MP3.com allows Bennett to track how many albums he has sold and from where they were purchased. He is often amazed by the different geographic locations of his customers, and attributes this to MP3.com being a truly global site. He also receives more email now than he used to and attempts to respond to each personally.

Bennett's first exposure to music was from his mother, who taught him how to play piano by ear. At the age of five, he did a rearrangement of "It's a Small World" with his tape recorder, inserting other Disney music into the catchy tune and rewriting the words. His arrangement won him a prize in a Disney-sponsored contest, and, more importantly, showed him that music was to be a huge part of his life.

Bennett has since gone on to perform over 400 concerts, win 50 national and international competitions and become one of the youngest musicians ever to perform Rachmaninov's 3rd concerto. His favorite memory was performing privately for the President of Poland, Lech Walesa, at the age of 17. "He is someone I grew up idolizing. He freed Poland from the Communist government. I had always grown up admiring his strength of character and to get to play a program of all Polish music (Chopin), there was something kind of magical about the whole thing," he stated.

Although Bennett no longer takes lessons, he practices three hours daily, usually in the Pforzheimer Holmes Living Room. "Practicing comes before classwork and attending class. It comes before social time, extracurriculars, whatever. I enjoy it so much, it's never burdensome."

Still, Bennett has enjoyed his time at Harvard and believes that his liberal arts education has encouraged him to grow as a musician. "Everything you learn about philosophy, psychology or history is directly applicable in some way to how you play, how you view the arts, how you view music, how you view the relationship between the audience and the performer."

Bennett, who is also the managing editor of the Unofficial Guides, president of the Pforzheimer Music Society, conductor of the soon-to-be implemented Tuscany Orchestra and a Transfer Link (having transferred to Harvard from DePaul University), values his very limited free time. He enjoys listening to MP3s and has eclectic musical tastes that run from techno to top 40. "I like going out a lot. I think working on the Unofficial Guide made me really appreciate everything that Boston and Cambridge has to offer, so especially if it's nice out, I have a hard time staying in my room and studying."

While Bennett is unsure of what his future will bring, he knows that he wants music and performing to be a part of it. "The classical musical world is changing, and I hope to be involved in that change."

Christina Castelli

Christina Castelli '00 is not your typical young musician. Although she has been playing since the age of three, and is having her first commercial recording released at the age of 21, she exhibits none of the qualities usually associated with the young and the talented. Throughout the interview, she maintainws a refreshing outlook, describing her gratitude to her parents, her love for music, her hatred for competition and her desire to maintain her identity as a person outside of her musical life.

Unlike the stereotypical stage parents who push their children into performance, Castelli says, her mother and father "always left it up to me. If I wanted to quit the next day, I could, which I think is why I got as far as I did. Because if I had been pushed, I would have resisted."

So now, as a Harvard chemistry concentrator (having left Oberlin's notoriously difficult double-degree program, where she studied biochemistry and music performance, before her junior year), Castelli feels free to follow her passions. "My parents don't really care what I do in life. Whatever I do, they say just do the best you can at it. Whether it's chemistry, whether it's music, whether it's being a street musician, it's up to me. That's allowed me the freedom to be able to come to Harvard and study academics."

Isaac Stern, the great violinist, has recently become an important guiding force in Castelli's life. Although he is notorious for crushing the dreams of hopeful young musicians, she says that he has been "nothing but supportive and kind" to her. "He strongly believes that I will have a solo career; he's not concerned about that. What he's concerned about is where to go from here. Once I graduate from here, what happens next?"

But while Castelli may be an extraordinary talent, there is far more to her personality than a simple desire to perform. "I'd get bored if all I had to talk about was music," she says. "There's much more to life than just music, and I know that. I'm a person before I'm a musician."

One danger of any strong focus on music is the competition of the classical music world. Although Castelli sees competition as a natural reaction to many situations, she says, "I don't see the point of not wanting to talk to someone because he's a competitor of mine. I go in there and I introduce myself to everybody.