Catcerto – Nora The Piano Cat

Paw to Paw: The Maestro Meets His Muse

Nora The Piano Cat April 7, 2016

To get to the place where the photo above would become a reality, much had to happen. It all began a long time ago, well, it was actually 2009, when a Lithuaian conductor of the Klaipeda Chamber Orchestra was sent a link to a very famous video of a cat playing the piano. That conductor was Mindaugas Piecaitis. The cat, in case you haven’t already guessed, was me. Maestro Piecaitis is a brilliant human being, obviously, who saw the potential in the piano stylings of moi. And he set about composing a concerto inspired by those stylings. The result was a beautiful piece of music titled CATcerto. Clever, eh?

The piece was premiered in 2009 by the Klaipeda Chamber Orchestra with Maestro Piecaitis at the podium and me, as guest soloist, projected onto a large screen behind the musicians. It was a rousing success and was eventually published by Peter’s Publishing. To date, CATcerto has been performed 20 times by orchestras around the world. It even made it into the Guiness Book as the first concerto ever written for a cat.

Then in late 2012, Maestro and muse (that’s me) met for the very first time when Mindaugas flew to the United States and spent several days with me, my siblings, and my purrsonal assistants, Burnell and Betsy. It was during the very first moments of that meeting that Burnell took the now famous photo of our paws touching on the piano bench.

Maestro Piecaitis was heard to remark, “I feel I must be dreaming.” Truth be told, it was I who was humbled by his presence. A gray tabby rescued from the streets of Camden, New Jersey only to one day touch paws with the Maestro from halfway around the world. Of such things are not dreams made?

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You can watch the video that Mindaugas Piecaitis was inspired by HERE.
And click HERE to watch CATcerto.

Orchestras who may wish to perform the piece should contact Peter’s Publishing for the sheet music and the DVD for the projection.

CATcerto To Be Performed By Queensland Symphony Orchestra

Nora The Piano Cat May 10, 2014

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers, feline and otherwise, out there. My own mother was a stray cat who gave birth to her litter in Camden NJ. My earliest weeks were spent on the streets of Camden. It was there I was rescued by Furrever Friends, and eventually came to live in Philadelphia with my purrsonal assistants, Burnell and Betsy. Although, I haven’t seen my mother since, she is the reason I am here today and able to share my love of music with you.

I was reminded by all this when I received the news this morning from Mindaugas Piecaitis, my friend and composer of CATcerto, that CATcerto is being performed on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 11, 2014 by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Guy Noble. And yes, I’m talking about Australia. For all my friends and fans from downunder, details of the concert can be found at http://qso.com.au/happy-mothers-day.

And I would really love to hear from anyone attending the concert. You can write me at nora@norathepianocat.com

The Maestro Meets His Muse…

Nora The Piano Cat September 2, 2012

August 24, 2012 – a day that will live in the annals of feline history forever. It was the day that a human travelled across the ocean to meet his feline muse. The human was a Lithuanian composer/conductor by the name of Mindaugas Piecaitis. As my many fans, friends and admirers know, Maestro Piecaitis is the composer of CATcerto – a concerto inspired by the piano stylings of yours truly, Nora The Piano Cat. This wonderful piece of music was written and conducted by Piecaitis and performed by the Klaipeda Chamber Orchestra. I, of course, was the guest soloist and appeared via a pre-recorded video projected onto a large screen behind the orchestra. The concerto went on to be published by Peters Publishing and has been performed, to date, twenty times in five counties since it’s premiere in 2009. The video of the world premiere in Lithuania has been viewed several million times on YouTube. All this and still I had not met the composer face to face. All that changed on August 24, 2012.

Maestro Piecaitis arrived in the early evening. As he rounded the top of the stairs, I ran to the piano, jumped up on the bench and struck a few notes. He smiled and hurried over. “I feel I am dreaming,” he said. I settled in and allowed his adoration to continue. For a time, he sat on the floor and gazed into my eyes as I gazed into his. I stretched out a paw and touched his hand. It was moment of communion between like minds, between kindred spirits. Piecaitis did, with CATcerto, what I most certainly would have done had I been born with ten fingers. (Click thumbnail to view full image.)

Later, during our three day visit, I played a bit more and he displayed a few playing techniques he had learned from watching my videos. He’s working on mastering the head roll. I felt honored and humbled. When he left, I felt sad but also very happy we had had the time to share some very special moments. And I’m certain we’ll meet again.

More Photos from the Most Recent Performance of CATcerto…

Nora The Piano Cat June 20, 2012

Here’s a few more shots from the Saturday, June 16, 2012 performance of CATcerto by Mindaugas Piecaitis, conducted by Richard Rosenberg and performed by the Festival Symphony Orchestra at the National Music Festival, Decker Theatre, Washington College, Chestertown, MD. Check out the previous post for more info. (All photographs were kindly provided by Philip Rosenberg.)

Rehearsal shot, Richard Rosenberg conducting the Festival Symphony Orchestra. And that’s me on the big screen (in case you were wondering).

Maestro Rosenberg conducts CATcerto.

Maestro Rosenberg gestures toward yours truly on the big screen during the rousing applause.

My devoted personal assistants, Betsy Alexander and Burnell Yow!, who attended the concert on my behalf, are thrilled to meet Maestro Rosenberg. Hopefully, I’ll be meeting him in person in the not-to-distant future.

CATcerto Performed at Washington College…

Nora The Piano Cat June 17, 2012

Last night, June 16th, 2012, Richard Rosenberg conducted CATcerto by Mindaugas Piecaitis at the closing of this years National Music Festival in Chestertown, MD. As you know, CATcerto was written especially for me, and I appear via video on a large screen above my human collaborators. The piece has been performed over 17 times by orchestras around the world. Maestro Rosenberg has, himself, conducted the work four times. What makes last nights performance especially significant for me is that my personal assistants, Burnell and Betsy, were able to attend the concert on my behalf. I don’t travel well, so I tend to stay home. It was a fantastic experience for them both, as this was the first time they had seen it performed live. They also got to meet the conductor afterwards. I am told he is not only a big fan of CATcerto as a musical work, but also is quite a fan of yours truly. And he’s a real animal lover who, along with his wife, Caitlin Patton, has rescued a number of other very lucky dogs and cats. Here’s a photo of the Maestro with Betsy taken by Burnell. Other photos were taken by another photographer, and as soon as I get copies of those, I’ll post them.

“Fur & Flying Feathers” CATcerto Comes to Colorado…

Nora The Piano Cat January 21, 2012

On January 28th, 2012, the Longmont Symphony Orchestra, with guest conductor, David Rutherford (pictured at left), will perform a program titled “Fur and Flying Feathers.” Works included in the concert are by John Williams, Mussorgsky, Saint-Saens, and my favorite, Mindaugas Piecaitis. Maestro Piecaitis, as you well know, is the composer of CATcerto. And, if you haven’t guessed by now, the “fur” part of the program is the performance of CATcerto with video of yours truly projected onto a large screen behind the orchestra. Perhaps you’ve seen the YouTube video of the original performance with Piecaitis conducting the Klaipėda Chamber Orchestra in the Klaipėda Concert Hall in Klaipėda (Lithuania): http://youtu.be/zeoT66v4EHg

CATcerto has been performed 14 times in 5 countries. And now it comes to Longmont, Colorado in the United States. If you live nearby, I do hope you check it out. The fur and feathers will be flying.

For more info, check out the article by Quentin Young, Longmont Times-Call.

Or http://www.longmontsymphony.org/

For more info on CATcerto: catcerto.com

For more info on Nora The Piano Cat: norathepianocat.com