Introducing the ON THE BENCH Questionnaire

A new feature at ON THE BENCH, my guests will be subjected to the following Dorky Piano Version of the Proust Questionnaire. Stop by later this week when Simone Dinnerstein gives her responses in LOOKING AT THE GOLDBERGS, PART II. 

But in the interests of full disclosure, I'll go first.

The ON THE BENCH Questionnaire (with apologies to Proust and Vanity Fair)

Lara Downes interviews Lara Downes (with apologies to Glenn Gould)
 

What’s the first thing you do when you sit down to practice?  

      Turn off my phone

What's the last thing you do before you go onstage?  

       Call my kids to say goodnight, then turn off my phone 

If your piano could speak, what secrets would it tell about you? 

        Sometimes she practices in her nightgown.

If you could travel in time to attend one concert, which would it be? 

        Horowitz's return to Moscow after 60 years, in 1986. I remember watching that concert on TV, the overwhelming emotion in the hall, the audience in tears, Traumerei... To experience that moment in person would be well worth the trip.

 If you didn’t play the piano, what would you do?  

        I'd run a concert series or festival - something that would let me develop projects, build audiences, work to shape a musical present and future. Or I'd just bake cookies.