing.
I thought, you know, what are the concerts going to be like that we do?
You know, and I have seen some that, you know, went off better than others to a certain degree.
But I amazingly, I've never seen us do a concert that I didn't think was Carnegie worthy, at
least above a certain bar.
But that hall just has a way of kind of catalyzing everyone that's performing there to up their
game, you know, to as an understatement.
Yeah, I mean, I remember some of those friends that came back from the performance, you know,
and I didn't know growing up in Asia, it's like you have to make up your decision on
what you want to do when you're like three years old.
Right.
But then I remember a couple of friends, they weren't even sure if they were going to be
a musician yet.
But after the tour, they came back, they were like, yeah, this is what I'm going to do.
And they make a very successful career, you know, I think partially because of this experience.
So you guys are doing amazing work over there.
Well, it's good to see a young generation be able to be there too.
I mean, I will say it always makes me laugh.
The backstage at Carnegie is of course, very, very small.
And you know, being built 130 years ago.
And so all of their standby rooms that they have for, they call them orchestra rooms,
but they're really just standby rooms are on floors that are sometimes five or six flights
of stairs above the stage level.
And we are because we have choirs that are oftentimes 100 to 200, 250 people, we have
to line everybody up in their rows to get them on stage properly.
We can't have them take elevators, of course.
And so, you know, we're always lining people up and walking them downstairs.
And you know, the young students, especially when they're in high school are always, you
know, always venting about having to walk up and down stairs.
Ironically, it's usually not the adults, it's usually the kids.
And I always tell them, you know, many famous people took these stairs.
I told them Vladimir Horowitz took these stairs, Edith Theoph took these stairs.
I try and relate and I say the Beatles took these stairs.
And by and large, high schoolers nowadays don't know who the Beatles were, you know.
Wow, but you know, as hearing your stories, like, you know, it's not just performers comes
in different shapes and sizes, you know, as you mentioned about kissing, being eight hours
in that room and practicing, but also there are a bunch of people from different states
and perform at Carnegie Hall.
It's like a really people's place, right, to express themselves and the Carnegie Hall
is.
But also there are people like yourself managing those events and backstage.
So you are a musician and then that's part you're part of it.
So it takes a village really to have that amazing experience, either whether either
as a musician or as an audience to experience the whole thing.
It takes a village.
And that's what you are describing.
So that's very encouraging to know as a musician.
It's not this one thing that you are supposed you meant to do, but there are a whole lot
as a musician you can do right.
Well, you know, when I was in Macau and I was finally managing, you know, at the height
of our department size, we had about 110 artists.
Plus we had a management team of about five to six people that were all direct reports
to me.
And so I found myself at the age of 25, 26, responsible for the operation of a department
that size, plus all of these very talented, kind, deserving people.
And it always struck me that, A, I knew that my success as a manager trying to accomplish
something was really based upon the success of all the people that were working with me
and for me.
And I also realized that, you know, everyone who was working there was probably spending
more of their working day at work than they were spending at home.
And so I kind of took it very, I tried to take it very seriously, the obligation to
create a good working environment and create a pathway for people to grow, to learn new
skills, to stay.
I developed a saying when I was there, I called it facilitating other people's success.
And that's what we try and do at Mid America now.
I tell everyone that we bring on who's helping to manage and produce that, you know, we're
not the ones making the music on the stage, but we play a very vital role in making this
all happen.
And, you know, as you said, you came in, there's, we have folks that, you know, I would say
probably the majority of people that are on our concerts, you know, this might be the
first time that they're ever in New York City.
So there's a whole nother element to all of this, which is, which goes beyond even the
performance.
It's a cultural experience, it's an educational experience just by getting out of their hometowns,
you know, getting out of the states where they live.
And since many of them are young, it's their first view of, you know, a different environment,
you know, certainly.
It's kind of a cultural exchange, right?
It is, especially when you're trying to walk everyone through Grand Central Station, you
know, eight in the morning.
Yeah, well, New York has its own culture that is certainly unique.
Now we can't avoid this question, so we have to get to it.
So it's about COVID.
So how are you guys doing and how did your company handle it when, you know, first we
received the news and what has been the most challenging thing experienced, obviously halting
its operation itself in itself is extremely difficult.
