We Are One | MusicalBasics Heidelberg Full Concert - But No Audio :( @MusicalBasics | Uploaded October 2021 | Updated October 2024, 1 week ago.
Pieces I performed:
1. Beethoven Virus (Remix of Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata, 3rd Movement)
2. Rolling thunder (original)
3. Gallop (original)
4. Moonlight Sonata + Torrent + Clair de Lune + Un Sospiro + Racmaninof Prelude in C sharp (Classic Medley)
5. Fires of a Revolution (original)
6. La Campanella by Liszt
7. Saudade (original)
8. Fight For Freedom
9. Kintab (by fan composer RM Rizal)
10. Improvisation
11. Pachelbel's Nightmare (original remix of Pachelbel's Canon in D)
I’m absolutely, completely devastated right now. I spent the past 4 months since July preparing for this concert. It was 2 hours of music but more importantly it was my chance to share my story about how one man changed my life, to honor and remember him.
But I spent so much time thinking about the performance itself that I did not properly prepare my recording equipment. I had a camera which ran out of battery during the last piece. But even worse, I did not properly instruct my assistant how to make sure the microphone recording was working. He turned it on, but the wire was not properly connected to the camera. So I lost all the audio.
It was 1000% not his fault at all because he doesn’t know the equipment at all. I should have just taken 2 seconds to double check that it was working. But instead I wanted to make the show seem more professional, and tried to avoid going to the camera to double-check if the audio was being recorded - my whole plan was to walk onstage like some kind of star, trying to be cool like there was a big camera crew filming me when in reality it was just my own cheap DSLR and tripod.
Now this has led to the worst imaginable scenario - there is no audio for this entire show. I even told the audience in the beginning, don’t record because we are already recording the whole thing from my camera.
My first concert in 2 years, my first sold out concert ever, so many people in my audience traveling 4+ hours to my show in the middle of a pandemic. I asked the audience who traveled more than 2 hours not expecting more than a handful of people to raise their hands. Instead over 80% of people raised their hands. Shocked, I asked them to keep their hands up for 3 hours traveled. Still over 70% had their hands up. Only until I reached 5 hours was the number of hands raised less than the ones not raised. This concert meant so much to me and it meant so much to my audience, my fans in Germany and surrounding countries who had never heard me perform live. It was a once in a lifetime experience for all of us, because the first time is always special in a way that can never be replicated.
I had the best performance of my life as well. I have only been on stage a handful of times, and every time I always had nerves and would mess up at key moments or have subpar performances. But this time, besides the first piece where I messed up quite a bit, I played every other piece better than ever, including the most difficult classical pieces on my list. La Campanella which I had never performed onstage before, I played through without any of my usual mistakes and I had the loudest applause from the audience for that piece.
During the show I entertained the audience with jokes, both prepared and unprepared. I had never felt so confident in front of an audience before, I felt like I could stay onstage all day. One of my jokes was as follows:
“It’s so weird to see all of you with masks on, since I can’t tell if you are having a good time or not. And I’m standing here the only person without a mask. It’s like I’m a tribute at the hunger games.”
“When I look out at you guys all I see are eyes, as if I was walking in the woods and there’s a bunch of foxes in the bushes staring at me. A bunch of really cute foxes.”
“Ever since I got to Germany, I learned a few words, such as guten morgen (good morning), guten abend (good evening), guten deutschland (good Germany) and my favorite - guten free.”
And so on.
Throughout the show I gave details about my pieces, I told stories about how Andreas and I first met, how he hired me to perform at his company’s 25th anniversary party, conversations we had about the pieces that were on the program, and how all of this was a chance for me to honor him by performing some of his favorite pieces for him, which I had no doubt he was listening from the other side.
I told the audience about my own story, starting as a financial analyst in New York, not having any performance experience in my life besides 2 brief talent show performances at NYU, and then suddenly doing concerts at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, and then in Heidelberg in front of 800+ people. All of this was because of Andreas who believed in my music and told everybody about my music, from business executives to politicians. He even told Barack Obama about me. He told everyone that I was the best pianist in the world, of course I know I’m not, but still his sheer belief in me was empowering enough to get me through my darkest moments.
