Rochester So Far

1. A quick stop at Wegmans...Jairo and I stopped in there right after he picked me up from the airport.
2. A trip to SPoT Coffee with Sara.
3. A few beers at Salinger's with Arthur.
4. A morning of practicing (for the recording and for orch rep final).
5. Spending 2.5+ hours with Jairo working on the piece (to be recording tomorrow).
6. Drinks with Lauren.
7. Some time spent in the Sibley Library.
8. No trip to Java's or Dim Sum yet...not sure how that happened...but it will be fixed tomorrow.

Hello Rochester

Hello from Rochester, NY...I'm here for a few days to record the piece the Jairo Duarte-Lopez wrote for me (I played it on my recital...if you were there)...we are doing to recording on Wednesday, but I'm here a few days early to just see friends and practice a bit before the recording. Its always strange coming back...all the people (except a few) are totally different. Funny how the people change so quickly. Tomorrow is for practicing and seeing friends...and maybe practice a bit more. Wednesday is the recording session in the morning...and hopefully some kind of celebration afterwards! Back to Houston on Thursday morning.

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 Heart Carter

I just returned from a performance of Elliott Carter's String Quartet No. 1...performed by the Pacifica Quartet at the Cy Twombly Gallery (part of the Menil Collection) here in Houston. I had never heard the piece before, and I listened without a score (Mr. Fischer was sitting a few seats away avidly following his). I guess that I can't claim to be new to Carter (since I just did a recital of four Carter works and recently played a movement of the cello sonata from memory!)...but I really felt that the piece worked on a musical level...most people have a hard time relating to Carter's abstract rhythmical language...but I think the real reason (aside from his obvious innovations to rhythm and construction) that he has become such a legend, is that his pieces work emotionally beyond all that.

I kind of realized in the end, during the final violin cadenza, that I was totally captivated by the piece. Even though it was over forty minutes long (of pretty abstract material) a lot of the piece really spoke to me, and it seemed to the audience as well. I really enjoyed the slow movement, with the dueling duos: forceful cello and viola recitative style against the two very high and slow violins. I really want to play this piece now (and not just becuase it starts with a cello cadenza).

I didn't realize that Carter was going to become such a large part of my life...I kind of ended up doing mostly Carter on my degree recital (4 Carter works and one other contemporary piece)...this was really my first experience with Carter, and I dove right in. This summer he will become a much larger part of my life when I take part in his 100th birthday celebration at Tanglewood...46 Carter chamber pieces have been programmed. I have no idea what I will be playing (hopefully something really good) but I know at least that I will be taking part in the two orchestra concerts consisting of only Carter music!! Yikes.

And with a face like that, who could say no?

Post-Competition

The Houston Tuesday Musical Club competition is now over...well, I'm done...but I was also the 4th person to go. I think it ends at 4pm...I'm not expecting anything though. The Carter went pretty well, no memory slips or anything! Dvorak, on the other hand, was not so hot...it may have bordered on horrendous...especially at the end of the development. Turns out the judges stopped me, but I didn't hear them, and I kept playing, and getting more and more unsuccessful...oh well...it was 10am...

Later today I will be performing the Introduction and Allegro by Ravel (with harp etc...Mary would be proud). My group performed it last week, and will be performing it a few more times after this...so we have been pretty low key about the whole thing. Its at 4pm in Duncan Recital Hall at Rice University if you are interested (we are first).

Tomorrow if the day of Brandt...we are starting his opera: read through in the morning, and then right on the the sitzprobe in the afternoon...yikes...the performance is on Wednesday. For those of you wondering, its a contemporary chamber opera by Anthony Brandt (composition faculty here at Rice)...string quartet, some percussion, and two singers. Should be interesting...I've been on an opera kick lately, so I'm looking forward to this!

Good Work, David

I somehow managed to wind up with the correct Final Game in my NCAA Bracket (on facebook). I kind of randomly filled it out at the last minute and forgot about it...and when I checked yesterday, I was suddenly doing really well (#1 among my friends on facebook and #21,890 on all of facebook)...we'll see how it all turns out soon enough...I picked Memphis to win it all...hope it works out!

