Hello, I discovered the French born pianist Helene Grimaud from listening to a program that featured her not only as a musician but as a conservationist as well. After reading her book, Wild Harmonies, I began to purchase CDs, find where she was performing in the US, and to read about her Wolf Conservation Center in South Salem, NY.
I discovered she was going to perform in Detroit. I bought an airline ticket to Chicago, bought 2 front row seat tickets, and invited my daughter to come to Detroit with me to hear Helene Grimaud play Brahms Piano Concerto # 2. My daughter lives in Chicago. We drove to Detroit, stayed at the Westin Book Cadillac Detroit. I was so nervous about seeing her that my daughter dropped me off hours before the concert because she said, “mom, you are driving me nuts.”
Once seated, I discovered I had an completely unobstructed view of her, the stage, and the piano. When she came onto the stage, I burst into tears so happy to actually be but a few feet from her. She sat down and waited while the orchestra under the baton of Neeme Jarvi, began the slow introduction to the piece. She looked around at the audience, smiled, and at one point she looked directly at me, I smiled and she smiled and she picked little pieces of lint off the key board. Once she began to play I was mesmerized but how completely engrossed she was in playing. She has synesthesia and I wondered what colors were floating in front of her eyes or in her mind as she played.
Perhaps the thing I most admire about her is her independence, she single mindedness, her lack of ego, her extraordinary playing, her devotion to the wolves, and to her music.
She inspires me often when I listen to her to be focused on the things I find important, to commit myself to peace and kindness, to exploring our world, to working toward ways to heal our world.