Posted on

July 2022: Breathe In, Breathe Out Album Release, Eckhardt-Gramatté Competition, and Cross Canada Tour

It has been an eventful year! Here is an update on a few things that I have been up to.

In April 2022, I was off to Brandon, Manitoba, to compete in the 45th Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition. This is a very special competition that aims to promote music written after 1950, with an emphasis on music by Canadian composers. I chose to program only Canadian works, and I’m very proud of the diverse set of compositions I managed to pull together into a compelling program, which explores a vast range of the Canadian art music output for solo piano.

If this kind of repertoire interests you, you are in luck! I am thrilled that I won first prize so I will be touring Canada with this repertoire in October and November of 2022. The tour takes me from Halifax all the way to Vancouver, so keep an eye on my Calendar page to see when I will be coming to a city near you. I hope to see you in the audience!

In addition, my dear friend, the wonderful composer Edward Enman, and I wrapped up recording some exciting new compositions that he wrote for piano four hands. These will be included on his album, Breathe In, Breathe Out. I am honoured that he dedicated one of the pieces, A Dream [Inside a Dream] (Inside a Dream), to me! It also features cellist India Gailey and will be released on September 16th.

I will be updating this space more regularly with information about other projects I have in the works, so stay tuned!

Posted on

August 2017 – Stepping Stone, Viñes and my new website!

It has been a busy summer! I started the season by participating in the Stepping Stone competition in Montreal, Quebec. From June 27-July 5th, 24 musicians from across the country traveled to Montreal to compete for a top prize of 10,000 dollars. There were three rounds: the first elimination, the semi-final, and the final. For the first round I played Chopin’s Sonata in B minor and Debussy’s Images. For the semi-final I played Bach’s Italian concerto, Szymanowski’s Etudes, op.4, Beethoven’s Sonata in A flat, op. 110, and Liszt’s Rigoletto Paraphrase. In this round, I also performed the imposed work, Scott Good’s beautiful and atmospheric Etude for piano. For the final, I played Grieg’s Concerto in A minor. I was very pleased to make it, along with 5 other competitors, all the way to the last round, considering that this was the first competition of this scale in which I have competed.

Performing in Tanna Schulich Hall at McGill for Stepping Stone, July 2017
Performing in Tanna Schulich Hall at McGill for Stepping Stone, July 2017

Once I came back to Toronto, I set to work learning new repertoire and working on my thesis. I am researching the life of the extraordinary pianist, Ricardo Viñes, and the role he played in shaping the musical life of Paris during the early 1900’s. I am particularly interested in his connections with Debussy and Ravel; according to Francis Poulenc, Viñes was the only piano virtuoso during this time who regularly programmed their works. I am almost finished translating the only biographical monograph written about this colourful Catalan, Ricardo Viñes: Un pèlerin de l’Absolu (or Ricardo Viñes: Pilgrim of the Absolute), by Mildred Clary.

Portrait of Ricardo Viñes performing, from Clary’s monograph
Portrait of Ricardo Viñes performing, from Clary’s monograph

Finally, I am excited to have my own website! I will be posting periodic updates on this page, but if you would like to receive them directly to your inbox, please sign up for my newsletter. That way, you can be the first to know about my upcoming recitals, research developments and any other news.