Quote by Stuart Isacoff

“A general air of surprise and genuine satisfaction fell upon everyone as they saw the pianist enter.”

— Kate Chopin

“He was the only world-famous piano virtuoso who abhorred his public and also actually withdrew definitively from this abhorred public.”

— Thomas Bernhard

“Everything seemed less frightening with music, even more so with music I knew by heart. It forced a familiar perspective on the scary unknown…

— Gaia B. Amman

“It was clear that the composer no longer consoled himself with the thought that music could express everything and did not require verbal commentary.”

— Solomon Volkov

“I felt like a pianist who'd been forced to play on a few white keys in the middle, finally allowed to run his hands…

— Ann Brashares

“The work had its own history of struggle. Originally intended as a showpiece for pianist Nikolai Rubinstein, it was dismissed by that renowned pianist…

— Stuart Isacoff

Please do not shoot the pianist. He is doing his best.

— Oscar Wilde

The irrepressible spirit that made his playing seem like good conversation is the Rubinstein legacy for pianists, if they can pick up their heads…

— Donal Henahan

“Performing wasn’t something to fear; it was a merely a larger circle of collaboration. The more I communicated my joy to the audience, the…

— Carole King

“Piano Man put up a fight but his resistance was futile. Hell hath no fury like a drunken girl at her bachelorette party in…

— Vicki Lesage

“And he knew that there would always be the fear before performing, the stage fright, that would never go away, but he also understood…

— Neil Gaiman

Oscar Peterson is my favorite all-around pianist. There are pianists I like because of one thing and pianists I like because of another. But…

— Carmen McRae