Pianists Not Practicing

Welcome to our episode with the incomparable Mark Limacher - composer, arranger, orchestrator, pianist (and chef extraordinaire) - who is back on pianists not practicing to celebrate our recording of the concerto that he wrote for me in 2025! One year after the premiere, we recap the recording of RUMINATIONS with Kensington Sinfonia in Calgary as part of Adam Zinatelli’s album (Principal Trumpet o...

Part 2 We’re back to catch up with Kevin and dive into his current creative projects as a freelancer in Toronto. In this episode we explore: His experience as a core member of the three-time grammy nominated ARC Ensemble, performing and recording the works of marginalized and lesser played composers - very often performing this music for the first time His latest obsession with a new foldable keyb...

Part 1 This episode with Kevin is filled with his signature spunky charisma as he shares with us his inspirations, triumphs and trials as a pianist freelancing in Toronto. Just check out this intro!: An artist that “leaves no question about his riveting presentation and technical finesse” ( Seattle Times ), Canadian pianist KEVIN AHFAT is acclaimed to be “poised to become one of the young heirs of...

Part 2 We’re back with episode 2 featuring Dr. Shulamit Mor - a concert pianist and psychologist who specializes in performance psychology and helping performers of all kinds perform at their best when it counts. This second episode with Dr. Mor (because one just wasn’t enough!) highlights performance mindset strategies and does a deep dive into *mental rehearsal*. We discuss this form of visualiz...

Part 1 Welcome to our episode with Dr. Shulamit Mor, a concert pianist who started her professional performance career at age 10. After concertizing internationally, she made a career transition to psychology, and focussed her research and clinical work on issues related to the performing arts. In addition to her work with performers of all kinds, she has conducted workshops on topics such as: per...

Welcome to our episode with the queen of creativity and innovation who truly does it all from performing, to teaching to administration - we explored her extremely varied and exciting career from her early days premiering with orchestra in Russia at the age of 9, to her current life-changing work with students at the Colburn school in Los Angeles as Assistant Director of Colburn’s Center for Innov...

Welcome to our episode with the beautiful and wise Canadian pianist, Adrian Tsui! In this episode we tackle the huge topic of injury and how to care for your body and mind as a pianist. This is an incredible conversation where Adrian shares his experience and wealth of knowledge, and how he tackled his own injury through research, resilience and exploration. We cover everything from body awareness...

Part Two Welcome to our episode with an energetic, warm and joyful pianist whose playing has been described as “virtuosic…with impressive grace” (San Diego Union-Tribune) - Chi-jo! In this convo we chat about her approach to practice and problem solving at the piano (spoiler alert: that’s one of her favourite parts of being a pianist!), how difficult it can be to remain patient with rest and recov...

Part One Welcome to our episode with an energetic, warm and joyful pianist whose playing has been described as “virtuosic…with impressive grace” (San Diego Union-Tribune) - Chi-jo! In this convo we chat about her formative experiences as a pianist - from her upbringing in Taiwan in a specialized music program in high school, to the wisdom she absorbed from her legendary mentor while studying at In...

Segunda Parte This week we continue our convo with Alba and it is so FULL of amazing strategies and ideas for how to approach performing and practicing. Definitely check out Part One of this conversation in Episode 13 if you haven’t already! In this convo, we chat about Alba’s memorization and practice strategies, including mental rehearsal and visualization, her mindset for performing from memory...

Primera Parte Meet the “heir to the great legacy of the Spanish piano school”, Alba Ventura. Born in Barcelona, Alba is a passionate, nuanced performer who made her solo debut at the age of thirteen performing Mozart’s “Jeunehomme” piano concerto with the Cadaqués Orchestra and Sir N Marriner. She began her studies at the Académia Marshall, founded by Enrique Granados, and her mentors include Carl...

Described as “one of those artists who can make classical music such great fun” (Sedona Red Rock News), Dr. James Palmer is an American pianist who is equally at home as a soloist, collaborator, presenter, and teacher. He is a dynamic musician, and just a lovely human being, currently on faculty at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Houston, Texas. This conversation is full of insp...

