Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and her longtime collaborator, pianist Lambert Orkis are good friends of mine. Last weekend, we had a lovely dinner at Bar Boulud in NYC immediately following their recital at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center. It was the last performance of Anne-Sophie’s year-long residency with the New York Philharmonic.

As dessert was served, Lambert casually mentioned something that instantly caught my attention – his rules on how to always give a perfect performance. He called these rules “The Seven C’s.” Coming from a Grammy award-winning veteran performer, I knew that his rules would be worth memorizing, and recording here on my blog for others to learn from.

He was kind enough to write up a summary of our conversation, and I’m honored to present his rules on my blog.

Here are Lambert Orkis’ Seven C’s:
CALM, CONCENTRATE, COUNT, COMMAS, COURAGE, CHOICE, CONSISTENCY

Stay CALM: Your higher mental functions are blocked when […]