I was very happy to be invited by the West Cork Chamber Music Festival to come perform this July. It was a great joy to visit, to make new friends and colleagues, and connect with a new, wonderful audience.

I played six pieces on concerts throughout the week and went to as many of the festival’s events as I had time for. I also did a video interview and gave a masterclass, coaching a promising Irish group on the Prokofiev String Quartet No. 1.

I was especially gratified to get such an excited response to my playing of the Six Caprices by Salvatore Sciarrino and a new piece by Irish composer Sam Perkin, commissioned by the festival. I played these on the first two concerts and the rest of the week afterward, I was meeting people who’d been there. Some of my most satisfying interactions have been performing new/recent music for audiences who weren’t necessarily looking to hear new pieces or musical languages. For me, it just confirms my purpose to communicate on my instrument – to all kinds of people – how very enjoyable, beautiful, interesting, and multi-dimensional new music can be. 

It was fun to play Sextets by Penderecki and Brahms with such terrific musicians. I had not played much of Penderecki’s music before and, in addition to the Sextet, I played his Sonata No. 2 with pianist Joonas Ahonen. Joonas and I had a great time together and we worked to make dramatic shape of this hefty piece during our rehearsal process. After the concert, a musicologist who has worked on Penderecki’s music said that she’d never heard the piece played so great!