Taught by renowned pianist
Gary Graffman
In this five-part series, Gary Graffman welcomes tonebase Head of Piano Ben Laude to Happy Hour in his home mini-bar catty-corner from Carnegie Hall. Graffman presents Laude with his repertoire of infused vodkas, fueling a series of candid conversations about Graffman's life and times. Telling story after story, we meet prominent musicians Graffman encountered throughout his life, including Vladimir Howoritz, Rudolf Serkin, Van Cliburn, Leon Fleisher, and Yuja Wang.
Gary Graffman: From the Golden Age to the 21st Century
One of the luminaries of American pianism, Gary Graffman sits down with tonebase Head of Piano Benjamin Laude to discuss his early influences, his thoughts on musical interpretation, and what it was like teaching three stars of the new millennium.
Graffman shares anecdotes about meeting Josef Hofmann as a young man and seeing Rachmaninoff going for walks in Riverside Park. He discusses the presence – or, absence – of a distinctly American school of piano playing, and recalls hearing Lang Lang and Yuja Wang for the first time, entering the Curtis Institute as teenagers.
Lastly, Graffman discusses his two non-pianistic passions, namely Asian art and infused vodka. He takes Ben to his mini-bar to show him his "repertoire" of flavors, with the promise of many more good stories to come.
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Unlock Course →Curtis Institute faculty member and the teacher of Lang Lang and Yuja Wang, Gary Graffman has been a major figure in the music world since his debut with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1947 at the age of eighteen.
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