<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Re: [CAUT] William Wolfram</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY> On 3/7/05 4:21 PM, "Wimblees@aol.com" <Wi= mblees@aol.com> wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE>The above named pianis= t played the Beethoven C minor on the new Steinway, (the one I've been telli= ng you about), with the Alabama Symphony in our concert hall several weeks a= go. Unfortunately, after the concert, Mr. Wolfram supposedly made the commen= t "I will never come to Tuscaloosa again if I have to play on this inst= rument". What didn't help is that our local paper's critic heard about = the comment, and trashed the instrument in the paper.   Although I don't think the piano is as bad as it is being made out to be, I= am taking a lot of heat from the some of the faculty members. I reminded th= em that 5 previous concert artists didn't say anything about the piano. In f= act, two of them had their choice between our two grands, and chose the new = one.   My question to you guys is this. Have any of you had any experience dealing= with Mr. Wolfram? I don't know the man, but have heard he is young and inex= perienced. I've heard, from you guys, that the better players know how to pl= ay on any piano, but the less experienced are more critical.   Wim Willem Blees, RPT Piano Tuner/Technician School of Music University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, AL USA </BLOCKQUOTE> Hi Wim,     A quick google search revealed that he is well esta= blished, bronze medal from the Tchaikovsky competition in 1986, silvers in N= aumberg and Kappell: impressive credentials. Not so young. I’d guess h= e must be 40 or more. Sounds well-seasoned. Has played widely and a fairly w= ide range of rep. (No, I have no personal knowledge of him).     Bottom line: welcome to the world of the concert te= chnician. It ain’t easy, even in a hick town like Albuquerque (or Birm= ingham). However good you are, or think you are, you will get slammed from t= ime to time. Often (in my experience) the negative feedback comes in waves j= ust when you think you have a piano “just where you want it.” An= d, on the other hand, unexpected praise will show up when you’re feeli= ng least confident.     You just have to cultivate a schizophrenic mixture = of humility and self-confidence. Self-doubt comes with the territory. And yo= u can never please everyone. And often you can’t even please th= e same person twice with the same instrument that you have done nothing to c= hange. But, hey, somebody  has to do the work and take the heat (and oc= casional praise) <g>. Regards, Fred Sturm University of New Mexico </BODY> </HTML>