Time Out

If you live in NYC or its environs, you might want to pick up a copy of this week’s TimeOut New York. If you can get past the racy cover, (sorry, Mom! at least that’s not me…) there’s a profile of Yours Truly at the start of the Classical Music section! For those of you not in the area, it should be available online soon; I’ll post a link when it’s up.

**Edited to add: Here it is! Welcome to those of you who have found your way here from the article! Please spend some time over on the sidebar, checking out the Blogroll, archived posts and The Bhakti Project. Come back often!

Steve Smith, who writes for the NY Times as well as TONY and keeps an in-depth “music consumption” blog over at Night After Night, contacted me a few weeks ago about this feature. I alluded to this in the first Met Debut post; the actual interview happened about two weeks later at the swanky TONY offices on 10th Avenue. We talked for about 45 minutes, I suppose, Steve's tape recorder going all the while, although it was shut off for about a minute while the building tested the fire alarm!

We covered so much history of the blog and my career since grad school, plus a bit of personal life and, of course, The Bhakti Project. I was anticipating a small blurb of an article, as I just couldn’t see how he was going to get all that information into two or three column-inches! And, well, turns out he didn’t have to: it’s a full page feature! There is also a big picture, my casual headshot, and can I just say how weird it is to see myself smiling out from the pages of a major magazine? Pretty weird!

I read the article outloud to EN as we rode the subway down to a wine shop in Tribeca, on a mission to get wine for the (FREE!) wine reception after the recital tomorrow. I had to stop about every other paragraph and look up at him dumbfoundedly (is that a word?). I am so impressed with Steve’s presentation of all the information, some of it very sensitive; his writing is thoughtful and kind, and it’s obvious that he’s been a reader of the concert for quite a while.

Thank you, Steve! I’m honored to have my first profile, in conjunction with my first recital in NY, written by you, and with such care.

I have an hour more here at home before I meet Jocelyn at the gallery for our dress rehearsal. It’s all falling into place! I’m not nervous, per se, but I do feel the need to step up to the plate even more now. Heck, all of New York might show up…