Pastorale No. 2 Painting

About Gerald R. Lishka I can't trust Gerald to tell you about himself. I knew him 17 years before he mentioned that he had shared vodka with Baryshnikov. ("You did what?!") Or you might side with him and think it irrelevant. You might also think it tangential that pianist Soulima Stravinsky (son of Igor) broke out in spontaneous solo applause after Gerald performed the first movement of Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3. If you know something about classical music concerts, then you know that it is customary to wait til the end of a concerto to applaud. Stravinsky made a rare exception for Gerald's performance. That was okay. After all, he was a Stravinsky. Gerald's first art was music, you see. As a small boy, Gerald watched from behind heavy velvet curtains as the great pianists of our time made their way to the concert stage in his small town of Bloomington, Illinois. Gerald's father was the Curtain Master. Arthur Rubinstein and Alicia de Larrocha and others performed just a few feet away from where little Gerald stood quietly and respectfully, watching and listening as the music nurtured his artist's soul. When he was a young man, while others of his generation were obsessed with Beatlemania, Gerald was practicing piano 10 hours a day. He was vaguely aware of the "Beagles," but classical music was his world. Some years later, when the great ballerina, Marina Svetlova urged Gerald to write a book of instruction for pianists who wished to play for the ballet, he wrote A HANDBOOK FOR THE BALLET ACCOMPANIST, and his second art was born. The book became internationally recognized and the music world's definitive source for this technique. Gerald continued to write and to publish books, one of which was a tome of poetry. Yes, he is a poet, not only with words, but also visually now with his paintings. I predicted it. Gerald is passionate about his art, whatever its manifestation. When he suddenly took an interest in the visual arts a few years ago, he began an intense independent study that took him through the history of art in general and then lingered on artists that especially inspired him. You may recognize their influence. When he wanted to learn how to pronounce the artists' names correctly, he studied German and Dutch. Had he been younger, he would have taught himself the entire languages. That is how he came to speak fluent Spanish. But that truly is another story...