Breakfast with the arts.

Entirely scary, fat opera singer-free edition -- just for PSA, of course.



A little information about the brilliant Mr.Tsujii, via the Dallas News:

He has been here only a week, but from the moment he arrived, Nobuyuki Tsujii has had an impact on the neighborhood. Each day, the ritual is the same: He eats breakfast with his host family, John and Carol Davidson, who live in a town home near downtown Fort Worth, and then begins to play: Chopin, Debussy, Liszt, Beethoven.

Molly, the Davidsons' tiny Cairn terrier, nestles under the Steinway for a closer listen. A mom walking an infant circles the door repeatedly. Rather than complain, other neighbors have asked the Davidsons to please keep the front door open. "We've been joking about charging them," Carol Davidson says. "I cry a lot when I hear him play. And when I'm not crying, I feel goose bumps."

Tsujii, 20, is one of 29 competitors in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, now taking place at Bass Performance Hall. This is his second international competition and fourth overall. But he is believed to be the first contestant in the history of the Cliburn who can't see.