During another performance at Carnegie Hall last weekend, Dr. Diane Earle played two major piano solo pieces in addition to the piano parts for the orchestra over a 2-hour span.
“The audience response was really exciting,” Earle said. “I got a standing ovation and they seemed so appreciative and moved by it. That’s so inspiring when that happens.”
Playing on one of the most prestigious stages, Earle said that the acoustics and “fabulous” pianos are what she enjoys about being asked to perform there.
Her first invitation came in 2005 when composer John Steffa featured her and a few other musicians performing his music.
Since then, Earle has been invited to play solo piano, chamber music collaborative piano, and orchestral accompaniment. She has also taken the Kentucky Wesleyan Singers and the Owensboro Symphony Chorus combined with the Evansville Philharmonic Chorus.
“Some of them have been ‘supporting roles’ rather than solo performances,” Earle said. “Each concert has been completely different with different invitations and repertoire.”
This year’s invitation came from Mark Cabaniss, the composer for the world-premiere section of the concert, and Earle invited several community members to join her to sing in the choir for the performance.
“It was so nice having them join the mass choir and seeing them experience the thrill of making music at Carnegie Hall,” she said.
She also enjoyed reuniting with former students and choir members and said it was exciting to have friendly faces on the stage and in the audience.
Earle said that it is awe-inspiring each time she walks out on the Carnegie Hall stage and that is because in 2005, her father attended her first concert in the famed hall. He told her that he became teary-eyed when he realized it was the same stage where one of his heroes, Benny Goodman, walked onto.
This is the first concert Earle has played at Carnegie since the pandemic, and she said Covid protocols were very stringent. She was masked for the two-day rehearsals.
“This was really special since there haven’t been many performances since March 2020 when everything shut down,” she said. “It is nice to be performing again with live audiences, who are also thrilled to hear live music. Zoom concerts and recordings are good, but there is nothing like the passion and communication inherent in live performance.”
Earle was able to enjoy the Big Apple, including a performance of The Music Man starring Hugh Jackman, taking a river cruise and an evening bus tour, and reconnecting with friends.
“I have been to New York many times and spent substantial time there in the past, taking some piano lessons and studying collaborative piano,” Earle said. “But every time I go to New York, I love the energy and beauty of the city.”
Earle has a major concert tour in September to Isreal and, after being postponed several times due to the pandemic, she is very excited as she has never been there.
She will continue her role as principal pianist with the Owensboro Symphony and hopes more tours and cruises where she plays will go as planned.
“A lot of the international travel and cruises are still on hold or in flux as everyone sorts through Covid and variants,” she said. “It is frustrating not to be able to plan like pre-pandemic times.”
Owensboro will have a chance to hear Earle’s solo pieces when the Owensboro Symphony will host a follow-up recital at the Symphony Academy.
“It will be fun to bring a bit of Carnegie Hall back to Owensboro,” Earle said.
