“I feel unable to aptly thank my studio teacher, [Dr.] Pettersson for everything that he has been to me over the past three weeks, musically and personally. Our lessons together have been intense, deep, and eye-opening. His ability to describe and demonstrate the process of sculpting music, physically and aurally connecting sound over space and time, and building a deep level of attunement between how one wants to play and what one actually plays has been pretty close to unparalleled for me. His unwavering belief in never sacrificing musical integrity for technical ease would often bring us to paradoxes and moments in which we both realized that we were trying to accomplish the impossible: expressing the impossible beauty of impossibly beautiful music. It was humbling and simultaneously very inspiring. His personal dedication and intent on cultivating friendships with students is also something I will keep in mind as a teacher…our lessons which were just as much excursions into philosophy, psychology, and life as they were into simply playing the piano.”