After a very full week at a festival in Montana, I am now waiting for my flight at the airport with a unique feeling of exhaustion, exhilaration, and a certain kind of delirium that comes about from a combination of intense music making and jet lag. Performing a wide variety of solo, chamber, and concerto repertoire within 5 days as well as giving a master class is a challenge for any musician, and I have certainly been heavily immersed in music this week. You can see a little of my activities this past week in this video, and some info on the master class I gave. I love this beautiful northwestern region of Montana, and am very much looking forward to returning again in the future.

At the same time, I am now filled with tremendous excitement to be heading to Toronto, a city I love - it has been close to ten years since my last visit, and I’m thrilled to be able to launch my new recording, “Chopin | Schumann: Sonatas”, in this vibrant city. This recording marks the start of a special collaboration between myself and UNICEF Spain, an organization that I very much support and, as many of you know, I consider my outreach and humanitarian work an important part of my artistic life. I feel that this new partnership can help all of us contribute in some way towards the betterment of afflicted children worldwide. I know that I will be meeting some of you at the launch party, and I am so very happy to meet some of my “online” friends in real life! For those of you who will not be there, or are unable to attend, I will be performing and giving an interview on one of Canada’s top classical music stations, 96.3FM, on August 5th between 3:15 -3:45 (EST) and will be performing selections by Schumann, Ravel, and Chopin. If you are not in Canada, you can still listen and watch because it will be live-streamed through the station’s website.

I have always felt extremely fortunate whenever I have met or worked with people who not only impress me with their character and talent, but who also inspire and challenge me to be better, both as a person and as an artist. So far, in all of these aspects, this summer has been a memorable one for me. Not only did I meet fine people in Montana, both musicians and concert administrators who are committed to bringing the arts alive, but I have worked with two extraordinary Canadian females for this CD launch event. Liz Parker (my publicist and all-around samurai rock star goddess) and Rosemarie Umetsu (a fabulous designer who not only is providing the marvelous venue for the event, but is also outfitting me for both my radio/live-streaming interview and launch party) are both the powerhouse individuals that have made all of this happen. Furthermore, this event would not be possible without the generous support of Scott Wilson of Terzetto Wine for providing the wine and Paul Hahn & Co. for providing the beautiful Steinway piano for me to play on.

This is a joyous event for me, and quite simply, I can’t wait!