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I remember my audition there in 1980 looking to my far right as I walked in and saw Rudolf Serkin. With a pleasant smile and I'm thinking sitting to his right was maestro Horozowski one of my fathers favorites. Being 17 and it was my first audition I was way too scared all nerves. Good luck and make sure nervous don't become a part of your equation there. I would have loved it.

You didn't study at Curtis correct?

Mine occurred when I was at my Curtis audition. For reference my father told me at my Julliard piano audition doo not look at the judges on the jury which I easy did until the end. However, at the Curtis audition my mother was with me. I walk in the room with the same intentions but for whatever reason I quickly spotted Rudolf Serkin and Jorge Bolet then I promptly froze. I could not remember how to start my Bach Prelude and Fugue in D major. Then Jorge Bolet hums the opening bars and I as suddenly remember the score and played almost flawlessly. I was wait listed but never made it in. I then studied at Julliard with Sasha Gorodninski and Earl Wild and later NYU. I tell everybody that story. I greeted Jorge Bolet at his Carnegie Hall recital three years later and went back stage and he remembered me. He said he voted for me but they only admitted 10 piano students that year but he would potentially welcome me as a private graduate student. I told him my ambition to become a surgeon and he said that would be a better advocation for anyone because piano was so unpredictable. He spoke to me for almost an hour like a father would. So the bad and the good out of a funny moment.

That is a fantastic story! Thank you for sharing. Btw, I'm playing the D Major Prelude and Fugue for my Curtis audition too!