Glenn Dicterow, the concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, is in residence at the Music Academy of the West for 3 weeks this year. In his first week, he gave a masterclass and in the second he performed the Debussy Violin Sonata.
I took away the following idea from the masterclass: the audience has a short attention span, they want to check their email, play a game on their phone, or leaf through the program and it's your job as a performer to not let that happen. He said, "Don't let anyone get bored with anything you play."
His performance of the Debussy Sonata tonight embodied the belief that it's the job of the artist to hold the audience's attention. Many performers want to paint with a thousand colors (I have at my disposal a couple dozen) but he actually does! Some people make a reputation with a beautiful tone, others with virtuosic technique, but what makes Mr. Dicterow so great is his creativity in finding a color for every nuance in every phrase.
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