There is a very special connection in the collaboration between composer and performer. While this connection most often exists through the veil of life and death, I have been blessed with the joy of working with a living composer. I began exploring the piano music of Gregory Mertl in 2015 when I first learned and performed his Souffle et Contresouffle and subsequently Pears on a Sill. I have always felt a deep emotional connection to the music that I perform, and I was immediately drawn to Greg's musical language. We were introduced by a mutual friend and have happily remained musically connected. It is because of this friendship that Pictures Without an Exhibition came into being, and it is truly one of the greatest gifts I have ever received. The sheer scope and imagination behind it are so far beyond anything I could have dreamed of when I commissioned him to write a piece for me in 2019, and I am hopeful that the musical world will delight in it as deeply as I have.