But you know, how are you handling all the bookings and so forth?
Well, it was, I mean, 2020 was just a very difficult year, of course, you know, for every
musician and along the whole spectrum, I mean, being a concert producer, being a musician,
we of course had to because by the New York State guidelines and the New York City guidelines
and executive orders, the hole was closed for the entirety of the year.
So and it's been closed, of course, this year up until the fall.
So we have had to kind of chart our way through two years of no concerts and two years then
of no revenue.
And so, you know, we were I remember clearly after that phone call I had with you in March
of last year, and, you know, I said to myself sitting down at the desk in that quality and
I said, you know, I'm really going to need to go back on Monday morning and I need to
sit down with, you know, our heads of finance and our heads of, you know, program development
and these things.
And we have to chart some way forward because this is going to be quite difficult.
You know, we took all of the performances that were set to take place in 2020 and we
superimposed them on a calendar of 2021.
And we offered every group the ability to move to 2021 or to receive some partial refund
of monies that would not have been spent going into the actual production of the concert.
The vast majority chose to stick it out for a year.
And plane tickets removed, hotels removed, etc.
Now with the cancellation of Carnegie's 2021 season, we had to do the exact same thing.
It was the worst deja vu ever of having to go back to everyone and explain the same situation
over and over again.
I think the vast majority of groups appreciated the fact that even if we could have done a
concert in some shape and form, which of course now is not the case, we know now, but in December
and November of last year, we weren't sure.
You know, we were very communicative about saying, look, when you're here, can you eat
at a restaurant with 20 students?
Can you be on a bus with 20 students?
Do you know how you're going to be able to do a hotel accommodation if you're booking
it on your own?
There were so many.
I mean, I think one of the themes of this year has been, and this pandemic is just the
lack of assuredness that life as we know it can be normal.
And so, you know, the crews that we do after every concert, the boats are humongous.
There are three and four levels and they have the seating capacity of 600 people.
In any other year, that would be a pretty awesome experience.
In a year like this, it seems like that is, you know, the last place people would want
to be.
Right.
So we were, again, fortunate that the majority of groups moved over from 2021 to 2022.
And now we're actively developing that season.
And it's been a good experience.
It's been remarkable that we have so much interest to travel and to perform with live
music again.
You know, we're being cautiously optimistic because I have conversations every day with
educators around the country who are still waiting on school boards to approve travel,
are still waiting for the school board to say they can take children outside of the
state for universities to end lockdowns for various COVID outbreaks they have on campus.
So you know, we still have to kind of wait and see.
But we're very, very optimistic with the amount of desire.
It's just overwhelming at this point.
Has this pandemic changed the way the company operates or any biggest lessons you learned?
And maybe you can change that toward the future if you could share.
I think, you know, one of the things that we have that we have certainly learned from
this and that we're trying to update, too, is the way in which people register.
You know, we've understood that people haven't been rehearsing, that people the mechanisms
by which people plan these concerts has changed, of course, dramatically over the year.
Both choirs aren't rehearsing, they can't talk to each other, they can't disseminate
information that way.
They also can't collect registrations and deposits that way.
So one of the things we're very thankful for doing is that we've we have implemented an
online platform for individual choristers or family and friends and school chaperones
and all of that to register online, which is something that amazingly for 38 years we
had never had at the company.
We had we were always able to do everything by ensembles.
So we're really hoping that with a larger social media presence and more marketing directed
towards individuals participating in concerts, we might see quite a dramatic shift.
I think it's going to take a few years, but we're going to see a shift in the number of
individual people seeing a concert on Facebook or Instagram or Twitter that they want to
participate in and being able to just sign up and do that, just like you would buy a
ticket to go to Paris or a ticket to go to Beijing.
Wonderful.
Last question.
So any advice for young musicians and composers?
I mean, I think just in general, you want to kind of be you want to keep an open mind
in everything that you do.
And I think, you know, trying to find trying to grow your own skills and grow your experiences
is really key to just your own personal and professional development.
You know, I always would tell any any young persons that are just getting out of college
or school that going abroad and living abroad is is a remarkable experience.
And it gets you out of your comfort zone and it forces you to rethink your own home country
and how you were raised.
