Jeffrey Siegel at the ivories.
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY MCCALLUM THEATRE
At some point during his career as a piano soloist performing with world-famous orchestras, Jeffrey Siegel found time to create his enduring hit Keyboard Conversations program. He was inspired by Leonard Bernstein’s televised Young People’s Concerts, which captivated him as a young man in the 1960s. “He was really my inspiration,” Siegel says. “His great joy in life was to make everybody else love music and have the enrichment in their lives from music that he did.”
For more 30 years, Siegel has set out to do the same, cultivating loyal audiences in major U.S. cities including New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. Yet somehow, he always manages to wend his way to the Coachella Valley. “I consider the McCallum to be a special stop on my itinerary,” he says. “The audience there is particularly appreciative. They ask wonderful questions and listen with rapt attention … plus they laugh at my jokes.”
Siegel describes Keyboard Conversations as primarily a concert with commentary. In the many years he’s been doing the program, the repertoire changes but the approach remains very much the same. Prior to performing each work in its entirety, Siegel speaks to the audience in nontechnical language about the piece of music they will hear, perhaps telling them something about what was going on in the composer’s life when he wrote the piece and other incidental information.
“When I sit down to play the piece, I feel the audience is listening with greater absorption and focus,” he explains. “That’s really the whole point of the program.” A question-and-answer session follows each performance. “The idea is to reach out to both frequent and not-so-frequent concertgoers and — especially in the latter’s case — to make listening to classical music something that’s inviting and more than just an ear wash of sound.”
Siegel performs at the McCallum on Jan. 8, Feb. 19, and March 25. For tickets, visit the McCallum Theatre website.