It's been a busy couple of days already! @TheBoringPianist made fun trading cards of everyone, and we were at dinner with a few other people so I traded away the one I had of me and a couple of duplicates with other people at the table. Everyone I've met is really nice and I've made some friends! It is such a nice environment here. It's nice to be around so many people who are really into piano.
Unfortunately I had a coffee yesterday and it caused me to not really sleep all night. I got up at 7am here (4am my time) and went to the venue early, got to practice on the masterclass piano for a bit. It's a nice Steinway but it's humid here and it felt a bit sluggish. Then sat in on Roberto Poli's masterclass for the Chopin Fantaisie, and bits of the other masterclasses. He is very mellow and kind. He was wearing a baseball cap and much more casual than in his YouTube videos!
Talked to John Slavick the technician, and he encouraged me to visit Falcetti Pianos while I'm here. I might on Monday or Tuesday. He said the Bösendorfer 230 is his favorite and that they have a lot of very nice pianos.
My 7 minute piano trial went by so fast and I didn't get to the Mazurka! It's a very intimate-sounding, extremely precise piano, very different from the one in the echoey showroom at Portland Classic that has a treble like glass. This one was extremely controllable, and I think it really allowed me to to trust it with my Bach and Beethoven. I played my round well, a few slip ups but musically it was really good. I was nervous backstage but once I started playing and felt that I could just trust the piano, I just focused on the music. No joke, I give the piano a lot of credit for the quality of my playing. It really set me up for success! My Portland friend who watched the livestream said it's the best she's heard me play 🙂
Unfortunately I'm missing @TheBoringPianist's preliminary round because I'm out with family for the rest of the day, but break a leg!!