In other news...its Carter Sonata 23.5/7 for me (the other .5 is spent on Dvorak Concerto)...Houston Tuesday Musical Club Competition is coming up on Saturday morning and I need to play the Carter from memory...ugh...at least I've played Dvorak 75 million times...playing both in studio tomorrow...we'll see how that goes...I'm off to practice now, and rehearse with Patti, and most likely practice some more!

Dreaming

I had a dream last night. I usually don't remember my dreams, but for whatever reason this was one was particularly vivid. Anyways, you all know that I'm playing in a competition next Saturday (Houston Tuesday Musical Club)...in my dream, I got the day of the competition wrong and had to sprint over to the location and perform with a pianist provided by judges. For whatever reason, they didn't seem to care, and thought it was really funny that I didn't bring a pianist with me. I couldn't find a chair that I liked, and then when I did, the stage was slanted back, so much so that my chair was actually sliding backwards off the back of the stage. The judges didn't seem to think anything was wrong with this...then I realized there was a huge podium set up, and I asked if I could play there, which was ok with them.

Anyways...I somehow ended up playing really really well, except that the pianist was retarded and couldn't follow me at all. Dvorak was going really well, although I was very worried about how the pianist was going to sight-read the Carter. Luckily, I woke up before we got to it.

Mystery Gig

The mystery gig (as mentioned below) was revealed this morning, when I went to play the gig. All I knew was to show up at a Steakhouse (random) at 11am...so of course, I got there a bit early, in case we were supposed to start playing at 11...which it turned out we were. We were playing for a wedding, and nobody knew anything about anything that was happening...so we talked to the groom and decided to play the Wagner Wedding March for the bride...pretty standard...the minister came up to us and shared the fact that he knew nothing about what was going on either...so we played prelude music for 45 minutes (because the bride hadn't shown up yet) and then a quick rendition of here comes the bride...we were sitting outside in a gazebo, and it was kind of cold and maybe even raining a little bit...wish I had known that before...oh well, at least we were covered. Anyways, the ceremony was quick and painless and we got paid...so all is well that ends well, right?

Spring Recess

Right now at Rice, we are enjoying spring recess. This is not much of a break, however: only two days off of school. Last year it coincided with Easter. In case you were wondering. I was looking at my calendar yesterday, and I reallied how much stuff I have coming up...a contemporary opera, a very long gig (6 services), a few other gigs, yadda yadda yadda...but its better to be busy I suppose. Right?

The Musiqa Concert last night was a success...all of the pieces went over very well and I didn't end up making a fool of myself or anything. I hope I will be able to play with them again...its always so great to be able to just play a fun concert and actually get paid for it!! I guess thats why we do this...because when it all works it, its really not like working.

I have a mystery gig this morning...I have no idea what I am playing for. The music director of the Woodlands Symphony hired me and just gave me the address and the times...no other info. We'll find out soon enough what it is...I guess.

No Fun

It has been horrendously gorgeous here lately in terms of weather. Now that I've lived here in Houston for almost two years I can kind of feel where the seasons actually begin and end (since when it gets down to 60 in the winter I actually feel cold now...sorry Rochester, Boston, Chicago peeps). I had the perfect amount of snow for this year...snowed on day (very lightly) on Thanksgiving when I was home, and then a few days when I was home for winter break...it was nice to see it a few times and not have to deal with it afterwards!

That all being said, I have managed to get mildly sick despite the amazing weather. I'm not really sure where this came from...I was sitting outside having a latte with friends (it was 75 and not a cloud in the sky) and everything was right in the world. Even stopped by a $1 clothes sale (although I didn't find anything for myself)...but then, later in the afternoon when we were rehearsing with Susanne Mentzer (in a freezing room...air conditioning is already set on full blast here) and starting getting chills and aches...and then I was out of commission by 10pm (couldn't even finish watching Michael Clayton). Now I'm up at 4am...not really feeling any better or different. I hope this passes soon! I'm trying to drink a ton of Emergen-C and drink a lot of orange juice (and take zinc) but apparently Emergen-C doesn't really do anything after all...but I have a lot of it, so I'm gonna take it anyways.

