McGraw-Hill Award

I was thrilled and honored to be presented with the McGraw-Hill Companies' Robert Sherman Award for Music Education and Community Outreach last night. The evening began at 6:15 p.m. when a friend and I joined Louis Haber and Cathy Kirschner of the McGraw-Hill Companies, as well as Cathy's husband Sam, at the renowned restaurant Estiatorio Milos. After a spectacular dinner there, we drove up to Juilliard.

The live broadcast from The Juilliard School's Paul Hall began at 9:05 p.m. on WQXR, 96.3 FM, hosted by Robert Sherman. The majority of the broadcast was devoted to performances by Michael Bukhman and Ran Dank, winners of the 2006 Gina Bachauer International Piano Scholarship Competition at Juilliard. Here is an interview with Michael and Ran, both whom played phenomenally.

At intermission, Robert Sherman welcomed me to the stage and interviewed me briefly, before Harold McGraw III presented me with a plaque and a $10,000 check.

Thank you so much to Mr. McGraw for his interest in Music for the People, to Mr. Sherman and Dr. Joseph Polisi for nominating me for the award, to Mr. Haber for coaching me so wonderfully on the speech, to Ms. Kirschner for her expert coordination of the event, and to Arwen Lowbridge of Fractured Atlas for coming out to support me. Music for the People would really not be possible without the extraordinary support provided by Juilliard, so I will always be very grateful to my alma mater for getting behind me on the biggest dream of my life.

I hope you all tune in next week to WQXR at 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 20, when Robert Sherman will devote an entire broadcast of the McGraw-Hill Young Artists Showcase to Music for the People. If you live outside the New York City area, you may listen via streaming audio on the web.