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Pianist's Passions Span Music, America and Wolves

French-born musician Helene Grimaud describes playing the piano as a "reconciliation of opposites."

"You're both absent and incredibly aware at the same time," she says.

On her latest CD, Reflection, Grimaud explores the works of the composers Robert Schumann, his wife Clara, and Johannes Brahms. It's a thematic, organized work that looks at the love and inspiration the three composers shared.

At the same time, Grimaud's autobiography, Wild Harmonies, has been published in English. In the book, she examines two of her great loves: America and wolves.

The 36-year-old pianist says her connection to the United States, where she arrived at age 21 and now lives, is instinctive and powerful. And she describes how meeting a she-wolf named Alawa in Tallahassee, Fla., changed her life — and helped persuade her to found a wolf conservation center in New York.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Robert Siegel
Prior to his retirement, Robert Siegel was the senior host of NPR's award-winning evening newsmagazine All Things Considered. With 40 years of experience working in radio news, Siegel hosted the country's most-listened-to, afternoon-drive-time news radio program and reported on stories and happenings all over the globe, and reported from a variety of locations across Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia. He signed off in his final broadcast of All Things Considered on January 5, 2018.