The Piano and Me – 14 July 2026

Hershey Felder never fails to dazzle me. He is one of the world’s most profoundly interesting multi-hyphenates because if even one of the skills he purports to have was subpar, the conceptual framework of his performances would fall on its face. Felder is best known for his solo shows in which he portrays a famous musical composer, talks about their life from their perspective, performs some of their pieces, and conveys the significance of their life’s work in the context of music history. Thus, Felder is a writer, an actor, a historian, a teacher, and most triumphantly, a musician. The Piano and Me is Felder’s highly anticipated deviation from this format; in The Piano and Me, Felder tells his own story, right up to the point where he began creating these deep dives into composers’  lives. His robust storytelling skills and incredible musical capabilities take the audience through his experience as a child of immigrants growing up in the shadow of the Holocaust trying to make purpose and meaning (and a living!) at the piano.

Though every element of Felder’s performance is pristine, his most commendable is undoubtedly his musicianship. When Felder plays, the world stops to listen. His hands glide over the keys seemingly without touching and the nuance in every note is acutely felt all over the house. There is one moment of the story in which Felder lovingly discusses building a chord, stating that you can’t just bang on the notes involved because each note has its own weight and purpose. He approaches the entire production that way, which is what makes his story really shine.

Story wise, Felder spends a lot of time painting a picture of his early years studying the piano. He talks about his family and the relentless expectations of his piano teachers. He begins to talk about his family’s Judaism, though, worth noting, never his own practice. Towards the end of the work, Felder shares an experience he had performing at the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Aushwitz, getting stories from survivors, including mangled survivors of Dr. Mengele’s vicious experiments. He approaches his life’s experiences with both reverence and humility. His first show on the life of George Gershwin blossomed out of the story of a survivor, and since then, Felder has been on a mission to tell the untold stories of many prolific composers, revealing remarkable parts of their stories that would otherwise have turned to dust. Even in this composition, he seems not to acknowledge that his story also fits among them as one that is rare, strange, surprising, and worth preserving.

The timely nature of The Piano and Me cannot be understated. We live in a world of unprecedented Holocaust denial. We live in a world that has forgotten how to make space for immigrants and their stories. We also live in a world with many modalities that provide hope and joy. Hershey Felder’s performance absolutely does that. Until now, in his quest to make sure that the lives of historic composers do not fade away, he has not told much of his own story. His story should also not fade away and be lost to the world. He is an incredible talent and the product of a truly incredible journey. We hear it best in his music.

I attended this performance on a press pass from Berlin Rosen.