This was a busy fall season for “For the Left Hand,” and two events stood out: On Oct. 12, Howard and Gordon brought the film to Howard’s alma mater, Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, in Evanston. The screening held special significance for Howard, for he had performed Ravel’s Piano Read more…
What happens when some of the world’s brightest young journalists gather to watch “For the Left Hand”? An outpouring of tears, laughter, conversation – and an avalanche of questions. Each summer, high-school reporters and editors from around the globe converge in Evanston for the Medill-Northwestern Journalism Institute, a long-running program Read more…
Whenever we show “For the Left Hand” in the Chicago area, there’s always at least one person in the audience who rises up after the screening to announce that Norman Malone was their music teacher. Never fails. But what happened on April 20 during Highland Park High School’s Focus on Read more…
The past few weeks have been a whirlwind for “For the Left Hand.” No event was more moving than when Norman Malone received the Grant Park Music Festival’s Advocate for the Arts Award on Oct. 27 at the Fairmont Chicago hotel. With nearly 500 guests attending the festival’s biggest fundraiser Read more…
Norman and the “For the Left Hand” team got dressed up for a very special night on Oct. 27 at the Fairmont hotel. It was the annual benefit for the Grant Park Music Festival, who awarded Norman with their Advocate for the Arts Award. Take a look at some photos Read more…
Our culture today emphasizes the “lived experience,” meaning stories should be told by those who have lived them. So when “For the Left Hand” sold out the Chicago History Museum on Aug. 18, Howard asked the post-screening panel about white filmmakers telling the story of Norman Malone, a Black man. Read more…
Post-screening discussions about “For the Left Hand” have occurred across the country for the past year, but none zeroed in on music as acutely as the event Aug. 2 in the refurbished Claudia Cassidy Theater of the Chicago Cultural Center. Presented by the Grant Park Music Festival and Chicago’s Department Read more…
Not many 84-year-old pianists add difficult new works to their repertoire — and dare to play them for hundreds of listeners. But Norman Malone is not any octogenarian musician. He proved that again on June 14 at DePaul University, his alma mater. Appearing before a large audience in the school’s Read more…
“For the Left Hand” has screened across North America, but rarely in a venue as historic as the Charleston Library Society. Founded in 1748, the organization describes itself as “the oldest cultural institution in the South” and the “second oldest circulating library in the country.” Though its current location sprang Read more…
“For the Left Hand” started as a series of articles written by Howard Reich. Soon after the series was published on the front page of the Chicago Tribune, Norman began accepting invitations to perform concerts around the country. At this point Reich realized this could become a film and he Read more…