Classical pianist Simone Dinnerstein is so chill even after gorgeously playing two lively, emotive solo pieces the morning of Oct. 23 she exudes the penguin cool of somebody who just woke up. That's not a knock—even a few of the women in the audience remarked on how calm and stately Dinnerstein seemed during the question-and-answer portion of the program, and one asked if she ever got nervous. The thirty-something Dinnerstein, comfortably but elegantly clad in black slacks and a scoop-neck black top with three-quarter sleeves, assured the questioner that she does, in fact, get nervous, and talked about debuting with the New York Philharmonic this past July. Being a native Brooklynite, the New York Philharmonic is Dinnerstein's home-court symphony, the one you aspire to play with, and since friends, family—and her pediatrician, Dinnerstein recalled in her mellifluous voice—were going to be there for her debut, when standing in the wings her legs were shaking so much she wasn't sure she was going to be able to walk across the stage.

It's hard to imagine anything ruffling the woman. Her lovely charm has graced the stages of many of world-renown classical stages, from New York's Lincoln Center to London's Wigmore Hall, ever since her 2007 recording Bach: Goldberg Variations hit the No. 1 spot on Billboard's Classical Chart. She admits to enjoying the smaller, intimate, solo performance setting, such as this one, the best, though—even though this setting is somewhat unusual. The piano was a Steinway. The music selections were two pieces from composers well established in contemporary repertoires—Franz Schubert's "Impromptu in E Flat, Opus 90" and Johann Sebastian Bach's "French Suite No. 5 in G Major." And the impromptu recital hall, with about five rows of 12–15 chairs each, had been organized inside the library of the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women in Jessup.

Dinnerstein visited town last weekend to make her debut with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra as the featured soloist during Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23, K. 488, and part of her visit included this more outreach-minded appearance in Jessup. Full disclosure: going in, I had no idea what to expect. Journalists who've gone visited prisons for stories before are familiar with the usual protocols—what you can bring in, what you can't, etc. —but this wasn't the usual sort of journalistic prison visit. Photographers were coming in with their gear (kudos to the BSO for getting the media out: see also Baltimore magazine's John Lewis' post and The Sun's Mary Carole McCauley's Oct. 24 article). Prison staff, guards, and female inmates all sat in the arranged seats. The room became church quiet when Dinnerstein played. And most everybody in the room responded enthusiastically after each performance.

Dinnerstein earned that applause. She picked two pieces that showcased her lithe, nimble playing and her more reflective nuances, dancing through the note clusters of the Schubert and evidently enjoying the Bach, a roughly 16-minute piece that includes eight parts, each with its own distinctive personality. She's a poised, giving speaker, able to talk about classical music with the mix of informal levity and familiar sensuality that people typically reserve only for pop music, and remarked that she really enjoys Bach because "I find his music really takes me to another place." The questions that followed the performance suggested that the audience members had been listening intently and were genuinely moved--sincerity that visibly touched the visiting artist.

Photographs by Frank Hamilton

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