08/26/2019
Artist Spotlight: Helene Grimaud
wrote of the various perceptions of wolves in her memoir, Wild Harmonies before the mention of Stravinsky's transcription of Firebird. There's a wolf in the storyline that's seen as light as opposed to their usual predicament; benighted. As interesting as she is gifted musically, she runs a wolf conservation in New York, bridging the gap between "wild" and civil. Helene achieved international status as a pianist a few years after picking it up as an adolescent. When she decided to move to America, she learned English within three years. Although she wanted to be a boy, trashing her dolls, some of her album covers omit the piano and zoom in on her not unlike that of a pop star's. I serendipitously came across her first CD recorded at 16.. She's one of a select few to have achieved such status without obtaining a grand prize. She was unaware of her instructor at her Paris conservatoire reaching out to the label for her demo. I'm thrilled to attend her performance at the University of Washington in March đź’•
