Tamami Honma, 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?

I love the energy and creative dynamism of so much music that surrounds us everyday. From
my earliest days, music has never failed to inspire me – even my mother teaching piano before I
was born had an effect I suspect! But then came violin and piano teachers, listening to my
mother’s collection of vinyls with Schnabel and Kempff playing Beethoven, and hearing popular
music in stores and on TV programs – I remember dancing to Pink Lady in Japan when I was
three years old. And then, movie music – I sang along to the manga version of Heidi in the Alps
for months after I had my first film experience in a theater. This was followed by Star Wars in
which John Williams’ soaring fanfares made a huge impact on me – playing with my remote
controlled R2-D2 in my bedroom was enough to evoke those fabulous sounds in my mind.
Moving to the US at a young age and then as a tween, I became a huge ABBA fan and I
remember well my mother listening to the Carpenters in the car. I loved Warner Brothers
cartoons partly because of the musical elements and watching Wile E. Coyote, Bugs Bunny and
Daffy, and Marvin the Martian. As a teen, I’d memorized lyrics to videos on MTV and VH1, and
became mesmerized watching the entire Ring cycle on PBS. I was deeply impressed by big
personalities on the performance stage including Freddy Mercury, Robert Plant from Led
Zeppelin, Michael Jackson, and Madonna. I also really liked older groups such as the Beatles,
Four Tops, big bands with Dizzy Gillespie and loved Ella Fitzgerald.

When I studied piano with Byron Janis at the Manhattan School of Music he encouraged me to
listen to Frank Sinatra, Maria Callas and other singers to get more ideas on breathing and lines,
and he was delighted I agreed to take dance lessons as well. I was really fortunate because I
signed up to Paul Pellicoro’s Dancesport studio which was 10 blocks away from my apartment
in New York on the Upper West Side and they were always short of women dancers for classes
so I got many free lessons. Paul and his teachers were all fabulous – he choreographed and
taught Al Pacino the Argentine Tango in ‘Scent of a Woman’ but I didn’t know that before going!
Growing up, life was not all fun and games as I was also practicing 5-8 hours a day for most of
the week, with weekend performance classes, and rigorous training for competitions. During this
time, I was usually surrounded by the standards of classical piano repertoire. At the university
where my teacher was head of department and my mother was on faculty, the atmosphere was
friendly and as I won many competitions I earned a level of respect that was in stark contrast
with the exclusionary behavior of my peers at public school where I was singled out for being
different – wearing glasses, not being Caucasian, and not being of the religion most people were
in that part of the world outwardly counted against me. Music has always been something of a
sanctuary for me and being immersed in it and working so hard at it, I did not think twice about
what my future career might be – although I do remember one newspaper article quoting me that if I was not going into music, my second choice would have been to work towards getting a seat on the Supreme Court. They taught us to think big at my schools and we were after all, talking about hypotheticals!

My biggest influences though, would be my teachers and the countless lessons they gave with
kindness and dedicated interest. I think I hit the jackpot with so many masterclasses and private
lessons from well known artists and also my main mentor, Byron, who was one of only a very
few students Vladimir Horowitz took on. Byron had had a very successful performance career
cut way too short when he became afflicted with psoriatic arthritis but he became in many ways
my father figure and I immensely enjoyed his company and that of his wife Maria – her father
was the legendary Gary Cooper, whose legacy along with Byron’s she still works tirelessly to
foster. They had so many stories – Maria having taken art lessons with Pablo Picasso, having
gone hunting with Ernest Hemingway, Byron’s experiences with Toscanini and Rachmaninov.

