The Other Side of Magic
by Lisa McDivitt
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New York City, and Juilliard in particular, is filled with young, talented people like Greg and Liz. Any one of them might be on the brink of a brilliant solo career but given the impossible odds, a career as a high school music teacher or insurance salesman might be more plausible.
But Greg and Liz, both 24, demand more than the usual attention because of what happens when they play together. It is nothing short of magic.
“The wonderful thing about Greg and Elizabeth is they are individually extraordinary pianists and artists, with electrifying public appeal,” said David Dubal, one of their professors at Juilliard. But Dubal’s view of the classical music world touches upon the sobering realities that can eclipse any kind of magic emanating from the duo.
The story of Greg and Liz demonstrates all of the vagaries of the classical music world. One day the duo is preparing conventional fare for an audition, and the next day they are performing their own composition on motives from Star Wars. They aim to define themselves as a serious duo simply out of an absolute love for music, and they do it all with incredible ease, humility, and humor.
As Dubal once told the two, “If there were actually a musical career out there, it would be yours, baby."
Liz, the middle of three sisters, comes from a family of music aficionados. Her mother played the violin and conducted ensembles in her youth, two of her aunts teach music, and her older and younger sister played the violin and cello, respectively. Liz began the piano at age six, after taking a few months of violin lessons. Whatever her background suggests, Liz does not befit the stereotype of the Asian female classical musician. When she goes back home to Chicago, she and her younger sister are prone to singing vivacious renditions of Beatles songs. (Somewhat amusingly, one of our dinner conversations was consumed by the topic of her musical tastes outside of the classical genre; she mentioned at least 20 different bands.)
When Liz was eight years old, she went from taking lessons with the neighborhood piano teacher to studying with Emilio del Rosario, a renowned Chicago instructor who has trained scores of prodigious students. To audition for study with Rosario, she – in true Liz Roe fashion – played a Bach piece, a Romantic piece, and her own arrangement of Paul McCartney’s “Yesterday.”
During her teen years Liz reaped significant performance experience and success on the competition circuit, but throughout she remained a dedicated student. By the time she was ready for college, she had a decision to make. She was accepted to Princeton University, where she would have pursued a major in the humanities or social sciences, but she was also accepted to Juilliard. “I couldn’t decide. Typical of me,” Liz said. Torn between the prestigious university and the legendary conservatory, she deferred matriculation at Princeton and walked onto the concrete courtyard of Juilliard. For the first time in her life she was immersed in an environment filled with people her age who were as into music as she was. She felt at home there, and she stayed.