Dorm Room/Storage Unit

Its not a good sign when the people that work at the Container Store recognize you and know your name. But since there is basically nowhere else to go here for more "modern" looking furniture, at least that I know of, the container store is it. I have spent more money that I had ever planned to there...but now I have three sets of Elfa drawers...two in the bedroom that function as a dresser (with wheels on the bottom) and one in the bathroom that functions as a...well...bathroom dresser.

I visited the container store again today and bought a Janus "dorm-room set" which is basically a lot of wires and shelves that you can arrange however your little heart desires (pictured above). I thought that I would need tons and tons of shelves...but apparently I have big shelf eyes...because I am nearly done unpacking all of my boxes, and barely any of the shelves are filled. I'm not concerned however, because the shelf looks cool, and I can come up with plenty of stuff to fill it with.

Thanks to the very smart people that work at the container store, my parents and I where directed to a wonderful store by the name of Garden Ridge...where you can find any and every kind of home furnishing for very very little money. I am now the proud owner of black table and four chairs for under $200. One of the chairs already kind of fell apart...but the other three are going strong.

The container store people also directed us to Hank's Fine Furniture...where I made my most exciting purchase of all...a leather couch!! I'm still trying to grasp the fact that I can actually afford something like a leather couch now (or a piece of furniture at all, for that matter)...but, in about two weeks from now, this couch will be arriving at my apartment...and it will be mine to use!!

And I'm still waiting for my bed...cough cough...IKEA?? Is anybody home? I'm waiting for all of my furniture to arrive, so I can decide where to put my art up...because that makes a big difference, right? I'm sure that once I put the art up, it will really start looking like a real apartment where somebody actually lives...right now it looks like a dorm room/storage unit.

I'm still not off my high from the Met Opening Night yet...I've been listening to Manon all day...and humming it in the car when I've been driving places (I just uploaded it to my iPod, so I can bring it with me tomorrow)...my recording is with Beverly Sills...so its kind of amazing...omg. I think since last night I may have become a big opera fan...how cheesy and random is that?

Met Broadcast

I watched the broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera's opening night gala starring Renee Fleming here in Little Rock this evening...its really amazing that the met does something like this...broadcasting the opera to movie theaters all over the country. I had never been to a Met broadcast before, but I really wanted to see this one, as I had just played with Renee Fleming (cough...shameless self-plug) and performed under James Levine (cough...shameless self-plug number 2). They did three acts from three different operas...La Traviata (which I missed all but the final moments), Act 3 of Manon (my favorite of the evening) and the final scene of Cappriccio...each one featured Renee prominently...of course...

But it all got me thinking about what my favorite musical experiences have been thus far in my life...it was so exciting to see such an amazing performance from such amazing musicians in such an amazing setting etc etc etc...anyways...three performances came to mind. First, CCE's performance of Haydn's Sunrise Quartet at our very memorable summer (well, two weeks) on Cape Cod. I remember vividly getting to the coda of the last movement and Heather giving us all that smile that said "here we go!" and then we blasted through it...and it was soooo fun.

The other two were both orchestral performances at Tanglewood...Dvorak 8th Symphony this past summer, and Elektra my first summer...both conducted by James Levine. I've never felt that much energy during an orchestra performance, and I listen to both of those recordings nearly everyday...they sound sooo amazing.

Kimberly and I talked on the phone today...and we kind of thought that maybe the fact that CCE seems to not be materializing as a "real" chamber group could be a good thing...that way when we do get together and play it will really be just a fun great experience for us...just like that summer on Cape Cod was. We won't have to worry about booking concerts and finding agents and getting enough money for rent (well...we have to worry about that anyways)...but when we do actually play together, it will be just for the fun and enjoyment of it...like it should be. Great friends playing great music.

Also, I hope that sometime in the next few years I will get the opportunity to play in a really great opera orchestra...I know I won't be able to be a Tanglewood Fellow again (I exhausted my three years :-(...so my only chance to play really amazing operas would be to win a job in a great opera orchestra...so, I'll be checking musical chairs often...something has to open in the next few years...no?

Well, that turned into a kind of personal entry...oops. I'm just feeling very happy thinking about all of the amazing performances I have been a part of...thank you Met, for bringing those memories up for me.

Post Carter

As you have probably guessed, the Carter festival is now complete and we are on to tons and tons of rehearsals for Eugene Onegin...poor James Levine is recovering from surgery, so we have Sir Andrew Davis in his place...a really great conductor, but just not the same, as everybody seems to be feeling. Oh well...its still an amazing opera and we still have the amazing cast of singers including Renee Fleming (among others).

Everything Carter went really well...Enchanted Preludes was the best it ever was and even got mentioned in Sequenza 21, a contemporary music blog. read here. The Sonata for Flute, Oboe, Cello, and Harpsichord got mentioned in the New York Times...very briefly and without names of the performers, but still...mentioned. And the back of my head was featured prominently in a different NYT review (ok...maybe not so prominently)...but whatever...

We are starting to wrap up the summer here...less than 3 weeks left...two more orch concerts...my schedule is significantly lighter now that Carter is over...just one chamber piece and the few remaining orchestra concerts. Not really looking forward to leaving...so I'm not gonna think about it right now.

Hello!!

Ok, I'm seriously going to start writing more often in here...mainly because I have a lot of exciting stuff coming up to write about...and a lot of semi-exciting stuff that has happened recently...well, maybe not that exciting at all really...As you read in the previous post, I am now officially done with school...I walked at graduation and everything, so its really official...for real. And I got my first A+ ever in a class (well it was in lessons with Mr. Fischer...so...um...yeah) I've never gone to a school where an A+ was a real grade (A was always the highest)...so my last semester of school ever I got an A+...go me? I guess its not really that big a deal.

