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Many of you will remember Nicola Canzano from last year’s Winter Baroque concert. Nico is back for Winter Baroque  in a few weeks (Sunday, December 21st) and writing another baroque world premiere for us (more on that next week). Since there isn’t time for you all to hang out with him in person, I thought I’d ask a few questions so people can get to know him a little better.

‍David Yang, Artistic Director

DY: What is your earliest musical memory?

NC: Figuring out how to play “Mary had a little lamb” on the piano my parents had when I was 3.

‍DY: What was the first piece of music you ever fell in love with?

NC: Mozart’s 20th piano concerto. And then all of his other piano concerti in short order thereafter. My favorites these days are #22 and especially #23.

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DY: Oh wow, Mozart, yes, of course! What is it you fell in love with about Mozart piano concerti?

NC: I mean, if you love Mozart, the piano concerti are about as Mozart-y as it gets. There is an effortless joy in his music, and you get the sense, plenty of the time at least, that he could not wait to share what he was writing. It all sounds so genuine and charming, and the masterful construction of it all makes you able to enjoy the same piece thousands of times. Every clever decision, every perfect phrase, one gets the sense it’s not from careful perfectionism but from a deep appreciation of music.

There is a quote that is often misattributed to Mozart, but is actually by his friend the flutist Nikolaus von Jacquin: "Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius.”  This is a bit romanticized nowadays, but I think the meaning is — we have a delusion that “genius" is somehow God-given, but in reality, the lucky thing people are born with is love/obsession, the ultimate motivator, not "natural talent"— although I suppose one could argue they go hand in hand.  

‍DY: For the Winter Baroque concert, you will be playing “continuo” on the harpsichord. How would you define continuo?

NC: Basso continuo is the practice of reading a bass line on the keyboard and artfully adding the correct harmonies with your right hand. It started as a shorthand for directors to read scores at the keyboard. It has become a fully modern art form with the continuist functioning as a kind of drummer/secretary for the ensemble.

DY: What book are currently reading?

NC: “Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies Into Reality” — an essential read about the dangers of social media and what it has done to the fabric of society.

DY: What brings you joy?

NC: My adorable little Beagle mix, Riley. She was adopted at an event in San Mateo, California. My then-girlfriend (now fiancée!) barged in while I was in the shower and demanded we go to this adoption event down the street since it was ending soon. Riley was one of the dogs up for adoption.

She was apparently abandoned by a foster parent (so…had been abandoned at least once before that) who left her at a pet hotel with a phony name and never picked her up. She is a sweet, skeptical little brindle-coated beagle who thinks she is a cat and is scared of anything different from what she already knows. We’ve had her for 8 or 9 years now. She’s perfect and she will live forever.  

‍DY: If you could go back in time, what would you do differently?

NC: I would never have had my detour studying Physics, not that I regret it. I could just be doing what I’m doing now and be six years younger!

DY: What is your comfort food?‍

NC: Oh man…potato chips. I’m almost like a connoisseur. The best ones are from oil country Pennsylvania where they still fry them in beef tallow.

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