Photo: Duane Fink
Karen Psiaki and James (Jim) MacInnes at the Lead Opera House.
by Katy Beem
Karen Psiaki of Summerset, SD, a Friend of SDPB since 2006, and her friend James (Jim) MacInnes, a 90-year old classical pianist and conductor, met in 2009 at Black Hills Piano Gallery in Rapid City. A saleswoman, computer programmer and singer, Karen relocated to the Black Hills from New Jersey in 2006. Prior to moving to Rapid City and directing the Black Hills Chamber Orchestra for 15 years, Jim led the well-traveled life of a classical composer and musician. Fulbright study in Germany. A teaching position at UCLA-Los Angeles. A season with the San Francisco Opera. Assistant conductor of the National Ballet. In the 1970s, he was music director and conductor of the Lake Charles Civic Symphony in Louisiana. Jim graduated from Julliard. 22 22
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“One of my last concerts there was the Beethoven Ninth,” says Jim. “When we finished that performance, I felt I’d achieved the top. Beethoven has the joy theme embrace the other melody in a double fugue, and it was almost uncontrollably brilliant and wild. You can’t get above or even equal to the Beethoven Ninth.” His teachers have included Walther Pfitzner, a well-known composer from Black Hills State Teachers College (now BHSU). “He was better than any teacher I had at Juilliard,” says Jim. “My second great piano teacher was Julius Herford, a refugee from
