Here are answers to frequently asked questions about Peter.
Q: So…Are you any relation to the famous Science Fiction author, Isaac Asimov?
A: Yes, he is my dad’s uncle.
Q: How often are you asked that question?
A: Pretty often. My great-uncle Isaac wrote a lot of great books that people really love. So when they meet me, it is normal for them to ask that question right away. They are restless to know the answer to that, but then usually we can talk about other things. I am sad that he died before we got to know each other, though.
Mostly now when people come congratulate me after a concert, we talk about the music. Then, just before they say goodbye they make a point of sharing with me how much his writing has meant to them. It makes me so happy that since I did not get to know him, that all these nice people can tell me about him! I am proud of my whole family!
Q: You seem to play concerts all over. Do you like to travel?
A: Travel is one of my favorite things to do. I plan all my own travel itineraries and for many other family and friends on various airlines. One of the great rewards of working so hard on my music is that it permits me to go to so many unusual places – from near the North Pole to 90 miles from Cuba.
Q: What are some of your favorite destinations?
A: Recently, they have been various cities in Alaska, California, the Florida Keys, Washington, D.C., and most recently some cities in Germany. But I want very much to go to London and to Cuba and to Berlin and Paris (I visited for a few hours recently and I want to go back). I love the American Southwest, where we have made some vacations.
Q: You’re going to be a professional pianist when you grow up, aren’t you?
A: Well, I hope this answer does not shock or disappoint you! But, honestly, I do not know. Right now I am still in school and there are so many subjects I am so interested in and want to explore. And sometimes things happen in life that lead you to directions you never expected.
Piano has been so important to me. It will always be part of my daily life. Being me, with all my interests, are all the same thing. That’s how it has been so far, and that is how I would like to have it be. How can I compose something original, or play music my best, until I have experienced many things away from a practice studio?
I have been very lucky so far to be able to go so very far with a musical career. Many people have believed in me. My piano teacher at Mannes, Genya Paley, always said to me, “If you serve your talent, it will always serve you.” This has really been true. So, as long as I work hard, the results will follow, whether it is tennis, basketball or Bach.
Q: Do you have to practice every day?
A: Not at all. In fact, at our first lesson together, in the Honors Program at Mannes, my piano teacher Genya Paley, assured me that this notion is a myth.
“Peter, you only have to practice on days that you eat and sleep.” And this has always been true!
Q: How many hours a day do you practice?
A: Well, not to be vague, but, as long as it takes, or as long as I have!
Q: What does that mean?
A: I practice every day. But I have to plan every practice session very efficiently, especially with so much going on around me, like homework. And I enjoy playing some Frisbee with my dad or hanging out with my brother, Jack. So, that means I have to plan sometimes way ahead with a strategy about what is most important when.
On a day when I have not very much homework, I can work as long as two to three hours, on lots of pieces. On an evening when I have a great deal of school reading, or something else on my schedule out of my control, I might only be able to focus on critical sections of a movement, or piece, that need that time. Before a solo recital, or big chamber program or concerto performance, of course, I work intensely, and often with my teacher or coach. Let’s say, never less than about 90 minutes on a tight school night.
Q: So, right now, what do you want to do when you grow up?
A: Some ideas I have recently had are that I want to design public water fountains. I want to design airports in new hubs. I want to play all my favorite piano quintets on tour with all my favorite chamber music friends! I want to go to Business School. You know, I want to try everything!
Q: What is a good piece of advice you would share with composers?
A: Write for musicians you know. You’ll both be inspired.
Q: What is the best advice you have ever received about Chamber music?
A: Find some players that you love to make music with, and play with them all the time and write for them.
Q: Who is your Favorite composer?
A: Everyone asks this, of course. Over the last few years, I notice that I tend to feel that my favorite composer is whoever's works I am focusing on intensely at that time. Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Ravel, and recently Mendelssohn, in particular. I love learning and performing their works, all for very different reasons. It is mostly because every time I get deeper into any piece, there is always so much more there that I discover. I am so happy that I do not have to choose. But it is a fun game to play.
Q: Who is your Favorite pianist?
A: I really admire Vladimir Ashkenazy so much. He is my favorite. I've had the good fortune to spend some time him an his wife, Dody. They are wonderful people too.
Q: Who are some of your other musical influences?
Two of them are Wu Han, the pianist, and her husband David Finckel, the cellist of the Emerson String Quartet. They are the Artistic Directors of Music@Menlo, in Menlo Park, California. For two summers, I have attended the Young Performers Institute that they run as part of the Festival. I enjoy hearing them when they perform together, as well as when Wu Han plays solo and David Finckel plays with the Emerson. They really inspire me. They are absolutely the best in their instruments. And they have both been really bold and original in all their choices of doing things their own way. They're really the most amazing people.
Q: How old were you when you started playing, and what did you play?
I was about 3 years old when I first started walking over to the piano and imitating the sounds of car alarms and playing musical games with harmonies. I improvised a lot as well. At that point, I had started to play all my songs from Nursery School by ear. I had about 30 of them and I was doing pretend radio broadcasts.
I started taking lessons at Mannes College of Music in the Preparatory Division when I was about five. At that time, they were the only serious music school that would take someone my age into their auditions and give me weekly lessons. At other places, I would have had to wait till I was about 8 years old.
Q: What pianos do you like to practice on?
I practice on two pianos. One is an ebony Steinway upright. It was my first piano. When I turned ten, we got a Bechstein grand piano from 1900. Having both of them in the same room makes it very convenient to work on concertos. I love practicing on them both.
Updated September 16, 2005