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

One of the biggest challenges has been in figuring how to make a living from the performance
skills I had to cultivate so single-mindedly. My teachers were constantly steering me towards a
solo performance career and discouraged me from doing any collaborative work or teaching. It
took me a long time to realize that these things are more fertile ground for many musicians. Of
course, this should not have been such a surprise as this was also true for many of our most
revered composers and artists from the past – just think of Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, and
Chopin – all relied on teaching to support themselves. I am happy to be a part of this tradition
fostering the next gen talent as well as collaborating with other instrumentalists who need a
pianist as part of a duo or larger chamber work. At the same time, I continue to perform solo and
concerto works while expanding my repertoire as all of this adds to my growth as an artist. I
have also found vocal works to be immensely enlightening as many composers who wrote for
the piano also wrote for voice. When interpreting non-programmatic works, where the
composer’s intentions can be ambiguous, examining their vocal music with text can offer many
clues into their expressive language.

As a mother of four children, one of whom is now at university, I’ve also had to manage the
demands of a family life with that of a busy professional artist. With a sizable family, stability in
finances also became more imperative so I have taken on more teaching work during the day. I
am grateful and fortunate to hold positions at various institutions, including Stanford and Santa
Clara, ensuring that I still have time with the children after their school hours and still time to
prepare and take on other projects.

Which performances/recordings are you most proud of?

I turned 50 this year and with it saw the culmination of several mega-projects I will remember for
a long time. The first was the release of my recordings of the Beethoven piano sonatas. I
believe this is the first complete set of 35 to be recorded on the modern piano. This project took
longer than I originally anticipated in part because I had forgotten how exacting the recording
process is but also we had to record through the Covid pandemic. I was very happy to see the
results of all that hard labor finally result in a 10 CD box set released by Divine Art Recordings. I
also appreciated that Dr Barry Cooper, editor of the ABRSM critical edition of the Beethoven
Piano Sonatas, was willing to entertain my questions as I went through the recording process
and I think our joint enthusiasm was apparent in the ensuing video conversation we recorded
together upon the release.

The second big project was my performance of Busoni’s Piano Concerto with the Saratoga
Symphony last October. This monster work composed over a century ago lasts about 80
minutes, requires a male choir in the last movement, and makes huge technical demands on the
soloist. Until recently, the work has remained very rarely performed because of all of the
challenges involved in putting on a performance. As it was, my performance would have been
the first on the West Coast had it not been, coincidentally, also scheduled by the San Francisco
Symphony last summer with Igor Levit. Interestingly, Benjamin Grosvenor also just recently
performed it at the Proms in London. Nevertheless, when I proposed the idea last year, it
seemed like an outlandish proposition but the conductor Dr Jason Klein, who likes to program
unusual and rarely heard gems, seized on the idea with alacrity. Because of my experience
working with choirs, I was able to recruit and rehearse the singers required for this work. So
besides the formidable challenge of working on my own solo part, I had to worry about getting
them up to speed. But the results were well worth the effort as it’s such a fantastic piece.
A few month ago as well my group the Cal Arte Chamber Orchestra worked with the San Jose
Symphonic Choir to put on a performance of Verdi’s magnificent Requiem. This was something
of a departure for our group as we usually put on works for smaller chamber ensembles but the
Requiem calls for a very large orchestra. The resulting performance was just amazing. The
performance was in a medium sized venue where because of the size of the choir and
orchestra, the audience were sitting very close to the performers so it felt like walls were
shaking at times and yet at other quieter moments there was an intimacy and immediacy in the
performance that one almost never feels in larger halls. My youngest son played one of the
offstage trumpets and my daughter was playing flute.

I would also like to mention that In April this year, The American Beethoven Society sponsored a
celebration of the 200th year of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. I partnered with another pianist,
Daniel Glover, and we added a local percussionist, John Gerling, to present Liszt’s incredible
two-piano transcription of the symphony. Our arms could literally feel the expanse and gravity of
this work during rehearsals but the results were so rewarding. Even though the bar numbers do
match the original version for orchestra Liszt added many wonderful flourishes and pianistic
gestures to the parts. I think we were all on the proverbial Cloud Nine (pun intended) by the last
pages. We did two performances separated by a couple of months, the second time with a large
choir. Many friends and all my four children were singing in the choir so that made it even more
memorable.

