Picture taken after my concert at McCain Auditorium in Manhattan, in March of 1996.  Radio Kansas later broadcast the concert.  Thanks to my good friend Linda who picked up the boys after school and kept them until the concert, I was able to focus all of my energy on getting ready, mentally and otherwise, for what was and to this day still is one of the most important and beautiful days of my life. 

No one will ever know what it meant to me to win the competition and consequently be invited to perform at McCain Auditiorium.  Preparing for the competition and then for the concert was my getting-back-on-my-feet accomplishment after a devastating divorce. 

Thank you to my good friend Virginia, who employed me the summer prior to the competition to catalog materials for her music and piano library.  It was during the commute to her house that I discovered and fell in love with the Piano Concerto with which I eventually chose to compete.  I will never forget the liberation I felt, listening to the concerto (it is still very special but also private to me, that’s why I don’t refer to it by its name), on a whim buying the score, initially just so I could read along, then, slowly, thinking that maybe, just maybe, I could learn to play it.  Then the discovery that, yes!, it was manageable.  And thank you to Dr. Edwards who worked with me, getting the concerto and me ready for the competition. 

Beautiful, beautiful memories.

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