NSO @ Home: Dvořák’s Piano Quintet

With Dmitri Bashkirov after a performance at Auditorio Sony, Madrid.

Dvorak’s Piano Quintet always makes me think of one of my most intense periods of learning and growing as a pianist. My first time learning it came when I was living in Madrid to study with the Russian legend Dmitri Bashkirov at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía. His voice, his exacting standards rang in my ears as I worked out every phrase of that piece. I hear and feel this music as a different version of me as a pianist: the post-Bashkirov Natalia. 

This new version of myself was expected to honor music on a higher level than ever before. It was a level of seriousness and dedication to music I had only heard about happening at a place like the Moscow Conservatory, but I was experiencing it firsthand thanks to his demand for meticulous attention to detail. It was intense, stressful, and at times drove me to my breaking point, but it remains the most meaningful and rewarding period of my formative years. 

My practice breaks at a lively cafe, enjoying delicious tapas over engaging conversation with fellow musicians provided a respite from the long and intense practice sessions and lessons. I absolutely loved living in Madrid, exploring the city and all over Spain, and making friendships with locals that I maintain to this day. My landlady is like my Spanish godmother! Especially now, with travel impossible, I look back at this period with nothing but gratitude. 

Fast forward to 2021: As an adult, living in Washington D.C. with my family, and after a full year of living in a pandemic, I am so glad to be reunited with this piece. The circumstances are so different, but from the first notes I am immediately swept with intense feelings of joy and gratitude for music, life, and treasured memories. 

I am more excited than ever about playing this piece, and playing music in general. It feels like a new era, and I feel privileged to be revisiting this magnificent work with the brilliant musicians of the Kennedy Center. 

This performance of NSO @ Home will take place on January 31, 2021 at 7:00pm EDT. Featuring Derek Powell and Teri Hopkins Lee, violins; Allyson Goodman, viola; and Jim Lee, cello.