[CAUT] Keith Kirchoff

[David Ilvedson]

I was going to say the same thing, not on the #1 piano.   That can be tricky, though.   

David Ilvedson, RPT
Pacifica, CA  94044

----- Original message ----------------------------------------
From: "Ed  Sutton" <ed440 at mindspring.com>
To: caut at ptg.org
Received: 3/22/2010 11:31:59 AM
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Keith Kirchoff


>Jim-

>So, please tell us, what was "that repertoire?"

>Ed

>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Jim Busby" <jim_busby at byu.edu>
>To: <caut at ptg.org>
>Sent: Monday, March 22, 2010 2:18 PM
>Subject: Re: [CAUT] Keith Kirchoff


>All,

>Keith played here 2 weeks ago. Nice enough fellow. I've never seen a piece 
>like this before, and I wish I would have known because I would have 
>preferred that he NOT play that repertoire on our #1 piano! We have another 
>piano that we bring in for prepared things and more "inside the piano" 
>stuff. I'm very open minded about new music, but am also very protective of 
>certain pianos. Aside from demolishing a piano onstage etc. we try to 
>accommodate most anything we can... within reason.

>But, where and how do we draw lines here? The stage managers had no idea 
>until she witnessed the concert. Do you question each performer beforehand, 
>"Now, what is your repertoire, and will you be smacking the heck out of the 
>piano?" We usually don't tune Friday nights, and our Hamburg D is usually 
>pretty good for the Saturday recitals... Boy was that not the case here!

>Like David S. said, the composer and composition need to be considered. The 
>bottom line for me is in our piano policy;

>"Extreme volume. There is a fine line to be drawn between passionate musical 
>expression and outright banging on a piano. Please use good judgment when 
>playing above a forte. Harsh playing is damaging and will not be tolerated."

>But how do you approach this with an artist????

>And we were told afterwards that Keith may have "tuned" the piano... Another 
>no no to me. But what can we do?

>Jim Busby
>BYU