I have been playing piano since I was in Kindergarden. My parents tell me that I had an unquenchable desire to play piano and so they started my lessons with a student of Marcia M. Knuttila, Karen Christianson. I studied with her for about six months before she felt that I would flourish more under Marcia (Miss K, as I call her). One of the pinnacles in her studio is to have the ability and desire to perform a piano concerto. One of my favorites has always been Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 1. Of course, there is only one way to learn a piece such as this one. Practice, practice, practice. It took 13 years of dedication to daily practice to get to this point. This concerto is difficult to say the least. Not only is the fingering extremely challenging, but it also requires the technical ability to play it at the speed as written. For the piano aficionados out there, this piece is played at 88 to the half note. For those that dont know about metronomes, 88 to the half note is really, really, really fast. The other problem playing a piece like this one is to find another pianast able to play the accompaniment. I am blessed to have a willing and able brother, Brett, to play with me. My brother Brett has been "slaving" away working on this piece with me all summer and fall to get it where its at. I owe such a debt of gratitude to him for helping me.
Brett and I were in numerous competitions this winter. We even had the honor of placing 3rd in the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra Competition in January. For that we have the opportunity to play at the DECC in Duluth in April! Pray for our continued success with this piece! Take a minute, well, actually eight minutes, to listen to the video, too.
One last note- we recorded this video at Miss K's house on her two concert grand pianos- I am playing a new Yamaha and Brett is playing Frank Sinatra's old Bosendorfer!
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