Interview: Aleksander Szram, Pianist

What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far? Looking back, I can’t really think of anything that could be described as a ‘greatest challenge’, nothing that dramatic. Alternately, I would say that every piece, every concert is a great challenge – the life of a working musician is endless problem-solving, with each solution only leading to new problems/issues to address. In a way, every moment is a great challenge, as you’re always reaching for a perfection that can never be achieved (though at times you can surprise yourself when things seem to come together and become better than you expected they could be). There have been times when I’ve had to do a ludicrous amount of work in a short space of time, but you soon learn not to put yourself through that again (at least, I’m beginning to learn that I shouldn’t put myself through that again). The omnipresent challenge in my career is to stop myself from getting involved in too many projects at the same time! I tend to be very enthusiastic, and it’s a challenge to keep a lid on this at times. This aspect of my personality was a major frustration to all my teachers, without exception. (via)]]>