Jeffrey Siegel is presenting Immortal Impromptus on Sunday, November 20 at 7 p.m., his second Keyboard Conversations® performance of the 2022/2023 Great Performances season. This season also marks the 30th anniversary of Siegel’s appearing at the Center for the Arts at George Mason University. The following is from a Friends of the Center for the Arts (FCFA) brief interview with Siegel on Oct. 25, 2022.
FCFA: Since 2022 is your 30th year of doing Keyboard Conversations® at George Mason’s Center for the Arts, could you comment on the circumstances that led to your first appearance here?
Siegel: Certainly. I was doing a performance at the Kennedy Center and Sarah Lawless from George Mason engaged me in conversation and suggested I consider performing at the Center for the Arts (CFA); she was very persuasive, citing among other things the educational aspects of performing at a university. One of my main goals for Keyboard Conversations is to help educate people and create more interest in good music.
FCFA: Do you have a favorite venue among all the places you have performed?
Siegel: I have performed Keyboard Conversations in 19 cities (all over the U.S. and London) and couldn’t put any other venue above CFA for many reasons, including the building itself, the wonderful support from the CFA staff, and the enthusiastic and knowledgeable audiences.
FCFA: If you could play or listen to the music of only one composer, which one would you choose?
Siegel: I don’t believe I can give a firm answer to that. It depends on which composer’s music I’m playing or listening to at any given time,
FCFA: I guess that would be similar to asking a mother to choose a favorite among all of her children.
Siegel: That’s not a bad analogy. I can’t really contemplate excluding all composers but one.
FCFA: Any advice for budding young pianists?
Siegel: I would hope they can practice and study the music just for the joy it gives.
FCFA: You refer to the music you will be playing and commenting on in the coming performance as immortal. Would you care to compare the classical music we enjoy so much (e.g., what we hear in Keyboard Conversations) to what one might call modern classical music?
Siegel: Well, it all depends on your definition of classical. The works of Beethoven, Bach, et al, have stood the test of time and earned the right to be considered classical; the music of modern-day composers (e.g., Bartók, Copland, et. al.) may reach that point in the future.
You can purchase tickets for Jeffrey Siegel's Keyboard Conversations®: Immortal Impromptus, and also join us before the performance, from 6 p.m.-6:30 p.m. in the Center for the Arts main lobby for a Young Artists Musicale, featuring piano students of Northern Virginia Music Teachers Association members.