On April 24, 2026, I gave a presentation at the Vancouver Public Library that was sponsored by two local recital societies, the Vancouver Recital Society and Muzewest Concerts.

I have long discussed historical recordings with VRS founder & artistic director Leila Getz, who is extremely knowledgeable about the great pianists of the past. We’d mulled over the idea of a small gathering for some subscribers as a fundraising event, and in a conversation in the Autumn of 2025 she decided that we really needed to make this a broader event to encourage active listening amongst the musical public.

VRS decided to join forces for this concept with Müzewest, another concert society who had begun offering lectures (with Getz as their first!), and it then turned out the the Vancouver Public Library was hoping to add more presentations about classical music to their varied topics of live talks.

Everything happened quickly and smoothly from that point: the library staff were incredibly efficient and supportive, and it was an absolute joy to partner with them. The library put the information on their website a month ahead of the event, before VRS & Muzewest could write about it in their newsletters, and half the 90 seats were reserved in a matter of days; within a few hours of the VRS newsletter going out, the seats were filled, with 60 on the waitlist. They then arranged for it to be held in a hall with 200 seats, and within a couple of hours of that announcement, those were booked too. They then added 50 more seats to the venue – and those got reserved as well, with still more on the waitlist! None of us expected this level of popularity, and needless to say we were all delighted.

The only issue came when setting up on the day of the presentation, and the projector stopped working with my computer – we’d tested it two days before, but there had been an issue the previous night, so the amazing library staff were already prepared for the potential need of a backup. So with 50 people already lined up 45 minutes before the presentation, we moved my files over to their in-house computer and quickly reformatted some pages (as required in the change from Mac to PC), and we managed just before the doors opened 30 minutes ahead of start time.

Then despite our mic check going seamlessly, there was some feedback as the presentation started, so you’ll notice 15 minutes into the video, the sound improves dramatically as I switched to a handheld mic (not my favourite). Sometimes no matter how much you prepare, things happen – I fully understand how musicians must feel at all their different venues! – and fortunately the staff were so organized with backups that things went smoothly – despite my having somewhat frayed nerves as a result!

I was thrilled by the warm receptivity of the audience and their gracious engagement and comments afterwards, and the plan is to offer more such presentations in the coming season. Many thanks to Leila Getz and D’Arcy Blunston of the VRS, Avan Yu of Muzewest, and Ben & Jorge at the VPL for making this possible. Stay tuned for what comes next!