before 2024
I was so fortunate to spend almost five years serving as head of piano for Tonebase, which I will henceforth spell with a capital-T. Tonebase brought together two lifelong passions of piano and video creation, and I gained new skills as well as insights into the music industry during my time there. By the end of 2023 the time had come to move on, and 2024 set the stage for new projects and opportunities apart from Tonebase.
While at Tonebase I produced hundreds of video lessons and interviews with world class concert pianists.
In addition to the producer, director, and manager hats I wore at Tonebase, I began moonlighting as a YouTuber, creating dozens of fun educational videos and growing the Tonebase Piano channel to more than 150,000 subscribers.
One of my last YouTube projects for Tonebase featured an exclusive interview with Yuja Wang and Teddy Abrams that I used as the basis for an hour long documentary about the Abrams Piano Concerto and Yuja's "American Project" record – which recently won the GRAMMY for Best Classical Instrumental Solo.
But the pianist who made the biggest splash on YouTube was 2022 Cliburn gold medalist Yunchan Lim. My breakdowns of his Rach 3 and Liszt Feux follets each eclipsed 1 million views, the latter part of a series I left unfinished. Until now! Watch the rest of this series HERE!
In the summer of 2023, I also directed the USU Summer Piano Festival, which was a great success – as this photo reveals.