After La La Land won all the Academy Awards, the William Morris Talent Agency contacted me. They were embarking on a world tour for “La La Land – In Concert” and Austin was the 1st concert after the debut in Los Angeles. I’m not sure how they found me, but I got a phone call in my office at Texas State University. They needed a pianist familiar with film, classically trained, and a jazz musician.

This became one of the most satisfying, complicated, and challenging career undertakings I have had in the last 20 years.
179 pages of solo piano, Latin salsa,  jazz quintet, and a Rachmaninoff style concerto with orchestra, I was pleased to have performed multiple performances with orchestras in major cities. My best review here:
Reviewed by: David Hendricks, Arts/Entertainment critic – San Antonio Express.
Review: “Keeping the orchestra in sync with the film was “La La Land in Concert” tour conductor Erik Ochsner of New York City. With so much of the music flowing from Sebastian’s piano, Ochsner clearly took the approach of presenting the two-hour movie like it was a piano concerto.

Making that possible was the sparkling keyboard work of pianist Hank Hehmsoth, who performed the same role last year with the Austin Symphony when it performed “La La Land in Concert.”

Besides being a professional pianist, there are multiple additional skills involved. Here is an excerpt scene from the movie. Note the time code and click track.