I'm in Japan - halfway through a two-week stay here, filled with performances, teaching, and (remarkably) one free day spent in Hiroshima last week visiting my old friend, pianist Elena Kuschnerova, who is a guest professor at Elizabeth University in Hiroshima for this month. Yesterday was typical of my usual routines here: running in Hiroshima in the morning (beautiful along the river; sobering to think of a city risen from ashes so quickly--there was nothing left after the bombing in 1945); traveling to Osaka by shinkansen, teaching for four hours, and then performing a short program at the end of a joint concert by young Japanese musicians. Today I'm in Kobe - ran uphill and ended up in the park on Mt. Rokko and stumbled upon a series of gorgeous waterfalls (nunobikinotaki) - inspiration for my day: a recital at 2:00, a lesson after, and then another performance in the evening at the end of another joint concert.
Wonderful people: in Hiroshima, in addition to hanging out with Elena and being sad after visiting the amazing museum of the A-bomb, I had the pleasure of staying at the apartment of a wonderful family and being treated to good company and delicious food and practicing my stumbling insufficient Japanese. So many wonderful people I get to meet - probably don't appreciate this enough, being a narcissistic piano player (is there another kind out there?).
And last night, met new colleagues: recent DMA graduates from Eastman, Sang-Woo Kang and Toko Suzuki, both pianists, for a most enjoyable dinner...many friends and colleagues in common - great serendipitous meeting!
Onward and upward - must go practice in the hall for today's concert in a few minutes.