American Classical Concert pianist Sara Davis Buechner makes her home in Vancouver where she has a successul career teaching music at the University of British Columbia. The 55 year-old Zoomer once had a promising career in the U-S when she was David Buechner performing with such iconic institutions as the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra and the American Symphony.

But when she came out in 1998 as a transgender woman, she began to be shunned by conductors, and even ended up being harassed out of her teaching job at an elite conservatory.

Her career and her life began a turnaround once she moved to Canada and took a job at UBC. Although she says she’s still not fully welcome in the U-S, she has been invited to play some concerts in her native land. And she has a busy schedule that almost matches the one when she was performing during the height of her career.

On Monday she will be performing with the Edmonton Recital Society, and will include works by Mozart and Gershwin.

Beuchner says she likes to share her story in order to give inspiration to others.