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

Even before I started my Beethoven recording project, I had performed with various orchestras
all five of the Beethoven concerti, the Choral Fantasy, much of Beethoven’s chamber and vocal
works including the Mass in C Major, and Missa Solemnis. I also worked with West Bay Opera
on their production of Fidelio. In addition to having worked on the piano sonatas as solo works
for most of my life, having this exposure to how he wrote for other instruments and how he
reimagined his ideas on a symphonic scale were extremely helpful in understanding
Beethoven’s language. As a student at the Royal Academy of Music, I co-transcribed a two
piano version of his first symphony and my area of research was Beethoven aesthetics. Even
so, I didn’t imagine one day I would be recording the entire cycle. I’m so glad that I did now
though as Beethoven’s music has been so much of life and when one reads about his life story
it’s hard not to be overwhelmed by what an extraordinary person he was. He was famously not a
people pleaser and irascible but he had a hard upbringing and had to deal with so many crises
in his life not least his becoming deaf, robbing him of what must have been one of his abilities to
hear music which was the thing he valued most. But he overcame all of this to become one of
the greatest composers and also an elevated thinker in his philosophical appreciation of the
idea of our shared humanity.

Having said all this though, regarding other composers I always try to bring the best I can do for
each piece, as it deserves no less. It is hard to judge yourself while you are in the process of
creating. Listening that way would be kind of stifling. There are some works that are obviously
easier to connect with but when we practice, we do so eventually to the point we are connecting
to everything we need to present. There’s a saying that ‘you are only as good as your last good
performance’. Ours is not a plastic art, it’s abstract so it lives in the moment and in the memory. I
am also working on over 50+ separate works at least every week with students and ensembles
so you might have to ask me on the day what my latest feeling is about this question!

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

When students are excited by what they are learning and are working hard themselves, that is
very inspirational. Listening to other genres and others’ performances is also very stimulating.

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

Sometimes I am led to repertoire choices by my own curiosity, or I miss playing certain works, or
just for the sake of the fun in exploration. At other times I will work with organizers’ direct
requests that work with their various themes or seasonal planning, or what instruments are
available might determine what our choices can be drawn for concerti or chamber works. With
collaborations it is important that each of the instruments involved are engaged and happy with
the choice of works for the best results.

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

Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall. I have great memories of playing in the smaller Weill Hall
many times, but the history of this larger stage and rarified air of even the backstage area, is
electrifying. The first time I played there was when I was asked to be an emergency sub on
keyboard and celeste for a visiting orchestra. I saw the music only on the day – this was before
the days of IMSLP, pdfs, and emails! Another time, I was called to substitute for a pianist for a
Beethoven concerto. More recently my church choir was invited to join a large national
consortium to perform and in this program two of my sons were performing as well and they
played the Handel-Halvorsen Passacaglia to a standing ovation at this hall. I also played a solo
work and the hall was packed in the audience. On stage were hundreds of singers including the
composer John Angotti, who is a friend and who played a big hand in organizing this huge
event. It was a fun evening in a great venue.

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

Music, art, literature all need advocacy in education so that we help young students from their
earliest years develop an appreciation of the great legacy of masterpieces that have been
created over the centuries. In recent times, we have sidelined the humanities in schools by
treating them as ‘soft’ subjects versus science and math but it’s important to remember that on a
planet with 8 billion, artistic creativity is often the thing that is going to make someone stand out
as an individual. For quite a few years, I led an education foundation that did fundraising for four
schools in my neighborhood. Instead of STEM, I advocated for STEAM2 – science, technology,
engineering, art, math and, last but by no means least, music. We need to value art and music
more. Ironically, with the latest developments in AI threatening to take over many jobs in
surprising areas, I think training in the humanities is actually going to be more important over
time because occupations like computer programming will become more and more automated
and there may well be less demand for people with computer and tech skills. For example, last
October Amazon deployed 750,000 robots to work in their warehouses – displacing many
people’s jobs. Besides this reason, just for the health of society in general, I think it’s incredibly
important we all have some exposure to the incredible cultural heritage that’s been passed on to
us by our predecessors.

