It sounds like you have a wonderfully varied career, tell us a little bit about this.
It seems to have evolved over time, reflecting both circumstances and my natural inclinations. I have always had a voracious appetite for learning new repertoire. When I was appointed Pianist-in-Residence at Dartmouth I found myself with a built-in stage and an erudite audience, whom I could involve in my repertoire exploration. In the early years, I played TWO solo recitals (with different pro-grams!) each year—now I think I was nuts. Even one program a year is a stretch, assuming you must avoid repertoire repetition… But I continue to play a solo program every year and take it elsewhere when opportunity arises. It has been exhilarating to absorb so many varied composers and styles, and it is probably the most challenging musical activity for me. As a pianist, you are all on your own playing a solo recital, there’s nobody to hide behind. On another tangent, I have always loved playing chamber music and over the years have been fortunate to hook up with fantastic partners. My piano duo, the Hirsch-Pinkas duo, was of course a by-product of my marriage to pianist Evan Hirsch. A mutual recording label put me in touch with the Adaskin String Trio in early 2000—we loved playing together and continued since, again amassing interesting repertoire. Through them was born my fun Ensemble Schumann group with Tom Gallant
(who was a longtime collaborator of the Adaskins) which started as a lark but gained momentum and is now a great source of joy. Another strain emerged from my school days in Indiana, where I met and played with the Bitran brothers, who went on to form their own celebrated Cuarteto Latinoamericano. When their first violinist Saul moved to Boston we started playing together, and Trio Tremonti was born. I joke that between the Canadian Adaskins and the South-American Tremonti partners I can indulge both ends of my Israeli temperament…
I understand you have a great place to get away to in the summer and recharge, tell us about this.
Evan and his brothers have inherited a cabin in Ontario, Canada, on the shores of a beautiful lake, Rainy Lake (it is just north of International Falls, MN). Evan was apprehensive when he first took me there when we were first dating, fearful I would hate it. No indoor plumbing (though it is spacious and has electricity) and in those days no shower, water needing to be boiled, etc. But he shouldn’t have been—I fell in love with it. I learned to fish, always loved to swim and the water there is heavenly. So it has become our refuge. We can only go once a year, and by now it is clear the cabin needs to be rebuilt, but when we are there we go back to being our basic selves—we fish, eat, drink, run, swim, whatever (no particular order). NO piano! In the early days, there was also no internet, but that has changed. We recharge, in short, and also have made fantastic friends. And the taste of that just-caught Walleye pike is out of this world… In the interest of full disclosure, I bait my own hook but do not clean/cook the fish. Evan’s job… I married well!
Artist Spotlight
Sally Pinkas,
Pianist