Last night @Pianoanne and I were at the symphony, and there was a substitute pianist for the Grieg Piano Concerto. Turns out there was quite a dramatic story behind it!
Joyce Yang was rehearsing with the Oregon Symphony on Wednesday and they had almost run through the entire piece when she suddenly stopped and said she had injured her finger and would be unable to perform! Of course there was a huge panic and they started making calls, with a backup plan to play the Peer Gynt Suite if no pianist could be found. Ying Li was on her way home to NYC from Alaska when she got the call, and was actually in Seattle (just a 30 min flight from Portland) and had boarded her flight, but it was too late for her to deplane. So she had to fly 5 hours to NYC and then back to Portland the next day. They didn't have time to rehearse and the first time she played with the symphony was at the performance on Thursday night 😮
Anne and I were at the Saturday evening performance last night and she was really great. She's very tall with extremely long fingers and plays with such ease! I think she's only 25 years old and at the start of her career.
What a story! Ying Li is a hero to the symphony and all of the audience members, and I'm sure we'll all be thrilled to have her back.