
Last Friday, I walked on stage at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall in New York City with my wonderful recital partner, flutist Lindsey Goodman, to a sold-out that created such an electric ruckus it brought me to immediate tears.
I'll be honest with you: I didn't hype up my Carnegie Hall debut. It wasn't that I wasn't excited about the opportunity, respectful of the stage itself and the many artists whose careers have taken them there, or happy to be taking this enormous step in my career by performing in the country's most highly-respected and best-known venue. It was just that this was one concert of the many, many concerts I am playing this season, and have played in the last decade of my career as a professional concert pianist. So, like I always do, I prepared to the best of my ability and tamed my nerves by not making it a big deal in my mind.
And then we sold out Weill Hall.
When we walked out on stage to an audience so loud with enthusiasm that they could have made the crystal chandelier fall to the ground with their cheers, it finally hit me.
But because I hadn't hyped this performance up to a frenzy in my head, I was present for all of it, able to soak in the love from our audience and to give my very best to every note I played on that gorgeous 9' Steinway. My Carnegie Hall debut may have hands-down been the most exciting performance of my entire concert career. If you were there, then you felt it, too.
We performed a program of 20th- and 21st-century works by living composers, all of whom were present in the audience. I gave the world premiere of my dear friend and cherished collaborator, Dika Chartoff's, newest solo piano piece, Retrospects in Reverb, composed for me in 2024. It brought the house down.
So, in the end, my Carnegie Hall debut was everything I couldn't imagine it would be: star-studded, filled with confidence, and eternally memorable.
Want to watch my Debut Day unfold? Check out the short video I posted on Instagram to come along for the ride!
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