Greetings everyone! I am writing from Saskatoon, with a few hours to go before the recital. Things are well, the piano is great and CBC is also here to record. Since it will be a blast, I will definitely write about my experience tonight. Stay tuned!

I received these photos from the Royal Conservatory of Music the other day. They were from a national campaign for the RCM in order to raise awareness for the new building in Toronto (http://www.rcmusic.ca). I’ve been quite fortunate to be a part of their concert series, which features prominent young RCM musicians in all major cities across Canada. I travel with the RCM and get to play at all these events.

My Vancouver experience was great for many reasons. First, I was able to catch up with some old family friends from Saskatoon (Norman, Valerie and her husband Daniel) and also met new friends like Josephine, who were all very hospitable and excellent tour guides. One of my highlights included lining up for salmon jerky in Granville Island behind ex-Cosby Show star, Lisa Bonet! I’m sure we all had a crush on her at some point in our lives, right guys? Needless to say, I was too shy to say anything…

The concert was a big success, although I was not feeling my best as I was still tired from all my previous travels. I remember waking up from my nap just 15 minutes prior to showtime. It took a few minutes into the program before I began to get into it. I suppose this is what makes being a concert pianist very difficult...trying to put together the best performance you can while travelling all over the place half-awake.

Here’s a picture from the performance, which took place in a packed hall at the Fairmont Hotel. Vancouver is a great city, and despite all the rain that weekend, I really do wish to go back some day.

There was a gifted young pianist/violinist named Jonathan Chan (who coincidentally is cousins with Raymond Ko, another incredible young violinist from Saskatoon). It was funny because back stage he was playing his Playstation PSP pretty much up until the time of going onstage. Ahh...memories of being young! Here we are with the Dean of the RCM, David Visentin. My thanks to Peter Wiebe for forwarding me the photos.