Which musician (non-pianist!) inspires you most?

Robert Spano, Yo Yo Ma, Leotyne Price

Yo Yo Ma for sure. He amazed me every time I went to see him. Always something new and interesting. He collaborates with artists from all sort of backgrounds and incorporates music from many cultures. I just went to the one he had with vocalist Angelique Kidjo and was blown away with their performance. One of the best concerts I’ve ever been. He is more than a musician. He brings people together. 

Antonio Sanchez

When I was in college, I went on a whim to see if I could get a ticket to hear Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (whom I hadn't even heard of at the time) sing Schubert's Winterreise at Carnegie Hall. I managed to score a ticket in about the 7th or 8th row of the orchestra section. At the end of the concert, I sat there dumbfounded. It changed my life. 

Samara Joy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He_ao7IZwto&list=RDHe_ao7IZwto&start_radio=1

Pat Metheny https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kGY5V5f68s&list=RD2kGY5V5f68s&start_radio=1

Arvo Part. His music is so pure and transcendental in this age of chaos and disturbance.

John Eliot Gardiner has always been a reliable point of reference for me!
I remember searching for his Arkiv records and CDs to hear his interpretations of works by composers such as Bach, Monteverdi, Vivaldi, Scarlatti, Schütz, Buxtehude, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, and many others. All of these pieces were performed using period instruments with the English Baroque Soloists and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, and accompanied by magnificent choirs, especially the Monteverdi Choir, and (always!) excellent soloists. His renditions are always energetic, thoughtful and detailed. I trust him implicitly.

I have just learnt that, following an issue during the 2023 BBC Proms, he left the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestras (MCO) about a year ago and formed The Constellation Choir and Orchestra (CCO)! Let's see how it goes! He is really good!

Rostropovich, Jaqueline du Pre, Maria Callas ❤️❤️❤️

My knowledge of music and repetoire, both within and without the "classical" field, is very piano -centric, and I tend to listen to fewer instrumental and orchestral pieces than I should. But certain players break through that barrier and capture my attention. 

The non-pianist who inspires me the most is the violinist Stephane Grapelli (1908-97). He is a jazz player (with an earlier, pre-bebop style) but attended the Paris Conservatoire for awhile as a young teenager and seems to have picked up a lot of technical skill and musical knowledge there. He plays with what seems to me to be an impecable technique, and his music conveys a sense of joy, exuberance, deep emotional expressivity, and thrill about music-making, that always inspire me and which I seek to emulate on the piano.  (Although I can make no claim to having come anywhere close to his level.-- but that doesn't stop me from trying!)

His 1977 album with George Shearing entitled The Reunion is one of my favorites of all time, and I commend it to all of you.  Both players cut loose with a sense of freedom, expressiveness and joy, obviously inspired by each other, & unshackled by the conventions of coolness and abstraction that were more in fashion in the jazz world at that time.  (Shearing himself is an amazing musicians, and actually made his debut with Grapelli's group in the 1940's, hence the "Reunion".). Grapelli's 1930's recordings with Django Reinhardt, the gypsy violinist with only 2 functional fingers on his L hand, are legendary and also convey all the qualities referenced here.  He has recorded many collaborative albums with classical string players among others, including Yehudi Menuhin and Yo-Yo Ma. As a bonus, he also plays piano very nicely, though not necessarily with the same breathtaking technique that he brings to the violin.

This is so hard to narrow down. I adore the opera singer Jessye Norman. Not only is her voice incredible, but I had the pleasure of meeting her several times when I was in college and a member of Sigma Alpha Iota (women's music fraternity). She was a wonderful person and musician. I was a classical guitarist when I was younger and I think John Williams is absolutely incredible. My high school guitar teacher studied with him and that afforded me the pleasure of taking several lessons with him when I was prepping for auditions for college. I so appreciate the delicate control of tone he seems to have mastered on the guitar. I also think that the now retired Emerson String Quartet are superb. I had the pleasure of hearing them frequently and getting to know them quite well during my days as both a student and later on working at The Hartt School where they were the quartet-in-residence. Not classical, but I also think the world of the jazz trumpet player, Winton Marsalis, also from my time at Hartt. He came to perform and give masterclasses when I was working as director of public relations. The school had scheduled him to work with only undergraduate and graduate students. When he arrived, he came to see me and requested to create a special masterclass for our community division students. He was absolutely incredible working with the kids. He listened to both jazz and classical students and a range of instruments. The warmth and excitement he brought to those kids was one of the most incredible experiences I had in my years at Hartt.

Are we permitted to name deceased artists?  I'm thinking of the late Karl Richter, conductor of the Munich Bach Choir and virtuoso organist. His 1960's DGG recordings of the Bach Mass in B Minor with the MBC, and his recordings of various Bach Organ Preludes and Fugues from that era outstanding.  His recording of the Organ Prelude and Fugue in E flat BWV 552 is sublime, possibly my favorite recording of anything!  Voice of God!