The Performer

I love to bring my words to life

Photo by Jens Paape

That I developed the desire to perform my autobiographical texts, to voice them, to share my impressions of the world with an audience—maybe that’s to be expected, given how many years of my life were spent performing. Though much more time and energy were spent, it seems in retrospect, preparing for performances, be it as a solo pianist or a chamber musician or accompanist, than actually on the stage.

I was familiar with memorizing; as a pianist, I’d imbibed the wisdom that I only really knew my assigned pieces when I’d learned them by heart. So I took some acting and voice lessons, and worked on memorizing my own texts. Whenever possible, I added solo piano music to my readings, recorded or live. One journalist who attended a performance of People Crackers commented that whereas the texts themselves were sparing, omitting directly describing how things felt, the music filled in the emotions.

You’ll also find two purely musical recordings, one of Shostakovich with cellist Audrey Mei, and one of me playing Bach’s English Suite in A minor.