Carolyn Enger, pianist

Who or what inspired you to pursue a career in music and who or what have been the most important influences on your musical life and career?

My mother took us to concerts starting at a young age. I was enamored with beautiful music and the stage. I also, as a child, found solace and a private world when playing the piano.

My partner, from many years ago, was a violinist in the NY Philharmonic. I attended concerts there almost weekly and was fortunate enough to hear the likes of Bernstein, Copland, Kathleen Battle, Jessye Norman, Rostropovich, Yo-Yo Ma, and many more stellar musicians. Living in the NYC area has given me access to some of the most wonderful concerts in the world, especially at Carnegie Hall: Mitsuko Uchida, Yuja Wang, Evgeny Kissin, András Schiff, Maurizio Pollini,

Mieczysław Horszowski, Shura Cherkassky, Oscar Peterson, too many to list. 

Teachers along the way have inspired me and helped me produce a beautiful sound with ease, namely Freda Rosenblatt, a Leschetizky musical descendant, and my coach, Dr. Marc Silverman, with whom I have worked for many years. His expert teaching and many spot-on suggestions for repertoire that fit like a glove, have made me the pianist I am today.

What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?

Reaching higher visibility venues and attracting management from a well-known firm.

Which performances/recordings are you most proud of? 

My recording of Ned Rorem’s Piano Album l and Six Friends on Naxos, was selected by Anthony Tommasini of The NY Times as one of their “Best in Classical Recordings”. A great honor indeed!

My latest recording, Resonating Earth on Métier. I hope that it is well reviewed and travels far. The music is so beautiful. I hope that it brings peace and creates calm for its listeners. I also really love the artwork!

Which particular works/composers do you think you perform best?

Ned Rorem, Franz Schubert, John Cage, Iman Habibi, Philip Glass, anything that is lyrically beautiful.

How do you make your repertoire choices from season to season?

I offer many varied programs, and like to work in my latest repertoire into the programs. For example, I’m currently working on Schubert’s Sonata in B flat, which I will then work into one of my latest projects, Masters of Transcendence, including late Beethoven. Many of the programs are developed around issues of social justice, for example, The Mischlinge Exposé (Holocaust education), Resonating Earth (the environment), Musical Legacies (marginalized composers), and Music HerStory (women composers). I’m currently also enjoying getting to know music by William Grant Still, Florence Price and Margaret Bonds, who taught Ned Rorem. Their music makes up a big part of my Musical Legacies program. 

Do you have a favourite concert venue to perform in and why?

Chelmsford Center for the Arts, Chelmsford, Massachusetts, USA . Their Steinway B “drives like a Ferrari”. Every thought or feeling that comes to mind/heart, spins directly into the piano and executes perfectly, my favorite piano, besides my own!

What do you do off stage that provides inspiration on stage?

I stay physically active, read philosophy, history, composers biographies, engage in philosophical conversations, and relish spending time alone thinking. 

What is your most memorable concert experience?

I have two: Performing for the Nantucket Musical Arts Society, premiering Ned Rorem’s complete Piano Album l, with Ned in attendance, in Nantucket, where he wrote many of the pieces from the Album, and spent time with his beloved Jim, for whom many of the pieces are dedicated, taking a bow, and asking him to stand, to be applauded, feeling his delight with my performance.

The Candlelight concert at the Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam. It took them three hours for them to set up all of the candles for the evening concert. There is no electricity or heat in the building, so I had to wear seven layers in order to feel warm enough to perform! Feeling the connection with 200 people who I couldn’t see, all sitting in their coats, enjoying music together was awesome!

As a musician, what is your definition of success?

A live performance that hits the mark, where I feel good about the performance, and the audience feels lifted, elated, floating, changed somehow, experiencing a feeling of communion during the performance, that it is a shared creative moment.

What do you feel needs to be done to grow classical music’s audiences?

General music education/music appreciation in all schools. Plato felt that part of what defines an educated person is knowing music, understanding harmony.

What’s the one thing in the music industry we’re not talking about which you think we should be?

A living wage. Compensation. As much as musicians contribute to society and its well-being, we cannot live on air.

What advice would you give to young or aspiring musicians?

Be open to following unexpected paths and being able to change direction, while still maintaining one’s core mission. Create spaces for yourself where you will stand out. Have a mission, something that goes beyond number of ‘likes’ and followers.

What’s next? Where would you like to be in 10 years?

Hopefully a full schedule of concerts in 2025. My goal is 30-40 concerts a year. 

Another recording release. I have a number of almost completed projects in the pipeline. 

I don’t really think that far ahead, hopefully greater visibility across the world stage, live and recorded, with a number of completed projects.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Summertime. Walking three miles in the woods in the morning, Practicing 6 hours, swimming a mile in the late afternoon, eating dinner outside, practicing another 2 hours. Correspondence with venues, booking concerts and recording sessions every year.

What is your most treasured possession?

My Steinway B, and my wooden home which houses it, and creates a wonderful sound chamber in which the sound comes alive.

What is your present state of mind?

Mostly content, and always looking for new ways to connect with audiences to share beautiful music in person.

Carolyn Enger’s new album Resonating Earth is available now on the Métier label on CD, digital download and streaming

carolynenger.com