Over the last few years, I’ve been deeply privileged not just to have performed Elliott Carter’s music, but also to have spent some time in the company of this great man. From my very first encounter with his music to the thrilling anticipation I feel now, knowing I will soon conduct the Seattle Symphony in the first performances of his Instances (a work I commissioned), I have always experienced a great joy and sense of well-being studying and performing his music – not unlike the feeling one gets immersed in the music of Mozart.
Elliott’s music has been and will always be a vital and incredibly dear companion in my musical life. It reflects the man himself: intelligent, funny, full of life, inspiring. We are truly blessed that he left us with so many beautiful masterpieces.