{"id":67803,"date":"2020-04-13T10:35:05","date_gmt":"2020-04-13T14:35:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=67803"},"modified":"2020-04-13T10:44:22","modified_gmt":"2020-04-13T14:44:22","slug":"remote-jan-lisiecki-uncertainty-worst-part-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2020\/04\/13\/remote-jan-lisiecki-uncertainty-worst-part-us\/","title":{"rendered":"REMOTE | Jan Lisiecki: \u2018Uncertainty Is The Worst Part For Most Of Us\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo
Photo of Jan Lisiecki working on repertoire at his home while self-isolating during COVID-19 pandemic (Courtesy of the artist)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

REMOTE is a new interview series with a focus on how local and international performing artists are navigating the new reality of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

These are stories of resilience, and the manifold ways their creative drive is finding new expressions and platforms to reach audiences in isolation.<\/p>\n

Jan Lisiecki, one of the most celebrated young pianists on the global stage, joins Ludwig Van for this episode of REMOTE with some words on life as a performing artist during a pandemic. His highly anticipated appearance with the TSO on April 1st was cancelled for COVID reasons, but he\u2019s keeping busy nevertheless. While quarantined at his parents home in Calgary, he\u2019s been making bread, growing his repertoire and watching old Polish comedies.<\/p>\n

How are you doing during this pandemic?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I\u2019m doing very well. It\u2019s very unusual for me to be home this long; in fact, I think this has already been the longest stretch I\u2019ve been home for at least 4-5 years. On the one hand it\u2019s something that I\u2019m not used to, on the other hand I\u2019m enjoying it \u2014 it doesn\u2019t feel like it’s been such a long time, yet.<\/p>\n

Now that you have some free time, what are the ways are you keeping busy?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Frankly, I sometimes feel like the days are too short. It\u2019s funny because it seems there\u2019s a limitless amount of time, but between the things that I have to do \u2014 and the things I want to do and the ways that I want to grow as a human and as a person \u2014 there\u2019s not enough time for everything. I\u2019ve started learning new repertoire on the piano \u2014 some that I have programmed for this season and the next season, and some that I purely wanted to learn and haven\u2019t had the time, and some for future projects.<\/p>\n

At home, I am baking, I\u2019ve been enjoying making all kinds of bread: a sourdough starter, it\u2019s a long-term project that takes a few hours of every day\u2026 It\u2019s fun, different. I\u2019m learning German, as well, which takes up another few hours a day. It\u2019s something that I\u2019ve always wanted to do, to be able to read, write and speak German, but never had enough time.<\/p>\n

What are you missing the most right now?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I think I\u2019m more addicted to travel than being on stage, so that\u2019s certainly the thing I\u2019m missing the most. It\u2019s not because I feel trapped or stranded at home, rather it\u2019s just that I don\u2019t know when I will be able to get on the road again. I think that uncertainty is the worst part for most of us, not knowing when this will end. That\u2019s what I think I\u2019m missing the most.<\/p>\n

Of course, I miss my audiences, without a doubt, I miss performing on stage\u2026and frankly I\u2019m rather curious of how I will feel when I\u2019m back on stage. Will it be overwhelming? Will it be normal? Something that I\u2019m rediscovering? Or will it feel like I never stopped? That\u2019s something that I can\u2019t really know. When I said that this is the longest I\u2019ve been at home for the past five years, it\u2019s also the longest I\u2019ve gone without playing a concert. It\u2019s going to be a rather remarkable feeling when I\u2019m back on stage.<\/p>\n

Books, films, or TV on the go?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Right now I\u2019m reading books that are written in Polish that you might not know, another thing that I\u2019ve wanted to do for a while now. I\u2019ve been watching all sorts of films, from classic Polanski to old Polish comedies to many of the Oscar nominations from last year. I\u2019m simply enjoying having the time with my family and watching those at home. Pretty much two or three movies every week.<\/p>\n

What is the one thing you can\u2019t live without right now?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Nothing in particular. It\u2019s nice that we still have so many luxuries when you think about it.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure I\u2019m not the only one making this comparison, but when Bach was writing his incredible music there were diseases all around, no electricity or gas, and yet he wrote all these unbelievable works that obviously gave him joy too. I think that\u2019s what we have to focus on. I think there\u2019s really nothing that I can\u2019t live without, so I\u2019m enjoying life as it is.<\/p>\n

Any words of wisdom to get through this?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Aside from some of the things I mentioned earlier, I just want to wish all of you health and happiness and hope to see you again soon.<\/p>\n

Read more from this series HERE<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

#LUDWIGVAN<\/em><\/h3>\n

Want more updates on classical music and opera news and reviews? Follow us\u00a0on <\/em>Facebook<\/b><\/a><\/em><\/span>, <\/em>Instagram<\/b><\/a><\/em> <\/b><\/span>or <\/em>Twitter<\/b><\/a><\/em><\/span> for all the latest.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jan Lisiecki, one of the most celebrated young pianists on the global stage, joins Ludwig Van for this episode of REMOTE with some words on life as a performing artist during a pandemic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":67804,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[33451,35839,29,36052],"tags":[35697,1673],"yst_prominent_words":[36110,36107,13052,11829,10180,9946,36109,36106,36104,35859,8980,18182,36105,9234,14368,7558,10535,10395,12565,36108],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/04\/Jan_Lisiecki-picture_from_home.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-hDB","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67803"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/89"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67803"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67806,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67803\/revisions\/67806"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67803"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=67803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}