What is your most memorable concert experience?

Playing Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto with the Winchester Orchestra just one month
ahead of playing Rachmaninov’s Fourth with the Saratoga Symphony. One of my closest friends
was playing the horn in both performances but sadly she died very suddenly and unexpectedly
not long after these concerts, making them the last time she would ever perform in concerts. I
was shocked and deeply saddened by her loss so these performances have stayed firmly in my
memory. The conductor was kind enough to invite two of my string playing children to be in the
orchestra so the performance of the Fourth, which like the Busoni is rarely performed, is etched
deeply in my mind.

As a musician, what is your definition of success?

I think we all know when we did a good job. The quote “There has never been a statue erected
to honor a critic” is sometimes attributed to Jean Sibelius and it certainly carries more than a
grain of truth. The important thing is to create some great moments during the performance, to
have the audience feel the energy and appreciate the experience together with you. I think
those times when we feel at one with the audience can be quite amazing. There we are all from
different backgrounds with different expectations and tastes, but we can go home afterwards
feeling as though we have been through a unique and hopefully moving experience together.
This, for me and I am sure many others, is a powerful motivational force – it’s one we all strive
for as performing artists. Of course, it’s a little different on recordings because there the
audience are the microphones and recording engineer but I think we still try to imagine the
impact of the music on our audiences as if they were there in the studio.

What advice would you give to young/aspiring musicians?

Ad Astra per Aspera – Aim for the stars, believe in yourself, and keep practicing. Keep it fresh,
enjoyable, live a life so you have stories to tell and feelings to express. It’s good for you and for
your audience.

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

I was watching the recent Olympics coverage in Paris and was baffled by complaints on social
media I saw asking why US gymnasts were earning so much per medal. The amount I believe
was $35K and yet athletes bringing home gold for some other countries were getting more like
$700,000+. And then there was Snoop Dogg getting $8.5 million for his work promoting
coverage on NBC. It seemed like the whole thing was topsy-turvy. The people who have spent
countless hours working on their gymnastic and athletic routines and who make the Olympics
coverage worth watching are being paid very modestly and yet people complain about it.
By the same token, in music we shouldn’t make earning a living so difficult for the performers
who are doing the work audiences are ultimately paying for. Instead, the lion’s share seems to
go to streamers or companies who sell the work of artists. Musicians have to invest so much
time and money into developing their craft, paying for expensive instruments, and taking
lessons. Also in a winner-takes-all system, a small group of artists with powerful agencies reap
most of the reward. These artists benefit from carefully organized promotions and the ability to
perform the same works repeatedly across various venues. That’s great for them but the
mainstream media’s obsessive gaze on these few makes it challenging for the rest of us to gain
recognition for our work.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

If everyone on the planet was granted a right to a roof over their heads, food to eat and safe
water to drink. If war became something we only read about in history books. If affordable health
care was available for everyone. These sound utopian, of course, but you asked!

At a personal level, though, even if I had everything I wanted, it would be impossible for me to
be perfectly happy knowing that there were other people in distress. In the US, the notion of the
‘rugged individual’ has long been popular but it downplays the importance of the community.
There will always be people who need help and even the most successful individuals depend on
the infrastructure that’s been put in place by society. A start would be to see billionaires properly
taxed so that they paid at least the same rate as the middle and lower classes – not less as is
the case in the US thanks to numerous loopholes in the tax code. Corporations need to be
properly accountable for the environmental damage they cause. We need to value welfare
more, not profit. But then there are also huge looming problems such as the threat of
catastrophic changes caused by global warming, the rise of authoritarian and rogue states
seeming hellbent on developing nuclear weapons that could reach US cities. These are
alarming threats on the horizon so the idea of ever being perfectly happy for now seems, sadly,
to be almost impossible. On the other hand, there are philosophers and thinkers like Steven
Pinker who argue eloquently that the overall trend in the way humanity has been progressing is
in a positive direction so I try to remain cautiously optimistic about the future

https://www.tamamihonma.com/