Favorite you tube video picks for 2018! (carried over from 2017)

I slipped up and missed the deadline for my end of 2017 super You Tube picks--realizing a bit late, that readers were celebrating the New Year in different time zones. Piano lovers from Japan and Australia had already popped champagne bottles 18 or so hours before those of us partook on the West Coast--And with…

A worthwhile Journey to George Li’s triumphant Davies Hall piano recital

Facebook was abuzz with reminders of George Li's touchdown in the Bay Area's glittering Davies concert hall, a venue that absorbs a splash of pastel beams from the neighboring flagship government building. Glass panels reflect back montages of color that provide a rush of excitement for ticket holders slipping into seats right under the bell.…

The Big Winner in the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition!

It would be easy to reel off a list of prizes in 4 separate Moscow competition categories and characterize all recipients as "winners,"--that is if we put music-making into the sports arena with a clear cut victor and an opposing loser. In pro-tennis, for example, where a point-scoring system is in part influenced by calls…

George Li, among 6 Tchaikovsky Competition Finalists

As many cheering fans had expected, George Li catapulted himself into the Finals with a memorable performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto in A, K. 488. http://tch15.medici.tv/en/performance/round-round-2-piano-2015-06-24-2030000300-great-ha Reed Tetzloff not having the same good fortune to make the cut, still delivered a moving reading of the soulful middle movement, K. 488. A noticeable audience favorite at…

Tchaikovsky Competition, Round ONE: My favorite performers and those undeservedly overlooked who never made it to Round 2

First a big congratulations to George Li, whose opening recital earned him passage to the next round. He's scheduled to play today, Sunday, June 21, at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Daylight time. (1 p.m. EDT) Li's Program: Sergei Rachmaninov. Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op. 42 Franz Liszt. Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 in C-sharp minor, S.…

A Triumph for pianist, George Li!

Among many opening piano recitals beamed around the world by Medici in the first round of the Tchaikovsky Competition, George Li's display of virtuosity was the most riveting for me. A synthesis of intellect, emotion, sensitivity and spontaneity hallmarked Li's interpretation of Bach, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Rachmaninoff and Liszt masterworks. A replay of the opener…

Medici TV presents FREE LIVE stream of the XV INTERNATIONAL Tchaikovsky Competition from Moscow

http://tch15.medici.tv/en/live/piano This is a unique opportunity to savor performances by a roster of international contestants, one of whom is our very own, pianist, George Li, a loyal Facebook Friend to so many of his avid fans. We're tracking his global-wide performances with great interest. Li's scheduled opening Recital is THURSDAY, JUNE 18: 3:50 PM Piano:…

Live Streaming a National Chopin Piano Competition–Final Round, Sunday, March 1

The brave new universe of Internet technology allows a global-wide audience to gaze at, and listen to accomplished young pianists vying for top prizes. With a mouse click, the latest competitive milieu in Florida minus swaying palm trees and ocean breezes, is beamed at high frequency into our living rooms. A feast of Chopin's music…

Chiming in the New Year with my favorite piano performance picks!

Grigory Sokolov grabs a deserved spotlight in this bedazzling performance of Schubert's Klavierstucke No. 1 http://youtu.be/zuwi9W3A3tM Bruno Sainmangeon, producer and documentarian captured Sokolov in the same acoustically favorable Berlin space that Murray Perahia chose to deliver the memorable Bach Partita in E minor: http://youtu.be/ELShZDVjoFw Add in Perahia's most recent tour de force in Japan: Beethoven's…

My Top You Tube Picks for 2013, What are yours?

My note: I've listed links to blogs posted about these performers. PIANO Grigory Sokolov Complete piano recital, Theatre de Champs Elysee (for astounding fusion of technique/lyricism/wide dynamic palette--having everything and anything at his disposal to draw upon from his rich musical repository) http://youtu.be/o7qUMHm3LOI Irina Morozova: Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11,…