Temecula Concert May 29

To my greatest surprise, Temecula turned out to be such a quaint, little city, having retained its flavor...which is everything western. One expects a few horse-drawn carriages flying or waltzing through this well restored little town. There were many little shops, or woodened type of little stands, where one can stop by and tastes different types of local wine, grown in this area.

One can still find a few indian reservations around this town.

When my roommate and I arrived there by car, 2 hours later, there were many tourists roaming around this town, and music faintly heard, coming from the different shops, or buildings.

The Old Town Theatre where Jeffrey Solow and I were expected to perform is a lovely little concert auditorium, which seats about 350.

On stage, there sat a 9 foot Steinway grand piano, at my disposal, for my use that evening.

The program for that evening, we were fortunate to have had the opportunity to play through, the evening before, at a private home. It is always a good idea, to work out all the kinks of the different pieces before an audience, before one gets to perform them in a more formal setting, such as it was in this theatre.

I was most impressed with the attitude of the people involved who were responsible for the success of the evening concert...such as the staff, stage management, the piano technician, who just had finished tuning the piano when I arrived.

The piano, to my surprise, had a very heavy action....not easy to play on it. The keys seemed to have arthritis, because I could hardly push them down. Considering the program I had to play that evening; many passages, which demands brilliant executions, and many chords which needed to be played on a double forte level....that which I was really having trouble with.

I was a little concern, and out of courtesy, the piano tuner stayed around, while I was trying out the piano, just in case I wanted some changes made. When I mentioned it to the piano tuner, he was so kind and told me that he would work on the keys...no it was the pins which needed to be worked on. A half hour later, that same piano played like butter under my fingers, the keys responded so much better, and I didn't have trouble at all, using the strength and control of my individual fingers to produce any kind of sound out of the piano. Thank God!

I asked the piano technician, after I had thanked him profusely " How long will this last? will it last until 10pm this evening?" He laughed and said "of course". I don't want to tell you what he did exactly, since it might be his personal secret recipe.

The concert went reasonably well.

I was able to get the piano to cooperate in any shape and form.

It even surprised the soloist.

Performing with Jeffrey Solow, was a great pleasure, being able to get inspired and collaborate in my own style, musically intertwining with the soloist's sense of phrasing. It was intoxicating.

The audience was so attentive. It was well attended.

We drove home that same evening, after the concert was over, and after the short visit with some people from the audience who were mostly friends of Jeffrey, whom I also know.

There was a woman, who drove all the way from the Palisades, who claimed to be a fan of mine, and has been following where ever I have a performance around LA.

She was so sweet.

What a blessing of an evening it was.