My Faculty Recital at Occidental College 2/26/10

I had my annual faculty recital on Tuesday February 23 at Occidental College. I repeated the program from January’s performance at Clarke Library. It is always so nice to perform at our own institution. And I was so glad to see students and friends in the audience. I enjoy playing my current repertoire a lot, my love of Spanish and South American repertoire, jazz-classic synthesis pieces, and Russian Romantic music.

In this spring, I will be performing J. S. Bach’s D Minor keyboard concerto too. Of course, it is so different from the faculty recital program, but I always love to play Bach’s music. Yes, it is Bach. Also, to celebrate Chopin and Schumann for their centennial year, I will perform their repertoire for cello and piano in this spring. 

It is still a big challenge for me, after so many years, to play an entire recital by memory, but I like to keep doing it. I remember Earl Wild once said he practices at least 4 hours a day to keep his fingers moving, unfortunately he passed away last year. I heard one of his last recitals in LA when he was in late 80s. It was a wonderful concert. We keep improving.

Spring is fast approaching. Have a beautiful spring wherever you live.