Beer and Orchestra

This past weekend was our second orchestra concert of the semester. The day of the concert was also BeerBike...an event that I'm not totally sure what it even is. For whatever reason, the music grad students (or MUSI's as we are called here) take absolutely no part in this event, while a handful of grad students from other departments do actually attend. BeerBike consists of a bunch of people (aka most every undergrad student at Rice) getting up at 5 or 6am to get totally drunk. Then there is a water balloon fight. At some point people chug beer and race bikes, then everybody sits around all afternoon and drinks some more. I probably wouldn't really even know about this, except for the fact that our orchestra dress rehearsal was during the water balloon fight (it was originally scheduled during the bike race, but got changed) and all of the undergrads were really sad and complained about it. All of the grad students didn't really care.

Today I discovered that there is an undergrad pub in the basement of the student center. I had no idea it even existed. And I'm also confused ...since most undergrads aren't old enough to drink. Whatever.

More about BeerBike here.

Fun Stuff to Do

I'm kind of excited about the coming months!! Here's whats going on:

1. Faculty recital on March 26th with Leone Buyse, Michael Webster, and Susanne Menzter...I'm playing a short set of Ravel Songs. The concert is at 8pm in Duncan Recital Hall at Rice University.
2. Musiqa...a new music ensemble here in Houston. I'm playing Copland's Appalachian Spring and a piece called Facade by Walton...hardly what I call "new" music...but I'm more than happy to be playing it (the Copland is actually one of my favorite pieces...who saw that coming?)...the concert is April 4th at 7:30pm at St. Phillip Presbyterian Church here in Houston. There is also a piece by Pierre Jalbert on the program.
3. Playing some kind of house concert thing with a friend of mine and...Suzanne Menzter. I'm not really sure what it is...but its with Suzanne Menzter, so I don't really care.
4. Performing Anthony Brandt's opera, "The Birth of Something" at Rice...this is still in planning stages...I hope I can do it! If all goes according to plan, the concert will be on April 16th. I have to find the people to play it too...yikes.
5. Contracting my first gig at the end of April...I've already been working on this and have got a kick-ass group of people together!
6. A trip to Rochester at some point to record Ekphrasis sobre "El Miedo" de Tanguy for Jairo Duarte-Lopez...we are still trying to figure out the dates.
7. My 2nd college graduation on May 10th...I can't believe that I'll have two degrees in a matter of months...its kind of messed up.
8. A massive trip to Los Angeles...a combination of rehearsal/concert/visit friends/vacation. Out of Context (website coming soon) is my new, new music group featuring AMAZING friends and players from Eastman. We will be presenting a concert of music by David Plylar at a location in Los Angeles and then taking a road trip up to Oregon to present some more concerts there. Its kind of out of control.
9. Then its off to Tanglewood for 2+ months of amazingness (including lots of Carter craziness).
10. Hopefully some gigs thrown in there.

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

1. There are hella-lotta recitals this week...luckily none of them are mine...Jake (cello) and Catie (Trombone) on Tuesday, Fischer Studio Recital on Wednesday, Eugene (piano) on Friday, Matt (flute) Matt (clarinet) and Lauren (oboe) on Sunday...I'm playing on Matt (clarinet) on Sunday: Mozart and Copland Clarinet Concertos...fun.
2. School started up again...um, today. (last week was spring break)
3. Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra plays a concert on Saturday night at 8pm (music of De Falla, Janacek, Vieuxtemps, and Bartok) You should come...
4. I have my orchestral repertoire midterm on Tuesday afternoon (since I was so out of it and literally couldn't play when I got back from the Rochester experience) I have to play Tchaikovsky 4th Symphony, Beethoven 5th, and Also Sprach Zarathustra...should be fun...except not at all...
5. I guess I'll practice a bunch.

