Menu Close

Paw to Paw: The Maestro Meets His Muse

Nora The Piano Cat

Nora With Mindaugas

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?

•••••••••••••••••••

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.

A Very Special Gift from Another Nora…

Nora The Piano Cat

When CATcerto composer Mindaugas Piecaitis came to the United States last year to meet me for the first time, he brought with him a very special gift from a very special young human girl who just happened to also be named Nora. It was a wonderful drawing of me having a great time at the piano. She also included a few of my siblings. Anyway, I love the drawing, Nora, and the photos of you that Mindaugas shared with us all. Thank you so much.

NoraDrawingOfNora

Nora & CATcerto Featured on Russian Psychic TV Show

Nora The Piano Cat


Yours truly and CATcerto, by Lithuanian composer Mindaugas Piecaitis, was featured on an episode of the Russian TV show, “The Battle of Psychics.” How about that?

Here’s how it works: A human psychic is isolated in a sound proof booth and a piece of music or other audio is played for the audience. The sound is also connected to a large circular bowl or disc of some sort with a thin layer of sand on the surface. The sound cause the sand to bounce around, forming patterns. After the sound has been played, the psychic is then invited to view the sand patterns and attempt to guess the sound or music.

Personally, I don’t understand Ukrainian, but I get the feeling the psychic guessed correctly. Perhaps, one of my Ukrainian fans can let me know.

The Maestro Meets His Muse…

Nora The Piano Cat

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 Mindaugas Piecaitis Meets His MuseNora takes his hand...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.

Mindaugas displays the Nora technique...

“Fur & Flying Feathers” CATcerto Comes to Colorado…

Nora The Piano Cat

David RutherfordOn 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

 

CATcerto in Amsterdam…

Nora The Piano Cat

Mindaugas Piecaitis, the composer of CATcerto, just sent B&B a scan of one of the pages of the printed program for the recent performance of CATcerto in Amsterdam (November 11, 2011). As you know, CATcerto was composed by Piecaitis and based on my piano stylings. It features yours truly as guest soloist via a large video screen placed behind the orchestra. As of Nov. 11, CATcerto has been performed fourteen times in five countries.

Program From Amsterdam ConcertMaestro Piecaitis explains that it is customary in a program to list first information about the pieces being performed, then about the composers, and finally about the soloists. This image is a scan of the page about the soloists – complete with photos. I can’t read the paragraph about me, because it’s in Dutch. Any Dutch-speaking fans out there care to translate? (Click thumbnail to view full image.)

A YouTube video of the very first performance of CATcerto, performed by Klaipėda Chamber Orchestra in the Klaipėda Concert Hall in Klaipėda (Lithuania) on 5th June, 2009, can be found at: http://youtu.be/zeoT66v4EHg

For more info on CATcerto: http://www.catcerto.com

You can also read more about it right here on my website by clicking the “CATcerto” button at the top of the page.

CATcerto – Main Themes for Piano…

Nora The Piano Cat


Mindaugas Piecaitis, composer of CATcerto, which was inspired by my piano playing and features me as guest soloist via a video screen, created a piano score of the Main Themes from CATcerto. And here’s a video of Clemens Kummer, a student of Piecaitis, playing the piano piece. If you enjoy it, please consider leaving a comment on YouTube and sharing it with your friends.