It's been a busy week for me! I'm one of the main (actually, I think I may be the ONLY main...) pianists to accompany job auditions at The Philadelphia Orchestra. One of the staff members reminded me that I've been doing this for over 20 years - wow! I've helped most of the principal players win their jobs - Concertmaster David Kim, among several others. It's always a thrill to work with some of the best musicians in the world, and even though I've played a lot of this repertoire thousands of times, I still get butterflies in my stomach when it comes time to play. When you're accompanying someone for as important a audition as a position in The Philadelphia Orchestra, you have to play as if your own job is on the line (which, in a sense, it is...), and be a solid, supportive, and - at times - calming influence for each of the applicants.

I hope you enjoy this one-of-a-kind view from the stage of the Kimmel Center (see my iPad on the piano? That's for reading sheet music, as you've seen me do in all my ArtistWorks video lessons!) That black screen between the seats hides the judges so that they are as impartial as possible when listening to each candidate. There's even a runner carpet on stage to muffle the sound of footsteps so that no one can tell if the applicant is wearing high heels or other distinguishing footwear. 

Ok, off to recording some Video Exchange responses! Oh, and did you know that I'm getting close to recording my 1000th Video Exchange response? Wow! Thank you all for being part of this amazing community, and for your love of music! It is such an honor to be your teacher!

All the best,

Hugh