Meet Pianist Christopher Basso

“I don’t recall my musical life without Paul!” 

Christopher Basso has known Paul Hersh for over 40 years since working on his undergraduate degree at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. “His words and his insights into the music have stayed with me over all of these years and even in my own teaching today, I find myself harkening back to the things that I’ve learned from Paul – elements in the music I look for as a result of studying with him. I think for musicians in the Bay Area, Paul is central to that musical life not only for pianists but string players, because Paul is in that unique position where he’s a pianist who is also a violist, so he is exposed to music and plays music that pianists can only dream of. He adds insight from a string player’s point of view, which is more rare with pianists. I don’t know any other pianist who also plays another instrument professionally.” 

In a masterclass series that Paul gave at the Conservatory on Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas, Chris remembers hearing the 3rd movement of Op. 109 for the first time – “I’d never heard anything like it!  I’ve studied the piece for over four decades on and off, and every time I come back to it there’s new insights, new things to be discovered – you never finish a piece. That’s the great thing about music, it’s a living thing, so every time I come back to it, there’s been something else that I’ve picked up on.”,