Most of my summer so far has been taken up with a Europe Trip with my parents. We took Baltic Cruise on the Crystal Symphony...flew to London (and spent a day and half there), boarded the ship in Dover...stopped in Oslo, Copenhagen, Visby, St. Petersburg (for three days), Helsinki, and Stockholm. The weather was amazing for the whole trip...sunny and 75 in most places (which apprently is very rare for that part of the world) I was totally messed up time-wise, for basically the entire trip we lost an hour every night, then when we stopped in St. Petersburg, got used to it, and the started getting them back as we went in the other direction. Add an eight hour flight back to Chicago, and I was super confused...I've started posting pics on facebook, so be sure to check it out.
Had a busy week upon arrival...annual July 4th Arkansas Symphony concert at the Downtown Ampitheater...performance of Brahms 1st Sextet for a local chamber music camp, a Sturgis performance of the Mozart Adagio and Fugue, and I played the Prelude to the 2nd Suite...all in the same week...made it through just fine despite the jetlag. (Although the Bach could have been faaaaaaar better!)
Now I find myself hanging out with not much to do...I'm gearing up to leave for Tanglewood in a little under two weeks...I'll be playing Knussen: Where the Wild Things Are as well as a Carter American premiere called What Are Years. Very excited. Next week I'll be teaching at an adult amateur chamber music camp here in Little Rock...so things are looking up in terms of boredom!
