Adam Neiman talks about his time at the SCMS Festival, romantic composers, and Toby Saks’s legacy

Adam Neiman is one of the musicians with the longest history at the Seattle Chamber Music Society’s summer festival.  Neiman came to the festival in 1997 as a 19 year old just beginning his career as a pianist.  He sat down with me moments before the final Lakeside School began to talk about his time at the festival, the need to preserve and play the music of lost romantic composers, and shared his insights on what makes a composer inspired.  Neiman also shared his memories of working with Toby Saks — the festival’s co-artistic director — and the move to Benaroya Hall next year.

There is an amusing out take from this interview I plan on sharing on The Gathering Note.  As Adam and I were talking, Ran Dank, a new pianist with the festival, walked through the rear door, introduced himself, and seemed perplexed about how to describe Bach’s French Suite — a piece he learned when he was 7.  Dank played the piece as part of the free Friday recital.