Achieving Dreams

I keep a digital vision board as the home screen on my computer. Some days I look at it closely, studying the logos of the various orchestras and concert series I aspire to collaborate with, the Grammy trophy I hope to make my own. Other days, I barely notice it, but I trust that the decisions I make on those days—the emails I send, the hours I spend at the piano—are in support of my momentum towards achieving the goals on my vision board.

Last weekend, I achieved a long-term goal when I gave the world premiere of not one, but two new piano concertos with the South Bend Symphony Orchestra. The process was intense, to say the least: ten weeks to prepare two new 20-minute concertos that had never been performed before, with no recordings to reference, only scores to study, MIDI mockups to listen to, and my past experience to lean on. To make things more complicated, I came into the concert weekend with a painful pinched nerve that made even the most basic practice 100 times more difficult.

In spite of these hurdles, I've never performed better. I felt such camaraderie with the orchestra and the conductor, Maestro Alastair Willis. The audience was invigorated and eager to experience the birth of this music into the world, and the composers were wriggling in their seats with excitement. It was a memorable and important performance, offering this music to an audience for the first time, and I'm so proud to have been a part of it!

What's on your vision board?

Clare's Vision Board!