In The Mood For California

The Immigrant who composed Los Angeles

Episode Summary

Today we’ll feel and experience the life of Sergei Rachmaninoff in Los Angeles through an interview with incredible Dr. Keenan Reesor! Dr. Keenan Reesor is a musicologist and pianist, equally at home in the archive, concert hall, and classroom. As a scholar, he specializes in the music and reception of Sergei Rachmaninoff, and his research has taken him to the British Library, the Library of Congress, and the Glinka Russian Museum of Musical Culture. As a pianist, Dr. Reesor has performed across the United States and Europe and is a double laureate of the Palm Springs International Piano Competition. He currently serves as Associate Professor of Music and Director of Keyboard Studies at Southern Virginia University. He and his wife, Nonie, are the proud parents of five boys, ages two to fourteen. Dr Reesor will share with us what Rachmaninoff’s life was like when he lived in Los Angeles.