Highlights
Welcome to the highlights section. Here you can find some of the most memorable moments from my musical journey. From live performances to behind-the-scenes footage, these videos capture the essence of my music and the joy it brings to my fans.
Live Performances
Collaborations
Studio Sessions
Fan Interactions
Music Releases
One of the most memorable experiences of the last year was performing Chopin's beloved Concerto No. 1 in E minor with historical instruments in Warsaw, Poland! See if you can spot the valveless horns that produce such a pure sound.
I could tell you countless stories of Mozart in my life. He is one of my favorite composers and I just feel so connected to humanity when I play his music or listen to his operas. My concerto debut was a Mozart concerto and most of the concerto competitions I have won at Juilliard and Aspen were Mozart concerti. I have composed cadenzas and love coming up with inspired ornaments on the spot.
When I learn or relearn masterworks, I am most interested in throwing away all bias and starting from scratch, where the only thing that matters is everything I have learned about the composer, compositional style, and what's in the score. I find that with this humility, creativity is unleashed and my renditions morph into something that makes me, and my listeners, listen.
One of my life's callings is to share with the world a larger narrative of the piano. We have been exposed our whole lives to hear one type of sound when in fact, that sound was not at ALL what many of our favorite composers heard! Join the #Unmute movement as many have done to hear reimagined masterworks we thought we knew, and support my mission of sharing these works on both the modern and historical pianos.
I was truly lucky that my childhood teacher, Dorothy Fahlman, and my mother, introduced chamber music to me when I was very young. By age 10, I had performed a few years as part of a string quartet (with me on cello), started playing duos and trios on the piano, and did a bunch of piano four-hand and two-piano works. Then at Juilliard Pre-College, I was put into a trio with the amazing Abi Fayette and Jean Kim. At Aspen, my chamber group was with Simone Porter. I LOVE chamber music and all that it teaches us, and a large part of my mentoring the next generation and adult players is encouraging them to explore chamber music seriously. Music@Menlo, run by Wu Han and David Finckel, offers a wonderful summer program for talented youths that I highly recommend.
It's so important to lift each other up. I get asked all the time why I am always so centered and seemingly unscathed in such a brutal industry - my answer is that I am always cheering for my friends and colleagues when they get an opportunity to shine. I am genuinely happy for them and recommend them to presenters and conductors. I believe there is always room at the top, and a mentor once told me that first-rate people hire first-rate people while second-rate people hire third-rate people. Let's be in that first-rate group together and create horizontal relationships with people (read The Courage to be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga). Check out this wonderful composition by my friend Xavier Foley, double bassist and composer!