Thank you to the fine young pianists who took on my Piano Variations yesterday at Temple University. Students in Lambert Orkis’s Modern Keyboard Music class offered a recital including works by Curt Cacioppo, Rodion Shchedrin, Sergio Calligaris, Michael Djupstrom, George Crumb, and myself. Five students shared my Variations, each one doing a few from the set (as pictured above, from left to right):Nam Hoang Nguyen, Anna Kislitsyna, Gretchen Hull, Alessandra Tiraterra, and (at the far right) Silvanio Reis. That’s Siang Ching Ngu, who played the Djupstrom piece, standing at Silvanio’s right. Lambert is seated on the piano bench.

It was fascinating to hear the varied gifts of these young artists reflected in the diverse expressive worlds of the variations. I wish I could hear each one of them play the whole set! I am very grateful to Lambert Orkis for introducing these pianists to my music.

A few more pictures from dinner afterward: