SAM ROTMAN - From Juilliard To Jesus: A Master Pianist's Journey From Orthodox Judaism to Christian Faith - The Will Spencer Podcast

Episode Transcript
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(00:41):
Sam Rotman received hisBachelor and Master of Music degrees
from the Juilliard School inNew York City.
He has been among the winnersin five piano competitions, both
in the United States and Europe.
The most prestigious award wasthat of laureate winner in the 4th
International BeethovenCompetition in Vienna, Austria, in
1978, Mr.
Rotman participated in the 6thInternational Tchaikovsky Piano Competition

(01:05):
in Moscow, Russia.
In May 2016, he was awarded anHonorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree
from Master's University.
Mr.
Rotman has given over 3,400performances around the world, totaling
62 countries.
Sam Rotman, welcome to theWill Spencer Podcast.
It's an honor to be here.
I'm happy to be here.
Thanks so much for having me.
I've been really lookingforward to this conversation.

(01:27):
You have an incredible story,both coming to Christ and what you've
done after.
So let's begin at the beginning.
Maybe give the listeners a bitof an idea of your testimony.
We have a similar background.
Okay.
Yes.
My parents were both born inEastern Europe.
My father in Romania, mymother in Czechoslovakia at the time.
And they left Europe in 1940because of Adolf Hitler in the Second

(01:50):
World War.
They were Orthodox Jews, very religious.
And 11 months after my fatherleft Romania, the Nazis came, came
to the town, came to thehouse, killed his parents, took them,
his sister, to a concentration camp.
Never heard from again.
But my father escaped and likea lot of Jews had to get out of Europe

(02:14):
and like a lot of Jews endedup in South America.
There were a few countriesthat had an immigration.
They heard what was happeningto Jews, so they ended up in a small
country on the equator, Ecuador.
Quito, Ecuador, the capital.
My brother and sister wereborn there in the spring of 1950.
My mother was pregnant with me.

(02:36):
And my father wanted to bringhis family to the United States.
He filled out all thispaperwork and came to the United
States through New York City.
I got permission, obviously,and I was born five months later.
And I was raised in a very,very religious Jewish home.
My grandparents died for being Jewish.
My parents suffered for being Jewish.
I was with all my Jewish heritage.
And so I went to public schooland then I went to Hebrew school.

(02:59):
Our synagogue was a large synagogue.
We could afford a bigeducation program, a Hebrew school.
I learned Hebrew.
I learned all about being Jewish.
I learned hundreds of prayers,went to Hebrew school five days a
week for eight years.
So this was not a two weekcourse on how to be a better Jew.
This was a commitment for your life.
Yeah.
All my friends were Jewish,all my relatives were Jewish.

(03:22):
But when I was about 12 yearsold, I remember very specifically
that I realized I wasbeginning to develop a very foul
mouth.
I could curse, I could lie tomy teachers.
Not a lot, but enough.
My parents, not a lot, but enough.
So I was religious in thesynagogue, and these prayers meant

(03:42):
a lot to me.
And then it was easy to be religious.
And then an hour later, Icould swear and curse and lie.
So I was good at bothreligious and being irreligious.
But at Juilliard School, asyou mentioned, I met three students
there who called themselvesBorn again Christians.
I had no idea what that meant,but there was something about them.

(04:02):
One would be having lunch inthe cafeteria.
Another person would be takinga break from practicing, and they
were always reading the Bible.
And I thought, wow, this isnot a school of religion.
It's a school of music.
These were musicians, highly respected.
When they got together, allthey did was talk about Jesus.
Jesus did this.
Jesus said this.
Jesus.
Why did Jesus say this?
Why did Jesus do this?

(04:22):
So it was never church, neverthe C word.
Christianity.
It always, Jesus, Jesus,Jesus, Jesus.
Yeshua in Hebrew.
This was real quick.
This is like 1960, 1969, 1970, 71.
That year, that school year,1970, 71.
And so it was my third year at Juilliard.

(04:43):
And so what happened was theyheard I was a religious Jew.
They began to talk to me, andthey asked me basically two questions.
Have I ever read the NewTestament, which I never had.
You know, the Jews were told,the New Testament is not for the
Jews.
And I never saw one, neverread one, never touched one.
I had no idea what was in it.
I mean, zero knowledge.
And then they asked me if Ithought of Jesus could be the Messiah

(05:05):
the Jews are waiting for.
Mashiach in Hebrew, the Messiah.
He's not the hope for Jewish people.
But I always share thisbecause I was very, very moral on
the outside.
I never drank alcohol, neverwas drunk, never took drugs.
I lived in New York City from1968-73, the height of the Vietnam
War hippie movement.
There were drugs all over NewYork City.

(05:25):
I lived at 71st street inBroadway, uptown, Manhattan.
There were drugs everywhere.
Never took it, never hadpremarital sex.
But even though I was so moralon the outside, so religious, I was
very immoral on the inside.
I knew that I was not on theinside the way I could appear on
the outside.
I could do many Jewish thingsand never affected me on the inside.

(05:46):
Very moral, religious, but not changed.
The same foul mouth, dirtyminded, self centered, egotistical
person.
So I made a big Decision.
I said, well, if I want toknow about this person, Jesus Christ,
I'm going to read this book,the New Testament.
So that was a big step for a Jewish.
I didn't want to talk to arabbi, priest, minister, any religious.
I'm going to read this book.

(06:06):
So when I was at Juilliard, Iused to practice for 10 hours a day.
So that's not a lie or an exaggeration.
I didn't sit at the piano for9 hours and 45 minutes.
I sat every day at the pianofor 10 hours.
I never left Juilliard until Ipracticed 10 hours a day.
I started to read the NewTestament, and my whole life came
to a stop.
I was shocked when I read this book.

(06:28):
They gave me a little pocketNew Testament.
And they said, well, if youread it starting this book called
the Gospel of John.
Never heard of it, but Iopened it up, and there it is.
So now I'm going to quote youwhat I read in this book.
Here was a man, Jesus, whosaid, I am the light of the world.
I thought, really, I mean.
Oh, my.
I mean, Moses, you know,Moses, the Jews.
He never said he was the lightof the world.

(06:49):
Abraham, the father of theJews, never said he was a lie to
the world.
Here was a man who said, I amthe bread of life.
Here's a man who said, nobodycomes to God, my Father, except through
me.
He who has the Son of God has life.
He who does not have the Sonof God does not have life.
I am the vine, you are the branches.
Without me, you can do nothing.
No, no, no, no.
Without God, I can do nothing.

(07:09):
No, no.
Sam.
Sam, without me, you can do nothing.
You want to know God?
You want to serve God?
You want to obey God?
Sam, you know me.
You serve me.
You owe me.
Jesus said, you believe inGod, believe also in me.
The same adoration you givethe Adonai, Elohim, El Shaddai, the
Almighty, you give to me.
Well, let me tell you what Isaid to myself.

(07:31):
I said, this man's a lunatic.
I said, look, this is beyondthe pale.
This is too much.
And I was going to throw awaythe New Testament.
I remember the garbage can.
I was throw it away.
I'm going to go practice.
Yeah.
This first time in my lifesince I stopped practicing, since
starting as a little boy, Icompletely stopped practicing.
All I was absorbed.
I went back, read more of theNew Testament, read.

(07:52):
Went back to the Old Testamentbecause the New Gospel of Matthew
quotes the Old Testament so much.
Written to Jews.
And I thought wow.
You know, I mean, they'replagiarizing, taking it.
But then, oh, maybe he's not plagiarizing.
Maybe he's explaining what Iread in the Old Testament.
So I'm going to throw this book.
And then I said to myself,look, if this person, Jesus is who

(08:15):
he says he is, if he is who hesays he is, who are you?
Jesus?
Sam, I'm the light of the world.
And if you don't believe it,I'm still the light of the world.
And if nobody believes it, I'mthe light of the world.
If he is who he says he is, Imay be making the biggest mistake
of my life, throwing this book away.
I better listen to him.
And then Jesus kept sayingabout coming for sinners.

(08:38):
Well, I was not a sinner.
I was very moral, religious.
I look good for God.
I was on God's side.
But he said he came to bringforgiveness, a new life, a new birthday,
spiritual life, spiritualbirth, spiritual heart.
So you've read.
I've played concerts in 62 countries.
And it doesn't matter whatyour skin color is, what politics
you are, what language youspeak, what culture from.

(09:01):
Because everybody in the worldis good at hiding things.
The first thing man did whenhe disobeyed God was to hide.
We figured out a billion waysof how to hide things.
You can hide things fromfriends, from someone at work, from
a church.
You can husband and wife,children from their parents.
But no one hides anything fromthis person, the Almighty, from this
Jesus.

(09:21):
And on May 21, 1971, May 21,1971, 119 West 71st Street, Apartment
4B.
I said, My name is Sam Rotman.
And Jesus, I want you to takeover my life.
My name is Sam Rotman, and Iwant you to take over my life.
I told him the lies I said thecurse words.

(09:43):
I said the immoral thoughts I had.
I didn't hide anything from him.
And I made no excuses.
No excuses.
It was a long prayer.
I finished praying, I openedup my eyes and instantly will instantly,
in a billionth of a second, Iknew that Jesus Christ completely
changed me on the inside.
I had a dirty, filthy mouth.
He cleaned it and changed it.

(10:05):
I was shocked.
I stopped cursing.
And I like to say if I triedto form a curse with my lips, I couldn't.
I had a dirty mind.
He cleaned it and changed it.
I mean, it was like I was anew life.
It was.
And the next morning, I wokeup, I thanked Jesus Christ, thank
Jesus Christ.
Thank Jesus Christ.
I went to Juilliard and I wentto every practice room on the fourth

(10:28):
floor of every Jewish friendof mine, and I said, I've been transformed.
And it was by the Messiah.
And his name is Yeshua Hamashiach.
Jesus.
Jesus.
Jesus is the Christ.
And I played over 3400concerts, and all of my concerts
are nothing compared to him.
Music's not the most thing inmy life.
He is the most important thingbecause he's the only person that

(10:50):
can change your heart.
You can't change your heart.
The reality in the world iseveryone's good at hiding things.
The miracle in the world isthat Jesus Christ can change a human
heart.
The church can't change you.
Husband and wife can't change you.
Friends can't change you.
Government can't change you.
And you can't change you.
Therapists can't change you.
No.
But this is the miracle.
Jesus Christ actuallytransforms a human heart.

(11:13):
And he's done it to hundredsof millions of them.
And I'm one of them.
Little me.
And I realize now that I playthe piano for him.
He gave me the ears to hearthe music, the fingers to play the
music, the mind to learn the music.
Jesus has never missed one ofmy concerts.
And every time I give aconcert in a concert hall, going
to Europe in a week forconcerts, playing with an orchestra,

(11:34):
he's always in the front row.
And he says, sam, I'm lookingforward to hearing you play for me
this evening or this afternoon.
It's worth living for Jesus Christ.
And past disappoint you.
People can disappoint you, buthe's worth it.
He's worth it.
And music gives me a lot ofhappiness in a concert.

(11:56):
I'll play 40,000 notes at aconcert, but not one note will change
me.
Jesus changed me, gave me anew life.
It's worth living for him.
And that's it.
I mean, for me to live isChrist, for me to live is Christ.
Yeah.
There's so much there that Iwant to dig into and so much that
I can relate to it.
That's the overview testimonyat 30,000ft.

(12:18):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
I know more aspects of thestory as well.
I think the first one that I'minterested in is how did your playing
change after your conversion?
So we're here.
We're in 1971, I think you said.
Yes, may have.
71.
So you had started playingwhen you were what's nine years old?
It says here at age 16, youmade your debut with the San Antonio

(12:39):
Symphony.
Orchestra before an audienceof 6,000 people.
So we're talking about howmany years of you being a performer
at the highest level.
Right, the highest level foryour age group especially.
And then after that point whenyou got converted, did your playing
change?
Did your practicing change?
Like what began to shift inthat essential part of your life?

(13:00):
Yeah, people have asked methat many times.
Yeah, you must have been a.
Become a really good pianistafter you came to know Jesus.
I was a good pianist before Iknew Jesus.
I mean, I know famousmusicians that are tremendous musicians.
They haven't got an inklingfor Jesus.
So the point was, was that Iwas a good pianist before I came
to know Jesus.
Did my playing improve?

(13:20):
No.
I'll tell you what happened, though.
My whole attitude, my wholeworld changed.
Now I knew who gave me the talent.
Now I know who I'm playing for.
Now I know who to thanks thank.
Now I knew who to acknowledgethat makes all the difference in
the world.
See, my attitude was, I'mgoing to be great.
I'm going to be rich.

(13:41):
I'm going to be playing inconcert halls.
I'm going to be.
And if I told Jesus that, hesays, good, yeah, go ahead, go ahead.
You can go ahead and do that.
Enjoy that.
And I said, I'll play at any concert.
I'll play on any piano.
Because Jesus played any pianofor me.
I don't care how much money Iearn, I.
I want to play.
I want to serve you with thegift you've given to me.
And Jesus then said to me,sam, I have a lot of places where

(14:02):
I could have you go play for me.
I've played 3,400 concerts, 62 countries.
If I would have thought I'dplay in 60, I'd say that's ridiculous.
Nobody plays in 60 countries.
I mean, pianists that I knowwho are famous and they haven't played
in 60 countries and stuff.
But I'm not saying this to brag.
I'm only saying is that mywhole attitude, I pray before a concert.

(14:24):
I asked Lord to help me.
He's now at every concert.
That's a big change.
And it's almost like as if Iwas practicing 10 hours a day.
My daughter once figured out Ipracticed 18,500 hours for my five
years at Juilliard.
Okay, 18,000.
That's a little bit more thanthe 10,000 hour rule.
Yeah, that's right.
That's right.

(14:45):
By the Outliers of book there.
Yes.
So my point was, was that Iwas going to play and practice for
my My agenda, my glory and everything.
So I put in all this music,all this practice, all this proficiency,
you know, and then in onenight, in a sense, Jesus said, all

(15:05):
that practicing you've doneand all that I've deposited into
you and all those notes andeverything, you're now going to play
for me.
You're now going to play for me.
So it's not like now I havemore proficiency or something.
But I asked the Lord to helpmy practicing, you know, so improve
to learn a piece, you know, Ibring it all to him.

(15:26):
I bring it all to him and heanswers and he's intricately involved.
And so, you know, I, in asense, you know, I want to reach
people for Jesus Christ byplaying Beethoven.
And you can.
Yes.
Because the whole point isthat if I played Christian music
in 62 countries and there'sgreat Christian musicians, I mean,
there's no doubt.
But I went to 62 countries,it'd be filled with Christians.

(15:48):
Jewish people are not going tocome to hear a pianist play Amazing
Grace, but they'll come here.
A pianist play Beethoven, a Muslim.
I've been to Turkey, I've beento Muslim countries, you know, they're
not going to hear someone playChristian music, but they'll come
and hear classical music.
I've been to Cuba.
28 concerts in Cuba.
I went to Cuba.
When you couldn't get to Cuba.
Two tours of concerts.
Why was I invited?

(16:09):
I play classical music.
They wanted a culturalexposure for the people to hear classical
music.
But the agreement was, I'mable to tell my story.
They said, as long as you doit in the concert hall.
So I gave 28 concerts with 28testimonies all over Cuba.
On two tours.
Not on one, but two tours of Cuba.
So the point is that I want toreach people on a high level of playing

(16:32):
music and a testimony thatmusic's not the most important thing
in my life.
But Jesus Christ is.
That's beautiful.
Because being on Team Jesus,you will go to more countries than
you would otherwise have thechance to if you were just performing
classical music.
Yes.
If it was just an economiccalculation, you'd go to the countries
that pay the best.

(16:53):
But Cuba, some of the other.
Turkey might not pay as wellas Germany again, but you can preach
the gospel in nations thatneed to hear it.
That's a very good point.
Because the church is in everykindred tribe, entire nation.
That's right.
Know not concert halls.
And classical music is notnever in kindred.
Yeah.
I've played concerts in thejungles of Thailand, you know, on

(17:13):
an electronic piano.
Oh, wow.
Oh, yeah.
I, I, I play on any pianobecause Jesus played on any piano
for me.
My point is, is that if thisis what they have I play on, it needs
to be 88 keys.
Sure.
You know, I mean, I can't playon a 52 key synthesizer.
Yeah, right.
So the point is, is that, is that.
Yeah.
I mean, I've played in very,very remote areas and very, very

(17:35):
obscure areas.
I mean, some places where InAfrica, in a country in Africa.
The only piano in the countrywas in an American hotel lobby.
And that's where we had theconcert, in the lobby of the American
hotel, which it was there as apiece of furniture to show off, you
know, a nice piano in the lobby.
But the country didn't have apiano in the whole country.
Keyboards, but not a piano.

(17:57):
But I played and gavetestimony and played in the country
and spoke to students and stuff.
So I'm just saying is that thechurch is in every country, you know
what I mean?
I'm just struck by thehumility of that.
Because someone with yourlevel of accomplishments, your level
of skill and your level ofexpertise and experience to say,
like, yeah, I'll play what you got.

(18:18):
If it got 88 keys, I'll playon it A keyboard in the jungle, like,
just the opportunity to createbeautiful music.
But to tell the story of whatGod's done in my life, I can't think
of anyone who, I can't thinkof a pianist who would otherwise
be at your level that would do that.
They would probably think itto some degree would be beneath them.
Right.
You probably encounteredpeople like that.

(18:39):
But it's like, I'm happy to goplay on these instruments if this
is what it means to bring the gospel.
These people, there's a lot ofegos in classical music.
I mean, you know, I've dealtwith many conductors and things and
enough that, you know, there's egos.
Only one person should have an ego.
His name is Jesus Christ.
You know, I'm a speck of dustwith air pumped in me.
Right.
I'm a speck of dust with airpumped in me.

(19:01):
And so I am what I am by thegrace of God.
When Jesus said the words, Iam the vine, you are the branches,
without me, you can do nothing.
I'm 74 years old and I'venever believed that verse as much
as I know that to be true.
Without me, you can do nothing.
You can't move your fingers,you can't think, you can't walk out
on stage, you can't memorizethe piece.

(19:21):
You can't, you can't, youcan't, you can't without me.
It's is his grace, hiskindness, his mercy, his.
This is beyond human comprehension.
Right?
And in a sense I just go back,not for a moment, but if I said,
look, I have to play on ahunt, a nine foot concert grand,
you know, you know, that's thebig piano, that's what's in, you

(19:42):
know, mine's a seven foot.
That's a living room grand.
I wouldn't need a nine foot inmy house.
Most pianos don't have nine foots.
Some do, but not, notnecessary in a home.
It's too much.
Yeah, but in a hall concert,Carnegie Hall, I mean all the halls,
they have nine foot concertgrand show.
If I said I have to play on anice, I mean I, I can't play on a
baby grad.

(20:02):
I have to stay in a hotel, right?
I mean, I'm a pianist, I haveto stay in my.
So that's where Jesus, goahead, you know, you know, go and
play.
But when I said, I'll play onany piano for you, Jesus, I'll stay
in any place.
95, 98% of the time I travel,I stay with people.
I don't stay in hotels, staywith people.
I've slept in a few veryunique places and things like that

(20:24):
in homes and underneath stairwells.
And that's when Jesus says,well, if that's what you want to
do, I have a lot of place.
I could use you.
I came not to be ministeredunto, but to minister and to give.
It is more blessed to givethan receive.
So that's the point is thathaving all that experience from one

(20:45):
end to the expectorant to theother, I mean, I've played on $300,000
piano Bursendorfers, thegreatest piano made.
I mean, I think a new one isnow $300,000.
Wow.
I played for them in Russiaand in your, you know, that's them.
And then I played on keyboardsand even non weighted keys on the
keyboard, which is harder evento play.
That's right.
Really, it's kind of the, theeasy beginner.

(21:07):
You know, entry intokeyboards, you know, weighted keys
is more sophisticated.
That's what happened for me.
Lord.
I play when, when you, whenyou play, I imagine that there's
a bit of an adjustment whenyou play on the, the non weighted,
the non weighted keys.
But when doing that, do peoplesay like, wow, you played that keyboard
better than I've Ever heardanyone play it before?
Do they reflect the same waythat I've heard you say that others

(21:29):
do on pianos?
Yes, yes.
I've had many comments as Matt.
I've had no idea that anelectronic keyboard could sound like
that.
My wife, one of the biggest,one of that, she says, wow, I, I,
I'm, I was just overwhelmedthat the music you got out of that
keyboard and some of this.
But that's part of being aprofessional, you know what I mean?

(21:49):
I mean, you work hard, youpractice hard, you learn it, right?
You, you.
So that when you go, look,does every football player play in
sunny weather, 70 degrees?
There's snow.
That's right.
There's rain.
There is.
You know, you have to produceunder any condition in that sense.
You know, now it, the musicwill have more ability to have impact

(22:12):
if it's a nicer piano or ifit's a piano, you know, in that sense.
But, you know, but that's,that's, you know, that's the way
it is.
I remember once I played aconcert in Poland, and it was on
electronic keyboard, and not avery good one.
And they told me it's going tobe electronic.
I didn't know anything moreabout it, but it was all a, a home

(22:33):
for AIDS patients.
Oh, AIDS.
This was in the late 80s,early all AIDS.
They all came down with their oxygens.
They're all going to die.
And they didn't have a bench,get this.
They were looking, looking.
They couldn't find a denture.
So a guy went across thestreet, there was a park, and he,
and there were tree stumps,and he cut, he got a chainsaw, literally.

(22:53):
He cut a tree stump and hebrought it over and I played the
piano, I played the concertfor all these AIDS patients.
I mean, and on a, sitting on atree stump on an electronic piano,
I had to balance my feetbecause the tree stump would, you
know, I mean, you know.
Yeah, yeah.
Who knows what I'll meet in heaven?

(23:14):
Maybe there'll be someone thatheard the message of Jesus and it
was worth, was worth it.
So I'm just saying that's fromone end to the other, right?
It's the opportunity to servein the environments that the Lord
puts us into.
Okay, this is how I can serve.
If I can sit down and playwhatever you got for me to sit on,
whatever you got for me toplay on.

(23:35):
If it's got 88 keys, we'llmake it happen.
That's right.
That's right.
I tell that people, do youplay on a keyboard?
Because some churches now evendon't have keyboards.
They've gone because they havemore contemporary music.
I know.
Not bands.
Oh, we used to have our piano.
We don't have it.
We have a.
You know, I always ask that,is it 88 keys?
Because 99% of them are right.
But if it's 88 keys, I don'task if it's a Roland, if it's a Yamaha,

(23:56):
if it's this, you know,there's different.
I'll learn about it when I getthere, you know, so, you know, when.
We met, I asked you thequestion about the favorite piano
you've ever played on was in Japan.
You tell that story, please.
I love that story.
Yeah, so I've been to Japantwice for, for five week tours.
So I've gotten about.
I've given about 70 concertsin Japan, all over Japan.

(24:19):
I mean, from Hokkaido in thenorth all the way to Hiroshima in
the south and things.
Okay.
And so the, the, you know,the, the bottom line is that I.
Japanese don't invent things,they just make them better.
Cars, electronics.
I mean, look what they do.
Pianos and Yamahas are verygood pianos.
So, so I went to play my firsttime and I played, I think it was

(24:44):
in a hall, and they had awonderful Yamaha piano.
I mean, this was tremendous.
It was, you know, very high quality.
Okay.
Then I think the next day Iplayed in the school.
And that piano was better thanthe one in the hall.
Really?
I mean, not better in thesense that.
Markedly better, but I mean,in a school, I mean, that's what

(25:07):
shocked me.
In a school, you got this kindof an.
A triple plus piano in a school.
I mean, you know what schoolpianos can be like, you know.
Oh, no, it was true.
Then I did a concert in aretirement community, and that piano
is even a little better thanthe other two.
No, when I say better, I'monly saying is that it was high,
high, high, high, high level.

(25:28):
Right.
So my wife says that Japan ispiano heaven.
I mean, the best pianos, the,the, the, the.
They're all Yamahas.
They're made there inHamamatsu in Japan.
And so what I found out, Idon't know if this, I explained this
to you is that I found outthat the Japanese, they have a whole
army of piano technicianstraining how to keep up pianos.

(25:51):
And when they come out to tunea piano or, or they come out to service
a piano, they not only tuneit, but they regulate it.
They do all sorts ofoverlooking the action of the piano.
That's not what we do inAmerica, a piano tuner comes in tunes
and that's it.
Most of the time, 95% of thetime, they don't.

(26:12):
So I gave the comparison thatit's like driving your car and all
you do is put in gas.
You never checked the oil, younever checked the tires, you never
checked.
You just put in gas to keep itgoing, and then suddenly the car
is starting to deteriorate.
Well, why?
Because you didn't do this.
You didn't do this in Japan.

(26:32):
Every time they service apiano, they check the oil, they check
the tires, they check thecarburetor, they check the spark
plugs, they check.
You understand what I'm saying?
That's the difference.
That's the difference.
And that's what I found out.
Every time they come out, theyregulate it.
They work on the hammers.
There's 4,000 parts in theaction of a piano.
And so they're working onmaking sure all 4,000 pieces work

(26:55):
good, not other places.
All they're doing is moving apin to tune it and putting the gas
in and going home.
So that's the difference.
Did I explain that to you?
Was that the difference?
No.
You talked about that firstpiano in the concert hall, but not
about the school and then theretirement home.
That even.
That makes a lot of sense.
And then I'll just say onefinal thing.
This was a concert that I.

(27:17):
Two things just in, you know.
But again, I plan on any piano.
I was giving a concert.
The first time I went toJapan, it was just myself.
The second time I went toJapan, my wife was with me.
Okay.
The first time I went, I wasplaying in Yokohama, and I was playing
this very, very difficultpiece by Schubert.
I mean, it's very difficult,lot of notes, very technical.

(27:42):
And I've only experienced thisonce in 3400 concerts.
I was playing this piece by Schubert.
The piano was so amazing, sohigh quality.
Okay.
I'm just saying high quality.
From what I just told you thatI said to myself, sam, I had no idea
that you could play the pianothis well.
I had no idea the piano.

(28:03):
Anything I did, the pianoresponded to it.
Anything I.
It responded to it.
I never had that experiencethat, you know, because a lot of
times a piano.
The top can be a little bitweak, and the.
You know, you adjust a little bit.
Adjusting, you know, Right.
This piano was just remarkable.
And so I said that, wow, Ididn't know I could play the piano
this good.

(28:23):
And this Schubert piece, this.
And then the other time wasthat my wife's heard me play many
concerts and stuff.
And sometimes she's in abalcony or so and she reads a book
and stuff.
She likes to read, which isfine, you know.
And once I was doing a concertalso in Japan, and she's reading
a book and all of a suddenshe's listening and she starts to
put it down and she says, oh my.

(28:44):
And she stopped reading tolisten to me playing because of the
piano, because the piano hadfreed me in that sense.
So those are just.
But I play in the jungles of Thailand.
I play on places in Africawith pianos or the pedal doesn't
work or something.
It's all for Jesus.
That's right.

(29:05):
And I think it's that spectrumof experiences that you can speak
as positively about the pianothat sets you free as you can about
I'm playing in the jungle oron a hotel keyboard, a hotel piano
or something like that.
It's that spectrum ofexperiences that someone who wasn't
playing for Team Jesus, theywould never have.
That's right.
They would take perhaps afirst class flight overseas, stay

(29:27):
in a luxury hotel, play in abig concert hall and then fly back
out and never have contactwith the people who.
Whose lives they're touching and.
And never have them walk anyaway with anything more than just
that was a wonderful performance.
As opposed to, oh wow, I hearda story from a man that really touched
my heart and maybe rethink myown life.
Absolutely, absolutely.

(29:47):
Oh yeah.
I mean, I.
My concert's about an hour anda half.
I play a long hour of music.
I made a lot of music.
I.
At my concerts I don't playfor 10 minutes and speak for 50.
Right.
They come for a concert.
Yes.
You're going to hear a concert.
You're going to hear 40,000.
You're going to play.
You're going to hear music.
Music.
But then I take 15 minutes,not, not three minutes, no, before

(30:09):
the last piece.
I tell them about my life andmy music and my whole testimony.
What I shared here, a littlebit more elaborated than here just
for the sake of time and.
Yeah, I mean, you know, so it's.
And I've heard responses andpeople have responded and it's a
humbling thing to be aninstrument of the Almighty by his

(30:32):
grace, all of his grace,nothing in our hands, I bring simply
to him.
I cling.
Yeah.
Instrument, pun intended.
That's right.
That's right.
That's right.
Right, right.
Well, let's go back to thattestimony then.

(34:51):
Of course, any Jew becoming aChristian, there are consequences.
And of course Any high levelprofessional of any career, career
field who becomes a vocalevangelical Christian.
There are consequences forthat as well.
Maybe talk about.
We talked about playing forteam Jesus and where that journey
has taken you around the world.
Some of the places.
We'll talk about a couple more.

(35:12):
But in the interim, you know,from the 1970s to today, you know,
what have been some of theprices that you've had to pay for
your faith.
Yeah.
So let me start with my family.
I mean, that's, that'sobviously very evident.
So my father lost his parentsin the Holocaust.
Being Jewish, very, verydifficult for him.

(35:35):
My mother's family escaped theHolocaust barely.
They got out.
So that was.
So I went and shared with my parents.
I knew it'd be very difficultand my father was very upset.
My mother was upset too.
But my father asked me toleave the house.
He said three things to me.

(35:55):
He said, you're no longer my son.
I never want to hear from you.
And as far as I'm concerned,you're dead.
I knew it'd be difficult.
I knew it was be difficult.
I didn't know to what extent.
I didn't hear from my parentsfor a number of years.
I got married to my wife.
Wife, that's a believer.
We've been married 51 years.

(36:15):
They did not come to the wedding.
We have three children.
I wanted them to enjoy the grandchildren.
I was not going to sayanything to aggravate them.
I knew it was not worth toaggravate them.
But it was too difficult formy father.
In 1995, my father became ill.
Let me just go back.

(36:35):
My children saw my parentsmaybe three or four times in 25 years.
Too bad.
So in 1995, my father became ill.
He was 89, almost 90.
He was born in 1905.
I wanted to visit him in the hospital.
He refused to see me.
He died four days later.
And at his request, he didn'twant me at the funeral, which I was

(36:57):
not surprised, but I respected.
So my mother.
Two things about my mother.
My mother loved classical music.
I'm in class music because ofmy mother.
I mean, that's very obvious.
She took me to concerts and Iwas six years old, seven years old,
and she was my biggest cheerleader.
She took me to every lesson.
And so.

(37:17):
And then my mother, her familyescaped the Holocaust.
So this was very difficult formy father with his family loss.
My mother wanted to reach outto me, but it was too difficult for
my father, the passing of my father.
I had a great relationshipwith my mother.
She loved my Wife loved ourthree kids.
Every six months I would giveconcerts for her.

(37:40):
She loved it.
And so making up sort of forlost time.
And then I began to talk moreand more with my mother and she go
to the synagogue everySabbath, shul to the synagogue.
And I asked what did the rabbitalk about?
I began to read to her moreand more.
I began to read her the NewTestament and we talked.

(38:01):
I had many people praying forher and everything.
And then on February 12, 2007,my 91 year old mother came to faith
in Messiah Jesus.
It was wonderful.
I prayed 36 years for mymother and my mother has gone to
be with the Lord.
I spoke at her funeral.
I said, mother, you are now inthe bosom of Father Abraham, which

(38:23):
is how Jesus in Matthew'sGospel to Jews refers to heaven,
that you're in the bosom ofFather Abraham.
So I knew it has been very, Iknew it'd be very difficult on my
family.
I mean.
But let me say this alsothough, on.
Aside from traveling, youknow, I've been to Muslim countries,

(38:45):
I've been to Japan, I've beento other countries, not just negatively,
but you know, I mean Catholiccountries, you know, South America,
Poland.
I'm going to Poland in a week.
And you know, I've met peoplewho have also been ostracized, you
know.
Sure, yeah, it's not just Jewsyou hear about Jews, but I met people

(39:07):
who are Muslims, people whowere Shintoist, people who were Muslims
or other things like that, andtheir family disowned them and ostracized
them and stuff.
So I sympathize with them inthat sense.
So yeah, and then, you know,and then, and then in my professional.

(39:29):
Let me just say this, intravels and things like that, certain
countries and some, I'm knownas the Jesus pianist, you know.
Oh, he's that Jesus pianist,you know.
I'll take it.
Yeah, I'll take it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But just as a funny incident,I mean, this was a conservatory of
music where they were going tohave me play a concert in this conservatory.

(39:53):
And the director of theconservatory, he's that Jesus pianist.
I never met him, he neverheard me.
I'd never been to this place before.
So anyway, before that I'dgiven a masterclass.
A master class is where youteach some students in the conservatory.
And I've done that and I tryto be very positive, enthusiastic.
The word got out.
Wow.
People really love the masterclass.

(40:14):
So I've done masterclassesaround the world.
And so then the concert cameand a lot of students came.
They were from the master class.
And the director came and hewas shocked at the quality of my
playing.
Really?
Yes, I mean, you know, he hadno idea.
Okay.
And so the bottom line wasthat they said, how did you like

(40:37):
his playing?
So great, great.
How did you like his story?
Because I gave my testimony,he says, I say this humbly.
When you can play the pianolike that, you have earned the right
to stand up and tell me whatis the most important thing in your
life.
So the point was that that iswhy I practice a lot, because I do

(40:58):
not want to say, well, I playthe piano for Jesus Christ.
And someone can say, well, hemay play the piano for Jesus Christ,
but he doesn't play the pianovery well for Jesus Christ.
That's right.
Maybe only Jesus likes it, I guess.
Yes, right.
Yeah, he, Jesus, maybe isvery, very forgiving and he can slop
through the piece, but youreally shouldn't slop through the
peace.
No, whatever.
So the point was, was that.

(41:19):
So I go to areas I've been to,like the Juilliards of some other
countries in Spain and otherEuropean countries and in Leipzig
and, you know, these arefamous Hochschule of music in Europe
that are.
And I play and I give mytestimony and I want to play on a
high, high level.
And, you know, I'm working onnew music, still practice six hours
a day, seven hours a day.

(41:40):
You know, just because you'rea Christian, it doesn't mean you
play the piano well.
That's right.
You have to practice.
That's right.
So that's my point, is that,you know, I'm going to stand up and
say, I play the piano forJesus Christ.
And if you're going to do it,then you're going to do it to the
level where you properlywitness him and the meaning that
he has in your life.
That's right.
That's right.
Just like this director whowas not interested in me.

(42:01):
And he gave me a very laternow he gave me a beautiful gift and
here I was, the Jesus pianist.
I don't think we want him.
And it goes to a masterclasswhich is positive, a concert where
he is, and then he goes out ofhis way and got me a gift before
I left the country.
He wanted me to have this as amemento of coming to the school.
Can you share what the gift was?

(42:23):
Yes, I'll tell you.
It was a four Hugh, it was inIreland, and I actually have it about
10ft from here.
I can get it if you Only show it.
Yeah, but.
Okay, well, yeah, yeah.
Finish telling the story, thenwe'll get you.
No, I'll show you the gift.
Oh, gift.
Go for it.
Oh, my gosh.

(42:43):
Oh, it's a.
It's like a.
A set of picture, like acoffee table, books.
I mean, this is not a cheap gift.
No, no, no.
That's amazing.
Here.
May I see one?
Yeah.
It's a whole scenic view ofIreland in 300 beautiful pages of.
I mean, 300.
Look at that.

(43:03):
Look at that.
There's four of them.
Four of them.
Well, let's take a look at this.
That's the gift.
Oh, my goodness.
This is County Kilkenny.
This is amazing.
And he just.
He was so impressed by theplaying of the Jesus pianist that
he went, okay, I gotta getthis guy a memento of mine, of my

(43:24):
nation.
This is gorgeous.
What a gift.
This is not a $4.99, a candy bar.
No, it's really not.
Like, this is like.
I never want you to forget ofyour coming to Ireland.
Now, I have been to Ireland atleast 10 times.
Sure.
I've been there a lot.
Yeah.
So you might have to move alittle bit closer to the microphone.

(43:44):
I've been to Ireland, youknow, 10 times, at least.
Starting in the 90s was myfirst time in Ireland.
But I mean, look at that.
Oh, my goodness.
You asked me.
Can I.
You.
Can I tell you what the gift was?
I mean.
Oh, my God, I'm so glad.
So we've got the province of Leinster.
Leinster, Connaught, Munster,and Ulster.

(44:05):
Oh, my goodness.
I mean, this is.
I just learned a bit ofIreland geography.
I mean, this is worth hundredsand hundreds of dollars.
Oh, yeah.
Well, it's probably not evenin print anymore either.
And look at the hard copy andthe case that comes in.
And thing.
You know, that's the thing is.
So we're here.
We're here in your home.
Probably should have.
Probably should have mentioned that.
So we're here in your home.
Yeah, this is my house.
This is my piano room.

(44:26):
And you know, I look around,you know, I came over, I came by,
I think it was last week.
And just looking around, andthere's so many examples of.
Of mementos of a life welllived and travel and awards and.
And.
And I think it was.
It was a very movingexperience to be here, even in a
quiet room.
Obviously, the piano, you cansee it there in the background.

(44:47):
But just to look around atthings on the wa.
You've got some awards there,and you've got music books, you know,
sheet Music up here andphotos, and it's just.
It's.
It's quite an experience to be here.
And of course, I'm sitting andI'm talking to you, and over.
Over your right shoulder is aphoto of you with.
With John MacArthur.
So maybe.
Maybe speak about that for a moment.

(45:08):
So was it worth getting out toshow you since it was only 10ft away?
Yeah, well, especially becauseI can.
I can look at, you know,there's the.
There's the sketches that youshowed me that are up there over.
Over your left shoulder.
But what I'm sitting inside isthe product of a life well lived.
And I can feel it, even thoughI look and don't exactly, of course,

(45:31):
live to the grace of God, butI can feel the meaning and the value
and the significance of allthe things, even if I don't know
what they are.
So I appreciate having theopportunity to look at that little
artifact of just a particularmemory of a particular man at a particular
moment.
But this room is full of them.
Your home is as well.

(45:52):
Yeah, well, I mean, it's.
I'm humbled.
I look around, I'm thankful, Imean, for things and gifts that were
given to me at concerts andawards and things and.
But Jesus said, without me,you can do nothing.
That's right.
That's it.
That's right.
You know, when I autograph CDsand things like that, I always write
Psalm 115, verse 1, or a lotof the times, which is not in the

(46:16):
US not in US but that God giveall the glory.
That's right.
And then people say, oh, whatare you writing there?
I said, oh, it's this verse,favorite verse.
And, you know, it's anotherway of sharing about my faith, even
if, you know, I can add alittle bit more.
Right.
So, yes.
I mean, I'm a speck of dustwith the air pumped in me.
It's all of God's grace,nothing compared to eternity, but

(46:39):
it's not nothing compared tothe life.
A little bit of time here on Earth.
So, anyway, so about JohnMacArthur, about the masters.
The Master's University.
Yes.
So I have.
That's a wonderful experience.
I have been to the Masterswhen it was actually the college.
Then In, I think, 2016 or so,it became the University, and I was

(47:03):
invited to play there, and itwas a very successful concert.
And then they had me back todo some teaching some Master classes
again, work with students inthere, especially since I can drive
to la.
You know, it's not like comingfrom New York City.
Or so living in Phoenix area.
And so.

(47:24):
And Dr.
MacArthur had come to severalof my concerts.
They had me playing at achapel, and he spoke at the chapel.
So he heard me play and attendthe concert.
I did some concerts with theirorchestra and stuff.
And so I had a very goodrelationship with them.
And then I had just come backfrom Germany.
This was in the fall of 2015.
I remember it because of.

(47:46):
I just got back from Germany.
I flew in the Newark airport,and I started my phone.
I mean, my phone wasn't sosophisticated, so I wasn't talking
from Europe.
This is not 10 years ago.
And they said there was a mess.
A call, please call.
So and so at the master'scollege and the dean's office or

(48:06):
vice president.
I said, okay, okay.
I didn't know anything.
So I called up, I was at theairport, I just had landed from Germany.
And this a gentleman, I forgethis name now, was vice president.
He says, Sam Rotman.
Yes, and thanks for calling me back.
And I said I was in Germany,to make a long story short, that

(48:28):
has been brought to the boardof this college of the university
to after 40 years of servingJesus Christ, living for Jesus Christ,
a testimony for Jesus Christ.
And of course, then they heardJesus concerts I give.
Dr.
MacArthur heard me play, youknow, that we would like to acknowledge

(48:51):
God's work in you and givingyou an honorary doctorate at our
graduation in May of 2016.
So this is in October.
And I.
I thought, oh, I was overwhelmed.
I mean, it was just amazing.
And, you know, so they said,we'd love to have you come and your

(49:11):
wife and.
And family that you'd like to have.
And this would be, like Isaid, the graduation.
And so it began in motion.
Things of all my threechildren came, all my grandchildren,
spouses came, our three, twosons in law and daughter in law and
grandchildren came.

(49:31):
And it was tremendous.
It was tremendous.
I mean, Dr.
MacArthur was over the top insharing about me, and.
And so, yeah, so I got adoctorate the hard way.
I had to work 40 years for it.
Not three years or four years.
Right.
I didn't do it do through school.

(49:52):
I did it through life, you know.
Yeah.
And the unique thing was Idon't always share this, but they
have given honorary doctoratesto like J.I.
packer theology or Colson inministry or things.
I mean, I.
I don't know exactly all theirnames, but I'm the only one that's
received it in the arts.
They've never given adoctorate of fine arts in arts, you

(50:15):
know, so I Think it's now like89 or like 99 years of the school.
The school is, I think, almost100, but so I was very humble.
Yeah.
And they had a big receptionand everything.
And so those are the pictureswith MacArthur greeting me and my
family in front and getting anhonorary doctorate.

(50:36):
And.
And I don't go around a lot.
People have me and they say,oh, we have Dr.
Rotman with us.
I don't go around and write doctor.
Right, right, right.
I mean, I'm not into the.
You know, the titles that I need.
Yeah, yeah, you need to callme Doc.
No, just call me Sammy, baby.
You know, so that was atremendous experience.
So then that was again inOctober when I came back from Germany

(50:57):
of 2015.
And then the graduation was inMay of 2016.
See, it was the.
Of the 20.
That's.
That's 16.
School year.
Yeah, yeah.
2015.
2016, in the graduation.
And, you know, it wasthousands of people in their graduating
class, and Dr.
MacArthur.
And so it was very, very memorable.
Very memorable.
And, you know, I.
I will say this also.

(51:18):
You know, whatever you thinkof Dr.
MacArthur, I'm not saying this.
You know, he.
He's a great man.
He's a great man.
And some.
But, you know, they also are.
They're very.
They pride.
Let me say this.
There's a lot of integrity in those.
In that institution.
Yeah.
You know, of who.
What they.

(51:38):
Who they hire and things like this.
And it was very humble for meto think that, well, thank you, Lord,
for the privilege to serve youand to be acknowledged by.
By this institution in that sense.
So that was something that wasvery humbling to me and spoke to
the graduating class andeverything at the graduation and

(52:00):
things like that.
So that.
That was very, very special.
Very, very special.
Yeah.
And I'm still in touch withthe school.
I've been there, obviously,since 2016 and stuff, and just learning
of Dr.
MacArthur, who's had someissues metaphysically and stuff,
and just praying and, you know.
Yes.
I'm loving all of thesestories because they're painting
just a part of a picture ofthe life that, as we've crossed paths,

(52:25):
the life that I'm sittinginside that you've given some testimonies
about.
So maybe you can talk a littlebit about the Beethoven mask as well,
because you've mentioned thatyou showed some photos about that
when you and I met.
And I have a sense of what.
I mean, obviously, it seemslike a pretty big deal, but maybe
you could tell a little bit ofthat story as well.
What Was involved.
How exciting.
So that.

(52:46):
Let me just go back a little bit.
Sure.
When I went to Juilliard inThe fall of 68, 1968 was my first
year of Juilliard.
I was 17.
I just graduated from high school.
My undergraduate 68.
I was studying.
And to make a long storyshort, I had a tremendous teacher,

(53:08):
piano teacher.
This is the person I practice70 hours a week for my one hour with
him.
You understand?
I mean.
Oh, yeah, okay.
10 hours a day.
Practicing 10 hours a day forone hour with my teacher.
Like a weekly exam orsomething like that?
Well, just a lesson.
Yeah, your weekly lesson.
You're working on pieces andhe's gonna.
He wants to hear it andcritique you and guide you.
And now work on this, this, this.

(53:29):
You go practice another 70hours, right.
Come back and we'll take anext step further.
Right.
He was a Beethoven specialist,this man.
He was a tremendous.
Known for his Beethoven.
And he maybe saw that I playedBeethoven well or something.
Not, you know, but he began toreally talk to me a lot about Beethoven

(53:49):
and invest a lot of Beethovenin teaching me getting the mind of
Beethoven.
And then in 1970 was the 200thanniversary of the birth of Beethoven.
So Beethoven was born in 1770.
So 1970 was the bicentennial.
Very big celebration.
I mean, around the world,every orchestra, Beethoven, Beethoven.

(54:11):
And I ended up givingBeethoven concerts.
And I actually ended up givinga Beethoven concert on Beethoven's
birthday, December 16, 1970.
I gave a concert, two concertson the 15th and 16th of the Beethoven
200th anniversary.
Were you, you, were you inEurope at the time?
No, I was in Texas.
In Texas.
I was in Texas.

(54:32):
And so, so then I continued todo Beethoven and stuff.
Got my bachelor's, mymaster's, and then at the end of
my master's in 73, I graduatedin May of 73.
In June of 73 was the fourthinternational Beethoven competition.

(54:53):
So every four years is theOlympics of Beethoven.
It is the Olympics of Beethoven.
Right.
And it's held in Vienna where Beethoven.
His grave is.
You know, it's all Beethoven.
And so I went to it.
I was invited.
There were 76 pianists fromaround the world.
And for one month we played Beethoven.
And at the end of it, I wasone of the winners.

(55:17):
Yeah, it was a very, very big,very big event moment.
And so I since then was knownsort of as a Beethoven specialist.
I mean, so Beethoven is myfavorite composer.
There's no doubt about it for me.
I mean, it's just staggering,the creativity.
What God put In him to create.

(55:37):
So then I was a winner.
And I have over there on mywall there, that's the diploma from
being a laureate winner of the Beethoven.
It's in German.
I see that one with thesignatures on it.
That's right.
The signatures of the judges.
Those are the judges whojudged me.
So then I was doing Beethoven.
And so the bottom line is Icontinue to Beethoven.
I did a lot of all Beethoven concerts.

(55:59):
And I went to China, playedwith the orchestras there in Beethoven
and Beethoven.
Beethoven.
So I continue to do Beethoven.
And I used to do some thingsthat were special things that have
to do with Beethoven.
Okay.
So then in 2020 was the 250thanniversary of the birth of Beethoven.
1770.
2020.

(56:20):
So 250.
So here we go all over again.
And those years now, that wasduring COVID So some.
I started in 2019.
Right.
And then 2020 and into 2021.
All those three years, I gave202 all Beethoven concerts all over
the world.
Wow.
So that's 70 concerts a year.
Right, right.

(56:40):
I gave a lot in 2019 and a lot.
A lot in 2021 and 2020.
Yeah, yeah.
Not so many in the middle.
Right.
I had 54 concerts postponedbecause of COVID actually.
54.
So they're all postponed one year.
If it was December, September7th, it was the next year, September
6th, the same night, but a day later.
As far as the count.

(57:00):
Okay.
Along with that, that's my Beethoven.
I did some concerts inCalifornia, and there was a person
I met there who loved myplaying and was an art collector.
Okay.
An art collector.

(57:21):
So this person has aRembrandt, a Picasso, originals,
original.
They collect art, among other things.
And I got a call from him.
I think it was 19.
I think it was 2019.
Maybe it was 2018 in the endof the year.

(57:41):
And he said, sam, I'veacquired something that I think would
be of interest to you.
I've acquired the death maskof Beethoven.
And I had to sit down.
I said, what?
He said, yes, well, I knowthere's the death mask of Beethoven,
which is in the historicalmuseum in Vienna, which I've seen.

(58:06):
It's plaster, to make a longstory short.
So just the death mask is aplaster cast made of his face upon
his death.
That's it.
It's his actual face.
Not a sculpt, is what he actually.
Right, right.
It's.
It's very famous becauseBeethoven, when he died, 20,000 people
came to his funeral.
I mean, he was very, very famous.

(58:28):
Well, yeah, Yeah, I mean, he.
So they knew.
We need to document this.
You understand what I'm saying?
Sure.
You know, because they knew.
Let me say, that they knewthey would be building statues to
this musician.
Right.
And there are statues all overthe world of Beethoven.
I mean, you know, even inAmerica, where there was no America
in, you know, 1827, much of them.

(58:49):
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
You know, so I'm saying theyknew in Vienna, in Bonn, where he
was from there.
So what did he look like?
Since they didn't have, you know.
So this is what he looked like.
Right.
At least close to what helooked like.
So to make a long story,again, short, a famous artist was

(59:09):
allowed to make a copy of thisplaster mask of bronze.
In other words.
Now, this was.
You could hold it, you couldcarry it.
Yeah.
You can't.
In the one.
You're not going to touch plaster.
That's 200 years old.
Yeah, probably not.
So it was owned by differentpeople in Europe.

(59:34):
It came on the market.
There's just one of them.
There's only one.
Oh, yeah.
There's only one.
And there's only one.
And so it came on the market.
I think it was owned bysomeone in the Netherlands.
Okay.
Okay.
It came on the market and itwas a private auction.

(59:54):
In other words.
In other words, you had thebid on it.
You didn't know if someoneelse would have been out, go over
him by a thousand dollars.
Right.
It was.
You open up the envelopes.
Now, you could have bid $10million and the next guy bid 100.
So you bid way beyond what you know.

(01:00:16):
So it's a one bid.
Whoever puts the highest bid in.
That's it.
That's it.
Okay.
Not like an auction where there's.
It was not public that they could.
What do you think the value is?
Something.
And he said, I won.
And he said, I know you're abig Beethoven player, and I'm wondering,

(01:00:37):
you're going to be doing a lotof Beethoven.
And I'm wondering if you wouldlike to have this mask.
I'll pay for the insurance.
I'll pay for getting it to you.
Just.
Do you have to return it to me?
Yeah, please give it back.
And so, sure enough, I was overwhelmed.
I bet courier drives up twodrivers and unmarked van, and there

(01:01:03):
it is.
And they had this.
This mask.
And I took it all over theworld for concerts and I mean, what.
Did it travel in?
Well, I had a box it traveled in.
Yeah.
There was a lot of things Ihad to do and it couldn't Leave my
site.
So in other words, it would be.

(01:01:23):
Handcuffed to your list.
It would be on display on the stage.
Right.
I had a place that would standbecause I was doing all these albeitoan
concerts.
Sure.
So it was with me in the hotels.
Sometimes they'd be sleepingon the pillow next to me.
Sure.
You know, that's just funny.
I know, I know.
I couldn't check it in.
It was with me.

(01:01:44):
Good morning, Ludwig.
How are you?
That's right.
Did you get any new musical inspiration?
That's right.
You're so quiet.
Is everything okay?
Oh, that's right.
You can't hear.
You're deaf.
Oh, sorry.
That's right.
I'll write it up to you.
German.
I speak German.
Kind of problem.
No problem.

(01:02:05):
And then, you know, I wouldn't check.
I took it on with me, you know.
Yeah.
And sometimes they would.
Oh, and then I had paperwork.
Sure.
Yeah.
That I did not black market this.
You know, I had paperwork.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I never had a problem, youknow, so it was pretty.
I'm going to tell you.
I had concerts where I had towait an hour and a half after the

(01:02:25):
concert because he said, ifpeople want to take pictures, let
them take pictures.
Sure.
They can take selfies, butthey cannot pick it up.
Right.
You can't touch it.
You can't touch it.
Yeah, that's right.
Yeah.
So I took it.
I had concerts where I had towait an hour and a half after the
concert for everyone in lineto have a picture taken with it.
I bet.
And it was moving.
It was very moving.

(01:02:46):
And then I talked about it atthe concert and.
Yeah.
So again, I have someplace.
I think I have a picture withthe mask.
You might have to turn backtowards the microphone.
Yeah.
Can I get up and get something?
Yeah, please go get the mask.
Yeah.
This is the program I gave inTexas on the 200th anniversary of

(01:03:13):
the birth of Beethoven, 1770.
You see, here's a sketch of Beethoven.
Here I am with hair.
I can relate to that.
Yes.
And here is background.
And my concerts, 1970.
Then for the 250th, December16th, 2020.

(01:03:35):
My goodness.
Here is the concert.
Here I am with no hair.
Here I am this reproduced look.
And here is the death man, youknow, I.
Which I had at that concert.
So here are the two programs.
I mean, these are originalprograms, you know, that I put together

(01:03:57):
from 200th to 250th of his birth.
And that's a death mask.
Amazing.
I mean, looking.
Looking Beethoven in the face.
Yes.
Yeah.
Look at the jaw on him.
Yeah, I know.
Now, there's some things.
For instance, he added this.
Laurels.
Yeah, that.
That's just show his.
Like the Greeks.
Sure.

(01:04:18):
You know, he didn't have thatwhen he died.
Right, of course.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, he.
How old was he when he died?
He.
Six.
Okay, so he's still relatively young.
Yes.
Yeah.
Imagine if he lived for 10more years or something.
I mean, that's.
That's right.
Is young.
That's right.
Because he looks like a youngman there.
Like, he doesn't look like an older.
Man in that mouth.
Yeah, right, right, right.
Yeah, yeah.
And so.

(01:04:39):
So that's very special.
So that was the mask.
And so sometimes, I can tellyou, honestly, some people have asked
me, oh, do you still have that mask?
I said, if I had the mask, I'dbe in jail.
That's right.
Yeah.
I had to get it back.
And it's happy and it's all good.
But it was very special.
I owe a lot to my friend.
Yeah.
A lot to my friend that heentrusted me with it.

(01:05:00):
And it brought a lot of joy toa lot of people to see this.
I mean, it's.
Yeah.
You know, it's very special.
And.
Yeah.
I call it here the idealizeddeath mask of Beethoven.
Idolized means.
Now it has laurels on it.
It was kind of somewhatglorified as the death mask.
Good.
Yeah.

(01:05:20):
That's great.
Yeah, this is great.
I notice also, I think thething that stands out to me about
the room is there.
There are focal points of the room.
Obviously, the piano was here,and we'll have a little performance
later.
But of course, I see thephotos of John MacArthur and the
master's University and thenyour award from the Beethoven Olympics.

(01:05:44):
And then you've got the Master and.
My degrees from Juilliard.
Yes, exactly.
Master's Masters.
Yeah.
So go ahead.
I wonder if you could.
And then, of course, there'sthe cross.
Very, very prominently displayed.
Tastefully prominently displayed.
And I think that that bringsso much of the room together in a
way that shows, like, this iswhat all this is about.

(01:06:06):
All of this is a vapor.
All of this is a breath, ameaningful vapor.
I'm grateful to experience it,but it all has no meaning in itself
outside of the cross, outsideof Christ.
I mean, it's all about.
Look, I mean, like I say,music can give me a lot of happiness,
but it can't change me.
That's right.

(01:06:26):
You know, and this is themiracle that Jesus Christ changes
people and gives them a Newlife and forgiveness.
You know, I always say this.
I said, you know, if you gointo a synagogue, any synagogue,
you'll always see the same thing.
The Ten Commandments, which isthe gift that God gave to the Jewish
people through Moses to the world.
The Ten Commandments, thetablets, you know, not Moses, but

(01:06:48):
the two tablets, you know.
What is the first thing yousee in a cross in a church?
The cross, and I call it forgiveness.
Imagine, the thing you see ina synagogue is the law.
The first thing you see in thechurch is forgiveness.
And every time you see across, someone's wearing a cross.

(01:07:09):
You're driving and you see a cross.
God's telling you, I made away to forgive you.
I made a way to change you.
Why don't you come to me andbe forgiven?
Why don't you come to me andstart all over again and have a new
life?
And I mean, that's.
What shall it profit a man ifhe gained the whole world and lose
his own soul?
That's right.
I mean, I say, Lord, thank you.
I mean, there's musicians thatplay around the world and they're

(01:07:29):
famous and they're rich andthey're greatly talented.
I mean, no talented more thanI will ever be.
And yet, and yet, and yet,without Christ, he that has the Son
of God has life.
He that does not have the Sonof God does not have life.
That's right.
And it is all of restoring manfrom the fall, from sin, from death.

(01:07:58):
I mean, this is it.
This is it, what he is.
By one man, sin came into the world.
By one man came salvation.
By one man came death.
By one man came the resurrection.
By one man, many were made sinners.
By one man, the many were made righteous.
Romans, chapter 5.

(01:08:19):
And this was the problem.
And this is what God did inthe person of Jesus Christ and the
power of Jesus Christ.
I'm telling you, I'm obsessedwith Jesus Christ.
Someone else who is obsessedwith Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul.
Yes, he was.
Glad you brought him up.
I wanted to ask you.
Please continue.
Yeah, no, no, but I mean, youknow, for me to live as Christ, you
know, for me to live asChrist, to die is gain.

(01:08:39):
You know, it's.
I always say in heaven there'sgoing to be 5 million light bulbs.
And each light bulb is goingto have a billion watts.
And it's all going to befocused on the person of Jesus Christ.
You know, Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ, you know, he isthe one that humbled himself.
He is the one that went to the cross.
He is the one that took on,who knew no sin, who became sin.

(01:09:04):
He is the one that said, myGod, my God, why have you forsaken
me?
Because you'll never have tosay that.
That's right.
You know, so it's.
Yeah.
After it's all done, I havefriends who have gone to be with
the Lord.
I mean, you know, not just friends.
I mean, families.
Sure.
You know, and people who knowthe Lord and I always say the same

(01:09:25):
thing.
They have received the victoryof Jesus Christ.
Amen.
The victory.
Not your victory.
No, the victory.
It is his victory.
So it's the victory of Jesus.
That's what we live for, thevictory of Jesus Christ.
It's so meaningful and moving.
And I was a little emotionalearlier because you remind me of

(01:09:47):
my grandfather.
You know, my family's fromJewish background.
That's right, yeah.
And so you have a Jewish background.
My grandfather passed away andI believe it was 2017, so long before
I had become a Christian acouple years before.
So I never got to share thegospel with him.
I didn't have it to sharemyself at the time.
And so to hear the story ofJews coming to Jesus, it's a big

(01:10:09):
deal.
It's a big deal.
Obviously there are family consequences.
I used to have a greatrelationship with my dad, which is
wonderful.
I didn't have.
I was worried going into thefirst meeting with my dad after I
knew that he knew I had becomea Christian.
And so I was really worried Iwould have a similar experience to
you and your father.
And my experience wascompletely different.
Actually, my dad gave me astudy Bible that he had a couple

(01:10:30):
other books.
He said, you'll always be myson and I love you.
And our relationship hascontinued to grow and thrive.
There are other members of myfamily that haven't reacted in quite
the same way.
I think the question I wantedto ask was, so you read the Gospel
of John and you had a heart transformation.
I know the answer for myself.
But what was it likeencountering Paul for the first time?

(01:10:50):
It's like, why have I neverheard of this guy before?
Yeah.
I'm just trying to think.
I told you, I read John andthen I went back, I said, I'm gonna
now read the book.
The whole book?
Yeah.
And so let me just say this.
It was an eight day period.

(01:11:10):
People don't know how long itwas eight days from when I started
to read the New Testament thatI called upon the Lord.
Okay.
So it was not like six months.
It wasn't three days.
It was no practicing, justObsessed with reading and reading.
Going back to the OldTestament, going back to reading.
And then I read a few.
I would say I read at leasttwice, maybe three times the New

(01:11:31):
Testament again and again and again.
Let me just say this, honestly.
I didn't have, like, oh, well,this is.
This man who was Jewish andhis writings and stuff at this point,
by the time I got to theepistles, I was so overwhelmed, sure.

(01:11:52):
With Jesus Christ and what hehad said, that this guy was just
affirming it, you know,Affirming it.
And I can tell you that I.
I would underline things inthis Bible and I actually have my
little.
They gave me a pocket NewTestament because, you know, and
you look at this pocket NewTestament and almost every other

(01:12:14):
verse is underlined.
I can relate to that.
Like, wow, that is amazing.
You know.
Wow, what a.
How.
What a.
Really.
Yeah.
And.
And that's.
That way in the epistles, asin the Gospels.
That's right.
So it's not like I was just agospel reader, you know.
Right, of course.
No, no, no.
But I.
Even when Paul was writing,you know, you know that.

(01:12:38):
You know that he is the imageof the invisible God as well as.
Wow, that's.
That's true.
That's it.
So I didn't start.
I didn't delineate.
It was not so much.
But I mean, as I grew in theLord and everything, I began to identify
with Paul only in the sensethat, you know, okay, he was Jewish,
but this man was obsessed withthe person of Jesus Christ.

(01:12:59):
I mean, you know, when youread the Book of Hebrews, the superiority
of Christ to the angels, thesuperior of Christ to Melchizedek,
the superior course to thesacrifice, the superiority of Christ
to the temple, the superior of Christ.
I mean, oh, my goodness, this is.
This is staggering, you know, Staggering.
So.
So it was not like suddenly,oh, now we're in a different chapter

(01:13:21):
of.
Of these writing in the New Testament.
I'll read the New Testament.
And of course, you know, it'salmost like Jesus is.
If I could say this, you know,Jesus is his name because he shall
save his people from theirsins, you know.
Right.
But the Messiah is his eternal name.
He was the Messiah from the.
He is the one anointed beforethe foundation of the world to come.

(01:13:44):
So it's almost like Jesus isthe Jesus in the Gospels.
And then Paul explains him asthe Christ in the epistles, you know,
fleshing it out, you know,what the significance of these things.
And of course, you know, itsays that he was taught by Christ,
you know, he went to Arabiaand he was given revelation, and
then he was taken to the third heaven.
You know, these insights.

(01:14:04):
I mean, look at the insightsthat Paul has.
The church is a body.
The church is, you know, all these.
The offices of the church.
You don't get these in the Gospels.
You get in the epistles, whichis, you know, which is not.
One isn't against the other,but it's the compilation of all of
it together.
Of the revelation of Christ.
Yes.
Yeah.
And it was.
It was encountering that forthe first time.

(01:14:24):
Of course, I knew growing upwho Jesus was.
I didn't know him.
You know, I knew that I couldbe anything but Christian.
Right.
And then when I finally cameto Christ many years later, and I
started reading the NewTestament for myself, just straight
through, and I encountered theperson of Paul who had began, begun
a Saul, such a viciouspersecutor of the Christians and

(01:14:46):
then himself having such aradical transformation and becoming
in many ways the chief evangelist.
It was just.
It was staggering.
And then I remember readingRomans 9, 10 and 11 be like, oh,
well, there it is, right?
There's.
There's my entire backgroundand upbringing.
And then it's like looking.
It's like looking in a mirrorin many ways.
That's right.
That's right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I always say, look, as faras Jews and things like this, look,

(01:15:10):
are the Hittites around?
No.
Are the Jebusites around?
No.
It's true.
Are the Canaanites around?
No.
Are the Philistines around?
No.
Are the Jews around?
Yes.
God's not done with the Jewish people.
Yeah.
I mean, whatever your belief,eschatology, it's obvious God is
done with the Jewish people.
And so he's still going to,you know, and then grafting of, you

(01:15:30):
know, if it's going to be likelife from the dead.
Yes.
If they're cutting off, that'swhat it says of the world.
The engrafting would be lifefrom the dead.
So, you know, at this point,it's still a brick at a time.
You know, a Jew here, a Jewhere, you know, But God will still.
He's not abandoning, you know,the promises given to them.
And the Jews are still around.

(01:15:51):
He will still have ministry to them.
I mean, the salvation.
Yes.
The Juilliard students whoapproached you in.
I think you said it was 1971.
Yeah, 1771.
Did they approach you as aJewish man or just as an unbeliever?
I think as a Jewish man, yeah.
They knew I was a religious shoe.
That's why?
Their first questions were, tome, their very first questions was,

(01:16:13):
have you read the New Testament?
Because they know that Jewsdon't read the New Testament, but
have you read it?
Maybe.
You know, I mean.
And then they asked me ifJesus was the Messiah.
So they're approaching me as abeliever because the Messiah is only
if you're a religious, right.
If you're a heathen or something.
No, they knew I was religious.
They knew I was moral, youknow, and so they approached me,

(01:16:34):
I think, just to try toevangelize and share, you know, you
should read the New.
I'll never forget when I saidthis, they asked me the question,
the three of them, and I said,sammy, have you read the New Testament?
I said, no.
And one of them said to me,you should.
I thought, yes.
Oh, boy.
This guy is, you know, he was right.

(01:16:55):
Yeah.
And I'm still in touch with him.
I was going to ask.
Yeah, the three guys.
So what happened was I came tothe Lord and I told him the next
day, and I told him, I'm so happy.
I believe.
And I prayed last night.
And they were so thrilled.
And I said, what do I do now?
And they said, come to churchwith us.
And I said, okay.
I remember my.
I remember that.

(01:17:15):
Okay.
I was with them at a Baptistchurch, you know, 20 minutes, 30
minutes from New York City inNew Jersey.
So they were going to thischurch, which is nothing, you know,
you take the bus or whatever,that's fine.
We took bus, the PortAuthority, the bus system from the
city.
And I mean, it was tremendous, brother.
I mean, this man was preachingabout Christ and people singing about

(01:17:37):
Christ.
I mean, it was.
I mean, I.
I jumped in, like in theswimming pool, all four.
I mean, there was no turning back.
There was no turning back.
I mean, this was life.
Life, you know?
So two of them were in mywedding, and one of them, who liked
to take.
He was a photographer.
I said, david, would you liketo be the photographer of my wedding?

(01:17:57):
Sure, Sam.
So he was a photograph.
So one of them I speak toevery three weeks, 54 years later.
Yeah.
I mean, amazing.
And the other one is in theChicago Symphony Orchestra.
And we talk.
I talked to him about threeweeks ago.
He was in my house about ayear and a half ago, Chicago.
Sydney was on tour, and hestayed with me, so we've done concerts

(01:18:17):
together.
And the third, unfortunately,developed cancer.
I went to be with the Lord andI went to visit him in Louisiana
when he was ill.
And then I spoke, kept intouch with him.
And then I Called one day inMay, and his wife Krista, said, sam,
you should talk to Keith.
I talked to him, prayed withhim, and he went to be with the Lord
the next day.
So there's been a few years.

(01:18:38):
So.
Yeah, so people have asked me,did they know?
Have you stayed in touch?
Oh, man.
They knew, and we stayed in touch.
Oh, yeah, we stayed in touch still.
That's wonderful.
Oh, yeah.
It's very special blessing.
They must think back on thatparticular memory fondly.
Like, okay, we're gonna.
We're gonna go talk to Sam.
Who's gonna say something, youknow, like, strategizing, because
it can be very sensitive.
Oh, yeah, absolutely.

(01:18:58):
Yeah.
I mean, they.
They would.
I would be eating alone.
They'd come to my table.
I thought, oh, brother, herewe go.
There comes the Jesus people.
How you doing?
Have you read yet the New Testament?
No, you want to talk about Jesus?
No, I want to talk about Beethoven.
No, you don't want to talkabout Beethoven.
You want to talk about.
No, anyway, you know, in that sense.
Yeah.
You know, I'll just tell you aquick story.

(01:19:19):
I have a friend of mine.
I was just in Idaho for fourconcerts, and there was a lady there
who we've known for a numberof years, and she was.
One day, she plays the piano,and we've stayed in touch, and she
was at an airport waiting fora flight, and suddenly this man comes
up.
He's waiting for a flight or something.
He has a violin.
And she says, oh, you play the violin?

(01:19:40):
Yeah, yeah, I played the violin.
I said, oh, really?
You're a musician?
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, where'd you go to school?
I says, oh, I went to a schoolcalled the Juilliard School.
He says, oh, I have a verygood friend.
Friend.
And he plays the piano.
I don't know if you know himor not.
His name is Sam Rotman.
And he says, I'm one of thethree guys that led Sam Rotman to
Jesus.
That was the guy, David, who was.

(01:20:02):
She said she about fell over.
Oh, my goodness.
I've heard Sam Rotman'stestimony, and you were one of the
three guys.
Unbelievable.
Yeah, those providentialmeetings at an airport just to talk
because he had his instrument.
You told the story of going tothe Baptist church in New Jersey
for the first time.
And I can really relate tothat because I remember when I was
in my early 20s, I went tosome synagogue, some young people,

(01:20:25):
synagogue services, trying tobecome part of the Jewish community
when I lived in the Bay Area.
And I just remember howlifeless and flat and like, we're
here doing the thing, but, youknow, no one really cares.
And we're singing the songsand no one cares.
No one, no one cares.
There's nothing, there'snothing really to care about.
I was like, what does that,what does this tradition that I grew
up with as a child, what doesthis have to say about my life now?

(01:20:45):
Yes, we're talking about God,but make it practical for me in my
life.
And I, I found that so rarely,if at all.
And so to start attending someof the first Christian churches,
some of the first Christians Imet the place that it's full of life.
Let's worship the one true andliving God.
People singing with realpassion and enthusiasm like, this
is a living religion.
Oh, man.
It was, I mean, it was, I wasblown away.

(01:21:06):
I was blown away by theenthusiasm and the man's preaching
and the focus on the LordJesus Christ.
I mean, it was, I mean, I, Iwas, I mean, it's.
He's life.
He's life.
That's it, that's it.
That's it.
I mean, I always say, youknow, you know, Judaism is about
pictures, pictures.
I say this to, you know, sowould I rather kiss a picture of

(01:21:30):
my wife or would I rather kissmy wife?
Okay.
Yeah.
You know, would I rather holdmy wife's hand or would I rather
hold a picture of my wife?
Right.
You know, so it's about pictures.
And I, I say this, you know, guard.
It's about still dead pictures.
Okay?
Jesus is the life.

(01:21:51):
This is the life in him waslife and the life was alive.
I am the way, the truth andthe life.
He is the life that touchesall this is it.
When you meet Jesus, it's life.
Everything else is paperprinted on picture.
That's right, yeah.
There's no comparison.

(01:22:11):
There's no comparison.
There's a whole new generationof young Christian artists that are
beginning to appreciate thefine arts again, beginning to move
into creativity in the finearts and, and really pursue glorifying
God through piano, violin.
I wonder if we can speak alittle bit about the, the creative
process, a little bit aboutachieving not just proficiency, but

(01:22:34):
excellence and, and worldleading excellence and sort of some
of your own process as a youngman, some of the things that you
did.
Maybe we can just talk aboutthat for a moment.
We'll close on that.
Yeah, yeah.
So I've never composed any music.
So, you know, I took a classat Juilliard onto composing and I
was a disaster.
And I had a world famousteacher too.
Well, you're Comparingyourself to Beethoven, I think.

(01:22:55):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I don't know.
And the teacher came up to meat Juilliard.
He had wore a bow tie, and he was.
His finger was right here.
He said, Mr.
Rotman, you will be great atplaying the music of dead men, but
as a living man, you'll neverwrite any music.
So drop my cl.
No.
So, no.
Okay.
He was honest.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I'm just saying I've neverwritten anything.
Yeah.
So I would say to people inthe creative process and things like

(01:23:18):
this, you have to work hard,whether you're performing a piece
or writing a piece.
Beethoven's music looks messy.
And you know why it's messy?
Because he worked and workedand reworked.
He gave birth to every piece.
He gave birth.
It was a labor.

(01:23:39):
And so my point is, is thatyou're studying an instrument, you're
studying music, you'restudying to be composed.
You're studying work, practice.
Do it every day.
Don't miss a day.
You miss a day, you forgotwhat you did the day before.
Anybody that tells you you canbe good at something and not work
at it is lying.
Right.
Like the 10,000 hours, you know?

(01:23:59):
So the point is.
And get instruction.
Get a teacher who will helpyou and guide you and listen to your
teacher and work on what theytell you to work on.
If you're working on aninstrument, playing a piece, don't
just play the piece over andover and over again.
Stop and work on a part.
You're just learning the samemistakes over.

(01:24:20):
And no wonder practicing is boring.
Practicing 10 hours a day waslike 10 minutes to me because I was
getting it better.
I was learning this piece.
I was playing this part better.
I practiced 45 minutes forthree minutes of music.
But it was better now.
It was good.
It wasn't the best.
It was good, though.
It was better.
When you finish practicing,some part of the music should be

(01:24:41):
better than when you started, right?
Yeah.
So the point is, is that you work.
You work, you listen to yourteacher, you improve, you make goals.
Make goals.
I want to work.
I want to learn, play.
I want to compose this piece.
I want to know about this instrument.
I want to write, you know,make goals and.
And then just look foropportunities to show your art, to

(01:25:04):
show your music.
You know, I didn't learn thisat Juilliard, which I've.
I often wondered why I wasn'tsort of taught this.
I learned this as I started a career.
The secret to performing is to perform.
Yeah.
Now.
Now, I didn't learn this atJulia, You Know, if you play a concert

(01:25:25):
once every six months, you'renot going to be good at playing.
I wondered about these greatpianists who I heard Rubenstein,
Horovitz, Richter, you know,these great.
And I say, how do they play onsuch a high level?
130 concerts a year.
That's why they play on a high level.
They're always playing,playing, playing, playing.
So I used to play at nursing homes.

(01:25:45):
I used to play in retirement.
I can play in the church.
I can play here.
I started playing 40 concertsa year, 70 concerts a year, 120 concerts
a year.
150 concerts a year, 190concerts a year.
Three years I had over 190concerts, which is a lot of concerts.
And that was the point.
So look for opportunities.

(01:26:06):
Don't say, oh, well, I'm so good.
I mean, I'm not going to play enough.
A retirement community.
Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no.
One of the best things thatwas a retirement community in New
Jersey.
Ward Homestead.
It was all these gentlemen,and they, man, I played there and
I would play for nothing.
I said, boy, I'm getting morefrom playing for you than you're
getting from me.

(01:26:26):
And you're enjoying the concert.
I was playing, playing,learning a new piece.
I'm going to call up Wardhome, son.
Can I come Tuesday and give a concert?
Sure.
They'd love it.
No.
Play, play, play.
Write, Write, write, write.
Learn, learn, learn.
Improve, improve.
Make a goal.
Make a goal.
Make a goal.
Work on a piece.
Work on a piece.
Get it?
Yeah, yeah.

(01:26:47):
And it has to come from aninner fountain within you.
Like, you can't force yourselfinto that.
Like, it's gotta enjoy.
That shows that you have a gift.
Excuse me.
That shows that there is, youknow, a fire in you, a spark in you,
that you're gonna go do thisand everything like that, you know?
You know?
Yeah.
Like I say, if I waited to doconcerts on a $250,000 or $300,000

(01:27:09):
grand piano in Carnegie hall,you know, I'd play 14 concerts in
my whole life.
Yeah, that's 3400.
Yeah, exactly.
Right.
And it's very wise to say, ifyou want to get better at playing
live in front of people, youhave to play live in front of people.
You have a controlledenvironment in here.
You can have the mostbeautiful setup.
Right.
But until you get in a hallfull of however many thousands or

(01:27:32):
hundreds of people with thispiano that's been tuned this way
or not, the lights and all thewhole, it's a completely different
thing.
Than being in your own little private.
When I learn a piece, I playthe piece 50 times for my wife.
50 times.
That's after you practice it.
You practice it.
You memorize it.
Yeah, I've learned it.
I've learned the piece.
Yeah.
I mean, I'm not going to playfor a piece.

(01:27:54):
I only know 20 seconds of it.
Yeah.
I've learned this whole piece.
It's six minutes long.
I've learned the whole piece.
I can play it by memory.
I've practiced it.
Practice.
And I've learned it.
I've learned it well.
I've learned it pretty well.
I've learned it.
And now my wife sits on thesofa and I sit here and I play the
piece for her 50 times.
50 times before I play inpublic now, not 50 times in.

(01:28:15):
In 25 days.
Sure.
Okay.
You know, I mean.
I mean, the 50 times would beover a couple months, let's say.
Okay.
So every other.
Every other day, a coupletimes, I play the pie.
Okay.
Oh, this wasn't good.
Oh, this was not good.
This was.
Okay.
So now I work on what's not good.
That's beautiful.
I practice, practice.
Wait, wait.
Practice, practice.
Okay.
Honey, can I play the piecefor you again?

(01:28:36):
Sure.
She sits there, and by theway, she reads a book usually, right?
She's not, like, focused.
Because it's my benefit.
Yeah.
So I played again.
Oh, that part was now better.
It wasn't so good two days ago.
Yeah, this is better.
Or, ooh, that was better.
Oh, this part was good.
Now it wasn't good.
So I work on that.
You understand?

(01:28:57):
So I play it again.
3rd time, 4th time, 10th time,20th time, 5th, 40th time, 50th time.
Now I can play in front of people.
Got it?
You see what I'm saying?
Of course.
Yeah.
That takes work, dedication,planning, you understand?
Now, sometimes I may play thepiece for.
Twice in one day.
Sure.
Let me.
Just A few minutes.
Four hours, you know, And I'llcampaign for you tonight, you know?

(01:29:18):
Yeah.
But I'm saying, basically, Iplay it.
50 times and I imagine what abeautiful testimony of a marriage.
This is who my husband is.
This is who he's always been.
This is how I can be ahelpmate to him, is by even.
I'm tired of hearing that piece.
I've heard it 50 times, but I love.
Maybe she doesn't even like itin the first place.

(01:29:38):
I'm sure there are many ofthem she really loves.
But I don't even like it.
But I'll listen for him,because this is how I can help him
be the best performer forJesus that he can be.
She loves classical music.
Thank the Lord.
And she's a good listener.
She's a great listener.
She can even say something.
Is, you know this part, whenyou do here, can you go back to that?
She may not know.
She plays piano, but not veryadvanced, you know, I've given her

(01:30:00):
lessons and stuff like this.
But the point is, she says, Ilove coming to your concerts because
I finally get to hear thepiece straight through.
The whole piece.
That's right.
Instead of little segments of it.
Because I'm playing.
Oh, boy.
You know.
Well, I'm trying to work onthis, you know, I mean.
But now she gives the wholepiece and that.
Nice.
Who's listening in Japan, Right?
Sure.
Yeah.
And suddenly she's putting eyefor them.

(01:30:20):
Play this.
Oh, my goodness.
Not like that.
This was.
This.
This piano is.
This is quite the piano.
Yeah.
And she put down her book andstarted listening, you know, devoted
in that sense.
So you can take notice.
She's.
I could never be what I've.
The Lord has worked in myheart without my wife, you know,
Really?
I said, with all my heart.
With all my heart.
With all my heart.

(01:30:41):
I mean, never, never, never, never.
Praise God.
Amen.
I do.
She knows that, too.
Of course she knows that.
Yeah.
So.
Yeah.
So that's how I prepare for a concert.
You know, working on a pieceand then learning it and then, like
I say, playing it.
I tell this.
I talk.
I was just in California.

(01:31:02):
I was in California lastThursday and Friday and teaching
at a conservatory.
And I said, listen, if youwait to perform a piece on the recital,
that's your first time you'reperforming in front of people.
Don't do that.
You're going to have a bad.
It's going to be a disaster.
Yeah.
You got to bring in yourfriend, pray for them both, run through
it.
And sometimes I even put on atuxedo, my jacket.

(01:31:23):
And I don't have the.
You know, because I'm playingthis piece and I want it to feel
like.
Hey, you're going to be in the moment.
I'm playing.
This is it.
The orchestra's playing.
I wait.
The orchestra's playing.
Now my part.
I have my tuxedo.
Yeah.
For it to be successful.
Yes.
I mean, you have to replicatethe environment so that, you know,
so that you're comfortable asmuch as possible when the moment
comes, that you're preparedfor it, as opposed to just the first

(01:31:45):
time.
Right.
Wonderful.
Right, Right.
Well, I wonder, just inclosing if you can give a word of
advice to young Christianmusicians who perhaps aspire to the
Juilliard or perhaps aspire tothe levels of achievement that you
have.
You've said, obviously workhard is a big part of it.
But for people who are lookingto climb that mountain, what word
of advice would you have togive to them?
Well, yeah, I mean, workinghard, it takes tremendous effort.

(01:32:08):
I mean, just on an anecdote,there was a famous pianist named
Arthur Rubinstein, very famous.
And a man once came to him andhe says, Mr.
Rubenstein, I'd give my lifeto play the piano like that.
And he said, I did.
That's right.
Yeah.
So I mean, and so I'm notsaying you have to be.
You don't have to be thegreatest pianist or, you know, 10

(01:32:30):
hours a day.
No, but I guess the point is this.
Let me say this.
You want to serve Jesus Christ.
So therefore ask him to helpyou to be the best you can be for
Jesus Christ.
Look, look, look.
I play in places where if Iwas an a pianist, meaning $50,000

(01:32:58):
a concert, Carnegie hall,first class, flying hoity toity,
you know, I'm just saying Iwould never consider going to places
I've gone to share my music.
So God did not make me orfulfill a plan for me to be that

(01:33:24):
person.
So I am the best I can be forwhat God has for me to be.
And therefore God needed apianist that can go to all these
places.
So my point is, I think it's aprofound thought.
God uses B pianists, not justa pianist.

(01:33:48):
The grade A and grade B.
Now, God don't think that.
Well, God used me as an Fpianist or a D pianist.
No.
Okay, but I'm just sayingeverybody is not going to be an A
pianist, an A triple plus pianist.
I'm not.
I'm not.
Okay.
Don't fool me.
Yeah, no, I understand.
You understand what I'm saying.
I do.

(01:34:08):
As far as the.
The Persona and the right.
I remember once I was teachingat a.
I'll just end with this.
I remember I was teaching onceat a school and a student asked me,
Mr.
Rotman, you were in theTchaikovsky Competition.
It's very famous.

(01:34:28):
I said, yes.
Did you win?
I said, if I won, I wouldn'tbe teaching you.
I wouldn't be here teaching you.
The fact that I didn't win is.
I am here teaching you.
And I can be God's instrumentto impart to you some help and guidance
and encouragement.
That's right.
So my point is that be thebest you can be.

(01:34:52):
Don't settle for average orwhat's the best you can be?
Excellence for Jesus.
Make that a motto in your life.
I want to be excellent.
I want to be.
If I'm going to teach a Biblestudy, I don't want it to be okay.
I want it to be excellent.

(01:35:12):
Jesus deserves excellence.
Excellence.
What I do with my life, how Ido things in my home.
Excellence.
And that doesn't mean thatyou're going to be a triple plus.
Because God wants to useexcellence on many levels.

(01:35:33):
Of course.
So, you know, I'm just sayingbe the best.
And if the best is, you're abee, praise God.
God wants.
He needs bees.
That's right.
He needs bees.
Be mean.
The grade B.
You understand?
Yes, that's what I mean.
The grade B.
He needs bees now.
But it's not like I'm a B fromlack of effort, right?

(01:35:53):
I'm not a B for lack ofwanting to be an A, but I'm a B and
God will use me as a B.
You know, a man gave Jesus atuna fish sandwich.
Five loaves and two fish.
I call it tuna fish.
And Jesus fed 5,000 people.
You off.
I'm offering to Jesus my tunafish sandwich.

(01:36:14):
He can change a heart.
He can bless a concert.
He can reach people.
I'm only an instrument that hecan use.
And I'm going to give him andoffer him the best.
But he's the one that performsa miracle.
But I give him my tuna fish sandwich.
And so I say this to Lord, youknow, Lord, I'm giving you my tuna
fish sandwich.
Take my seed, make it a goodseed, and planted in good soul to

(01:36:38):
bring forth good fruit.
Amen.
That's it.
Praise God.
It's worth living for JesusChrist, brother.
Amen.
He is.
He is.
All in all.
He is worthy.
Worthy.
Amen.
Hope that's been a blessing.
It has.

(01:36:58):
It has.
Thank you so much, Sam.
Thank you for hosting us inyour home.
Thank you for having me comehere in my home and in my.
This is where I practice mymusic, my study, my inspiration and,
you know, I mean many thingsand crosses and other memorabilia
and things like that of just.
And I look at it and I thankGod, you know, not in us not.

(01:37:18):
But to God get all the glory.
Because without me, you can do nothing.
Amen.
Amen.
Thank you, Sam.
Okay.
God bless you, brother.
Thank you.
God bless you and to yourassistant, to Elijah.
I'm going to be performing thefirst movement of the first sonata
that Beethoven wrote for the piano.
So this is the first movementof his Opus 2, Number 1, Sonata in
F minor.

(01:38:00):
SA.

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SAM ROTMAN - From Juilliard To Jesus: A Master Pianist's Journey From Orthodox Judaism to Christian Faith

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