Power blackout fails to halt Rachmaninoff Etudes

Abram Kreeger reports for slippedisc.com from Miami:

Tuesday evening in Miami, lightning struck when pianist Asiya Korepanova was in the middle of performing the complete Rachmaninoff Etudes-Tableaux at the Coral Gables Congregational United Church of Christ. A total power outage followed less than 15 minutes into the program.

In complete darkness, Korepanova continued her performance until her former mentor, Santiago Rodriguez, tapped her shoulder after one of the etudes and offered to hold his cellphone to provide a little light on the keyboard.

At the conclusion of opus 33, the attentive audience, which sat through numerous power flickers and the noise of a torrential downpour, provided the pianist with a lengthy ovation for her persistence. Miss Korepanova, Russian born, is the only pianist in the United States performing Rachmaninoff’s entire solo repertoire in concerts within the composer’s 150th anniversary year. Her next performance of the complete Etudes-Tableaux program is scheduled on September 30 at the St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, New York City.