In this round, each contestant plays twice: a 60-minute recital and a full Mozart Concerto with the Fort Worth Symphony.
For her recital, she's playing Schumann's Kreisleriana (not one of my favorite pieces, but I will listen with an open mind - yet again - maybe she'll be the one to finally make me like it!) and Prokofiev's 6th Sonata. For the concerto, she will play my favorite Mozart - K. 466 in D minor. I posted a video of 12-year-old me few weeks ago, playing the first movement in 1982, accompanied by Jorge Bolet. If you have ever watched the movie "Amadeus," this concerto is featured quite a lot throughout the movie. The ending credits roll to the 2nd movement opening theme.
I got to thinking about being the last one standing in terms of health and fitness. When you look at the number of entrants in a race, once you start getting to the 60+ age group, there are not too many people. Sometimes, if you just show up and finish vertically, you will win an award, and I think that's absolutely fine! As my mother, Brooklyn Born, has reminded us at times - 80% of success in life is just showing up. She has said before that she intends to keep doing this as long as she can... which just might mean at some point she winds up being the last woman (or at least the oldest woman) still standing at that starting line.
I'm proud of Rachel Cheung and proud of all people - men and women - who stick it out to pursue their lifelong goals and dreams. Let's all continue to put our best foot forward as long as we are able.
In case you're interested, you can see Rachel's semifinal round online at http://cliburn.org/
Her recital will be Sunday, June 4, at 4:50 Eastern Time.
Her concerto will be Monday, June 5. The concerto concert begins at 8:30 Eastern Time. She is the 4th contestant, so I'd estimate she'll probably begin to play between 10-10:30 PM.
Go, Rachel! Go for the gold!
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