A self-proclaimed “singer in a pianist’s body”, Robert is an incredibly hilarious and talented vocal coach and pianist on faculty at the University of Kentucky, where he performs and coaches singers with his signature wit, and down-to-business coaching style. This episode is full of amazing ideas and insights into performance and preparation. Robert shares with us how he strives for excellence rat...

Described by her listeners as mesmerizing and otherworldly , Canadian pianist Katherine Dowling thrives on the intimacy of live performance - always playing from memory so that the music is fully internalized. She loves to discover sounds that she has never heard nor imagined before, to explore beauty that isn’t nice or pretty. In this convo we discuss the flexibility and synchronicity involved in...

Welcome to a masterclass in concert curation with the incredibly innovative Elizabeth Newkirk: pianist, artist, and writer based in Houston, TX. This episode showcases her creative ability to make connections across art forms to curate incredibly interesting concert experiences for her audiences in her concert series THE ARCHETYPE OF MODERN MAN. Elizabeth also reminds us to continuously be your ow...

Elizabeth Newkirk is an American classical pianist, writer, and curator. She specializes in music of the early 20th century, and her scholarship explores the foundations of culture, convention, and archetypes. As a passionate humanist, her curations and performances seek to put the humanities into practice. This convo explores her work as an artist and writer, her album THE AMERICANIST, and her co...

Meet Nicole - our first collaborative pianist on the podcast! She is not your average pianist 💅 and has built a career at the intersection of artistry, innovation, and service. An active performer, educator, and arts administrator, she is deeply committed to expanding the reach of collaborative piano through performance, teaching, and community engagement. This convo is filled w incredible insigh...

We’re back with Mark to recap the premiere of his piano concerto RUMINATIONS just hours after walking offstage! If you haven’t heard episode 5 yet go ahead and check that out to hear all about the creation of this project and how it came to be!  In this episode, we chat about the big premiere, the experience of performing music by living composers vs music of the established canon, performing...

Meet Mark Limacher - Canadian composer, pianist, arranger/orchestrator extraordinaire - who just happens to be a bonafide genius and one of my favourite people. We caught up with Mark hours before we premiered his piano concerto that I commissioned - RUMINATIONS - in Calgary with the Kensington Sinfonia this June. Mark shares with us his compositional process, what it means to bring a concerto to...

PIANISTS NOT PRACTICING… in Vienna… with NATHALIE MATTHYS Meet the multi-talented, creative queen NATHALIE MATTHYS who’s multi-faceted career includes performing, arranging and composing works both in the world of jazz and the world of classical - from singing jazz standards with a jazz combo to performing classical chamber music and piano concerti with orchestras. You may know her online as @n.mu...

Welcome to a masterclass with the incredibly inspiring and uplifting Michelle Lynne! ☀️ She is an absolute ray of sunshine who is most often gallivanting across Europe performing beautiful candlelight concerts, curating thoughtful chamber music concerts through her series Opus 16, or empowering classical musicians to overcome fear and go after the career of their dreams through her coaching compan...

Welcome to real talk w Clare Longendyke 🥊 Meet the powerhouse American pianist, Clare Longendyke - she says vulnerability is her superpower and we are here for it! In this convo, Clare shares so many golden nuggets of wisdom on how to truly make a performance career happen - fundraising, the power of research, networking and asking for help, how to create a successful album launch, how to invite...

You may know her as @theopenscore on Instagram and YouTube . Her name is Michelle Lau. She is a multi-passionate, multi-talented artist. She can perform. She can teach. She's a videographer. She's an editor. She's a social media strategist. I've always been inspired by her and her mindset of just try it - just try creating what you want and see what happens! Michelle has created multiple YouTube c...

Welcome to Pianists Not Practicing — A biweekly show that catches classical pianists out in the wild - outside of the practice room (!!) - and spills all the juicy details about their lives. We dive into candid, unfiltered conversations with pianists at all stages of their careers—from seasoned pros to fresh-faced grads. OK fine, we’ll talk about practicing — let’s be real — but we’ll also get int...