After that I went into a very anti-social phase...I had to move out of my apartment on May 15th...which also happened to be the day that I auditioned for the sublist of the Houston Grand Opera. So, for about two days beforehand Mira and Steph lived at my apartment and helped me pack and move everything...and we watched the first two seasons of Weeds when we were taking breaks. I got everything all packed and moved into a newly rented storage space...and I successfully auditioned for the HGO sublist...not the greatest audition ever played in the history of time...but there were some very good things going on (most notably my Dvorak...which was MUCH better than it normally is)...and I love playing the solo from Tosca, so that went pretty well...although I did miss a pretty easy shift...but I guess things like that happen.

Mr. Volvo is at the hospital for a few weeks getting some things checked up and tuned up and fixed up and all that good stuff...so I am now in Houston without a car and without an apartment. Which is very strange.

But its all ok because I'm leaving tomorrow (Sunday) morning for Los Angeles where I will be rehearsing 27 hours a day on a bunch of cool/badass contemporary music with friends such as Kimberly, Alison, and Ply (and two people who I have yet to meet, but most likely will tomorrow since I will be rehearsing with them). We will be playing a concert in LA on my birthday (May 24th) and then driving up to Oregon to do a masterclass and a concert in Ashland. Of course this is a concert trip/vacation for me...so there will be a side trip to San Francisco (to see Meta, buy a cheap bow and look at cellos) and another side trip to Portland to drink wine and hang out with Kimberly...

Then its back to Houston for two days to do nothing...and then I'm driving to Tanglewood...but thats later and I'm not gonna think about it now.

La Boheme

I went with Mira to see La Boheme at Houston Grand Opera tonight...I have rarely gone to see operas...just a few at Eastman, University of Houston, Rice, and Tanglewood...and of course I've had some experience playing them (Elektra and Don Carlo at Tanglewood)...but anyways, getting back to the point...I loved it...in its kind of over the top romantic cheesiness its kind of amazing. I've never seen another production of La Boheme, but I really loved the part at the end of the first act, where Mimi and Rodolfo sing to each other and snow started to fall and a full moon appeared behind them. I kind of hated myself for loving it, but I kind of loved it anyways...and I of course adored the famous Musetta's Waltz in the second act...and even the end was moving (Mira was bawling next to me...well, maybe not bawling). Anyways...its always nice to get out of the Rice bubble and go see something that we don't have a lot of exposure to.

I could really see myself playing in an opera orchestra...the operas at Tanglewood have both been highlights of my summers (and my musical life in general)...I've been finding myself listening to operas all the time lately...perhaps I will get a taste of the opera orchestra lifestyle next year...of course, that all depends on how my Houston Grand Opera sublist audition goes...cross your fingers for me and think good thoughts on May 15th...I will slog through a grand total of three excerpts (Magic Flute Overture, the solo from Tosca, and a few randoms from Aida)...and hopefully after that I will get to play something or other with them next season.

Or I can just keep holding out for the Met.

The Week in O(h)M(y)T(rill)

1. Two Vocal Recitals today...Lindsay Kesselman is performing downtown at Uuniversity of Houston Downtown Campus at noon, she is doing the Berio Folksongs, and we are playing her dad's piece "How I Hate This Room"...I'm playing a cantata on Bethany Solheim's recital this evening...
2. I'm playing with the Baytown Symphony...out in Baytown (of all places)...I used to think that Baytown was really far, but then I played in Beaumont...and found out that it isn't.
3. I'm joining the Musician's Union on Wednesday...mostly so I can do the Baytown gig, but I've been looking for an excuse to join for some time. So there it is.
4. Seeing La Boheme at Houston Grand Opera on Wednesday...I've never seen it, and I've never been to HGO, so it should be fun. I'm auditioning for the HGO sublist in May.
5. My Ravel Chamber Group (also known as the Baggins Society Chamber Players) is playing on a Jump! concert this week...we will be playing for lots of little kiddies...I hope they like it.
6. I'm subbing in a freshman chamber group...their cellist is injured and I just played the Brahms B Major Trio last semester, so playing on a recital with them on Friday, just the last two movements. Random.
7. My final Shepherd School Symphony Concert on Friday...we are playing Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms, and Mahler 4...kind of a heavy program, but it should be good!
8. My final week of classes ever? I had my last academic class last week...so now its all music stuff all the time...school technically ends on Wednesday, in case you were wondering. I have no immediate plans to start a DMA, so right now this is kind of the end for me...yikes.

I Like Today

It is very cold and rainy today and it makes me feel like we actually have seasons here...of course that will all change when it gets hot again and it becomes apparent that we actually don't have seasons at all. But I will enjoy it while I can and carry my umbrella around and wear a sweatshirt (outside!!).

Some of you may know that I've been having some headache problems lately...things got better over the weekend and I've made some (temporary) lifestyle changes...no caffeine, no alcohol, and mostly organic food. It was very fun to go shopping at Central Market over the weekend searching out all the good organic stuff (although it is a little pricey...but whatever). I'm happy to be back in business and getting things done (since that didn't happen very much this past week). Last night was an apartment cleaning, so now everything is tidy and in its place and ready to go for the week...I should make it a tradition to always clean up on Sunday afternoon/evening...its makes getting up on Monday much easier.

I saw the University of Houston's production of The Breasts of Terisias (Poulenc) and Gianni Schicci (Puccini) yesterday. Both great operas and great production with lots of stunning performances from Eastman grads (featured as leads in both operas). Its always great seeing the operas there...they spare no expense and put on huge lavish productions.

Trio recital this Saturday at 8pm in Duncan...Brahms: Trio in B Major/Schumann: Trio in D Minor....you should be there!!!