Pieces I performed:
1. Beethoven Virus (Remix of Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata, 3rd Movement)
2. Rolling thunder (original)
3. Gallop (original)
4. Moonlight Sonata + Torrent + Clair de Lune + Un Sospiro + Racmaninof Prelude in C sharp (Classic Medley)
5. Fires of a Revolution (original)
6. La Campanella by Liszt
7. Saudade (original)
8. Fight For Freedom
9. Kintab (by fan composer RM Rizal)
10. Improvisation
11. Pachelbel's Nightmare (original remix of Pachelbel's Canon in D)
I’m absolutely, completely devastated right now. I spent the past 4 months since July preparing for this concert. It was 2 hours of music but more importantly it was my chance to share my story about how one man changed my life, to honor and remember him.
But I spent so much time thinking about the performance itself that I did not properly prepare my recording equipment. I had a camera which ran out of battery during the last piece. But even worse, I did not properly instruct my assistant how to make sure the microphone recording was working. He turned it on, but the wire was not properly connected to the camera. So I lost all the audio.
It was 1000% not his fault at all because he doesn’t know the equipment at all. I should have just taken 2 seconds to double check that it was working. But instead I wanted to make the show seem more professional, and tried to avoid going to the camera to double-check if the audio was being recorded - my whole plan was to walk onstage like some kind of star, trying to be cool like there was a big camera crew filming me when in reality it was just my own cheap DSLR and tripod.
Now this has led to the worst imaginable scenario - there is no audio for this entire show. I even told the audience in the beginning, don’t record because we are already recording the whole thing from my camera.
My first concert in 2 years, my first sold out concert ever, so many people in my audience traveling 4+ hours to my show in the middle of a pandemic. I asked the audience who traveled more than 2 hours not expecting more than a handful of people to raise their hands. Instead over 80% of people raised their hands. Shocked, I asked them to keep their hands up for 3 hours traveled. Still over 70% had their hands up. Only until I reached 5 hours was the number of hands raised less than the ones not raised. This concert meant so much to me and it meant so much to my audience, my fans in Germany and surrounding countries who had never heard me perform live. It was a once in a lifetime experience for all of us, because the first time is always special in a way that can never be replicated.
I had the best performance of my life as well. I have only been on stage a handful of times, and every time I always had nerves and would mess up at key moments or have subpar performances. But this time, besides the first piece where I messed up quite a bit, I played every other piece better than ever, including the most difficult classical pieces on my list. La Campanella which I had never performed onstage before, I played through without any of my usual mistakes and I had the loudest applause from the audience for that piece.
During the show I entertained the audience with jokes, both prepared and unprepared. I had never felt so confident in front of an audience before, I felt like I could stay onstage all day. One of my jokes was as follows:
“It’s so weird to see all of you with masks on, since I can’t tell if you are having a good time or not. And I’m standing here the only person without a mask. It’s like I’m a tribute at the hunger games.”
“When I look out at you guys all I see are eyes, as if I was walking in the woods and there’s a bunch of foxes in the bushes staring at me. A bunch of really cute foxes.”
“Ever since I got to Germany, I learned a few words, such as guten morgen (good morning), guten abend (good evening), guten deutschland (good Germany) and my favorite - guten free.”
And so on.
Throughout the show I gave details about my pieces, I told stories about how Andreas and I first met, how he hired me to perform at his company’s 25th anniversary party, conversations we had about the pieces that were on the program, and how all of this was a chance for me to honor him by performing some of his favorite pieces for him, which I had no doubt he was listening from the other side.
I told the audience about my own story, starting as a financial analyst in New York, not having any performance experience in my life besides 2 brief talent show performances at NYU, and then suddenly doing concerts at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, and then in Heidelberg in front of 800+ people. All of this was because of Andreas who believed in my music and told everybody about my music, from business executives to politicians. He even told Barack Obama about me. He told everyone that I was the best pianist in the world, of course I know I’m not, but still his sheer belief in me was empowering enough to get me through my darkest moments.
