Collaborations involve working together with other musicians, either in chamber music performances or in piano/vocal recitals; they can also involve working with dancers who are dancing to live musical performance. Sometimes collaborations involve working with a composer on a new piece for its premiere or recording. In all cases, they involve dialogue and give and take in terms of sharing musical leadership and/or following. Since there is no conductor in most chamber music performances, the musicians mutually decide on tempo, who will lead when or who needs to be heard most prominently at any given time.

Often the concert presenter decides on the repertoire to be performed, but sometimes the musicians themselves decide on the works they would like to play. One of the joys of collaboration is playing with other musicians and trading musical lines back and forth, picking up on what a colleague is doing and answering it. 

I love working with dancers and over years of performing have collaborated with dancers from the New York City Ballet, Boston Ballet, Maryland Ballet and the National Ballet of Mexico.

Since music and dance are so inter-related, it is fascinating to watch dancers move to a piece you have often played without dance; it’s truly another window into a piece’s rhythmic and emotional essence. Because they blend art forms, collaborative performances can be particularly interesting to audiences, as there are more elements to engage.  

I also love working with live composers to bring a new score to life. This process allows the performer to have a voice in and help create the musical effect the composer is after. Even after a piece is written, working with a live composer in preparation for a performance allows the musician to understand - beyond the written score - the composer’s intent.