Word of Jack Beeson’s death reached me yesterday; very, very sad news– and also shocking. Not just because I’d studied with Jack at Columbia in my last year there and he’d been my thesis advisor , but because after decades he and I had just reconnected in the last 3 weeks or so: I’d sent a note of congratulations following his award given at the AMC meeting , including in it warm memories of the effects of his comment and advice, instrumental in shaping my own approach to students over the years; the note was sent on to him
Read moreThis weekend at U of Alabama Huntsville there was to have been a two-day symposium built around my second piano trio, ZONES. (The piece would be performed on Friday evening, paired with the Ravel Trio in a concert by Trio Appassionato.) But Friday afternoon, just as I was driving in from the airport, came the terrible murders on campus, shocking the city to its core. I was emotionally dumbstruck by this tragedy – and the campus was closed after an hour-long lockdown. What to do? … Concert organizer Dr. Royce Boyer and the performers decided to hold a truncated concert
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