And it gets you to see things from other people's perspectives.
So I think that that is every young person should do that if they're able to.
And another thing that I always found so important at Sands certainly was we always asked our
employees to, you know, we would take care of you and we would help you and we would
support you.
But, you know, please, as much as you can say yes, if we ask you to do something that's
a little bit outside of your outside of your wheelhouse, outside of your your main view,
it would not.
I mean, it's kind of interesting.
It wouldn't, I guess, surprise surprise us at this time that among the people that hailed
from various countries, you know, among those people that we stopped hiring first were oftentimes
young Americans who were extremely talented and extremely educated, but wouldn't do anything
beyond what their contract asked them to do.
Not one minute more, not one note more of playing.
And so the you know, and I have no fault, of course, with folks that want to protect
themselves in various ways in the workplace.
I think that's extremely important.
At the same time, it's very hard to it's very hard to move anywhere.
And it's very hard to develop and grow.
If you're not willing to do something that's, you know, you haven't been trained for 10
years to do it, you know, you have to have a little bit of faith in yourself that you
can accomplish more than what is just your normal everyday thing.
Great.
Thank you, James.
All right.
So the piano pods rapid fire questions for James Redkay.
Question number one.
Are you ready?
Ready, ready, set and raring to go.
What is your comfort food?
Pasta I would say.
Cats or dogs?
Naturally cats, as you know me.
Yes.
What is your word or words to live by?
Service.
Great.
That's great.
All right.
What is the most important quality you look for in people?
I would say just a general professionalism in terms of being there, showing up on time
and doing what you're asked to do.
Great.
What is the worst quality in people you want to stay away from?
I think having an overinflated sense of and sense of yourself and your own ego.
All right.
I will continue.
What is something that makes you happy?
Music in general.
If I didn't still have a piano at home and play, life would not be quite the same.
That's a good answer.
What is your pet peeve?
I think kind of the same.
Well I would say not being able to write an email very well.
That's always a big one for me.
After you read plenty every single day.
Name three people who inspired you, living or dead.
That's a very good question.
I would say Abraham Lincoln.
That's always a great, I'm a big history buff, so that's a huge one for me.
I would say Glenn Gould is one of my all-time favorite pianists.
I would actually have to say my lovely wife Tao, who is a great inspiration and has accomplished
a lot in her own life.
And congratulations again.
He just got married.
Which historic figure or composer do you want to learn or take lessons from if he or she
were alive?
That's a good question.
I think that actually if I had to meet and interact with any of them, the most interesting
for me would be Skriyaben, I think who was just a phenomenal pianist, an amazing composer,
and sadly so many, no one really took up his mantle, I think very fully in terms of what
he was trying to accomplish.
I see.
And which historic figure or composer do you wish to hang out at the bar if he or she were
alive?
Definitely Mozart.
I think he would be the most fun.
Bach would give me homework, I'm sure.
Work, work, work, as hard as you can.
All right, James, name one piece in your current playlist.
I would say John Adams' Dharma at the Big Sur.
It's a wonderful piece of music and a favorite of mine.
Excellent.
What about a book that you are currently reading?
I'm actually reading, I'm rereading Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals, which I have
on the back there, but I have it on my Kindle.
And for anybody that is interested in management or learning how to deal with people, it's
a great, great read.
Oh, fantastic.
You only get one song or piece to listen to for the rest of your life.
What is it?
Wow, that is a difficult, difficult question.
Like everybody's nightmare.
I know.
I don't know if I could, I don't know, there's just so many that I don't know if I could
pick one.
Just pick one.
Name the first thing that comes to your mind.
I was actually thinking of Perz, Furlina.
It's a small one of his first works for piano.
Beautiful piece.
Yep.
All right.
And fill in the blank.
Music is blank.
Music is cathartic.
Lovely.
Ding ding.
That's the end of rapid fire questions.
You are the winner.
You win, you win, you win.
I'll pick up my prize.
This concludes this episode of the PianoPod and thank you, James, for joining our show
today and sharing your wisdom and expertise.
And thank you to our audience for tuning in.
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Bye everyone.
Bye everybody.
Bye.
Thank you, James.
Thank you for having me.
Thank you.