DS: As a child I heard a piano that my Aunt owned, being played by her daughters. I was transported and mesmerized by the sound. I started banging on the poor instrument as soon as I could reach the keys. My aunt was quite generous as she allowed me to literally bang on the keys for hours, joyfully explaining to the protestations of others that my need to play was greater than their need for peace and quiet. Eventually the cousins who played gave me intermittent lessons. I absorbed everything. I continued because nothing else in my life allowed me to express such a myriad of feelings, emotions and thoughts as did music, especially the piano.

HK: What was your favorite project or musical experience and why?

DS: Playing in the junior high school orchestra was the beginning of my maturity as a musician. I learned to play the cello and began to relate to others musically. The group in school was really an all school orchestra and included beginners and advanced players sitting side by side. We played Schubert, Tchaikowsky, Bach, and much great literature. This lead to regular Sunday musicals and chamber music.

HK: Can you tell me something about your work processes; for instance, how do you begin working on a new composition?

DS: I am committed to the art song. Generally working from texts, especially American poetry, I choose a poem that is meaningful to me. Then I do considerable reading silently and aloud, taping it and playing it back until some rhythmic form and setting starts to reveal itself. Work on the melody then begins to take shape, after which I begin working on the setting.

HK: Do or did you have a mentor, someone who influenced you?

DS: Douglas Marsh, my first cello teacher in Ann Arbor, who hosted musicals in his home for a mixture of students and professional musicians. A fine cellist, a beautiful human being.

HK: Tell me about your most rewarding collaboration.

DS: The most rewarding is working with the soprano Rebecca Jones of San Rafael, California. She is an exceptional musician and artist who most of my songs are written for. Certainly she is my muse. She works with me in progress, and critiques the work as it comes off the page.

HK: Have you ever created something for a specific targeted audience?

DS: Not until just recently, in fact, with the exception of a piece for the Marin Arts Council reception, I have not thought of the audience at all.

HK: Tell me about your current project.

DS: A piece written for two sopranos and piano called CELEBRATE, OH CELEBRATE THIS NOISE! Marin Arts Council gave me a small grant for composition and in appreciation I wrote this piece for a reception they had for grantees. The singers were Daria Mautner and Rebecca Jones. Again, writing for specific voices.

HK: Are there other artistic disciplines that have interested you, in which you would like to work?

DS: Fine art -- painting. I love to go to museums and galleries and I find visual art meaningful to my well being as a musician. Poetry and literature. I would like to write a large choral work, and I actually have a few subjects in mind.

HK: If you had not been a musician, what professional path do you think you would have followed?

DS: I cannot imagine another life than the one I lead.

HK: What would you like to do that you haven't done?

DS: I'd like to learn to play a wind instrument. I also want to write in larger forms.

HK: How do you balance making a living with making art?

DS: A great deal of my time is spent making a living. As a pianist and conductor I am always working as a musician. I wish for more time to create, but I am luckier than some in that I make my living as a musician.

HK: What do you do to continue to grow as a musician/composer and keep the ideas flowing and fresh?

DS: I listen and play music as if it were for the first time, every time. I never get bored playing, even if I have played the same piece a hundred times. I have trained myself to find something fresh and new each time I sit down to play, or listen.

HK: What is your mission as an artist?

DS: It has always been to find and express truth, to be musically and emotionally sincere.