No Country

Last night I saw No Country For Old Men at the Angelika Film Center in Downtown Houston, it was the first time I've been to that theater (and only the second time I've seen a movie in Houston!)...I need to get on that don't I? (Its only the 2nd or 3rd movie I've seen since this summer...) I used to see every single 'important' movie that came out (at least once) and now I can only claim to have seen two of the movies nominated for best picture this year (and one of them over a week after the Oscars...oops)...maybe I will make an effort to get to the theater more? But we are now in not-interesting-movie-season...oh well... But anyways...its a pretty great movie...in the really disturbing pea-your-pants way. Javier Bardem deservedly won Best (Supporting) Actor for this performance...he was in nearly every scene of the movie...with his very creepy presence...and his even more creepy hairdo (pictured above). Scary. I kept waiting for that "great moment" in the film...some kind of movie speech or something...but never got one...which, in a way is kind of great...but I also missed it. Although I did jump out of my seat every time that something surprised me. Oh well.

I Hate Airtran

I just received a letter today from Airtran. I think they are trying to get rid of all of us angry passengers by giving us a little something for our trouble...they are still gonna here from me (I actually just sent my official complaint). Here's what they said,

Please accept our apologies for the difficulties you experiences while traveling with us on February 24, 2008...In keeping with our customer service commitment, we would like to confirm your compensation of one $75 discount travel certificate.

So, I skipped over a bunch of "we are so nice and we love you" type stuff...but only $75?!?!?!!? I spent almost $600 on the plane ticket and they didn't even get me to my destination!! Not to mention another $100 on the rental car...geez...they better come up with something better than that!

Spring Break

Its Spring Break down here at Rice...I didn't even realize it was coming so soon, so I didn't make any plans...and now I'm finding myself with a whole week and nothing to do...no gigs or anything. I'm just teaching a few sectionals at T.H. Rogers and thats about it!! Things that need to get done:

1. Practice Dvorak Concerto a lot for the Montgomery Symphony Cello Fellowship...I need to make this tape soon!! And I don't have a recent recording of Dvorak, so I'll do my best!
2. Learn Paganini Variations on One String...I'm gonna play this for the Houston Tuesday Musical Club Competition in April.
3. Memorize Jairo's piece...I might use this for the above mentioned competition as well, and everything needs to be memorized for it.
4. Decide what else to put on the Montgomery tape...Dvorak plus two other works...I'm thinking the Carter Sonata...but what else?
5. Clean my apartment.

Aftermath

When I left Rochester yesterday morning (got up at 3:45am to return the rental car at the airport) I was very tired. The airport was pretty abandoned except for one massive line at the airtran check-in counter...they only had one person working even though they had several flights leaving at 6am. Eventually a few more employees showed up and one of them split the line into four different lines to make it go faster...but when people got to the front of their respective lines they were yelled at for getting out of line and told to go to the back of the original long one...it made no sense. So I somehow eventually got to the front of one and was checked in and then told I would need to pay $65 to check my cello under the plane. I say, "But I didn't have to pay anything on the way down here." She informed me that I did actually have to pay the $65 on the way down (even though I didn't) and that I should consider myself lucky because airtran only charges $65 and all the other airlines charge $100 or more. Does she think that I've never flown with a cello before? Other airlines rarely ever charge me anything and if they do, its $25 or less. Sigh...

All in all, I'm actually really happy that I had this experience. Yes, I was a walking zombie for a few days...but that was easy enough to fix after sleeping for 12 hours (last night). Technically this wasn't my first professional audition (since I auditioned for RPO once as an undergrad) but it really was the first time I had actually really practiced the rep and gone into an audition really knowing what I was doing and feeling pretty confident about my playing. I may not have advanced, but I know that I could have played well enough to and I just need to take more auditions to figure out how to let myself play better under that (very specific) kind of pressure. And after this craziness I know that it can't get much worse than what I had to go through (well, maybe it can) and I can only look forward to better audition experiences in the future. I hope?

At least I can look forward to never flying airtran again.

Airtran is the Devil and Rochester is Retarded

As many of you know I decided to fly to Rochester to take the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra audition...they had three openings for cello. So yesterday (Sunday) I got up at the early hour of 3:30am to drive to the airport to catch my 5:45am flight. I soon learned that Peng (another cellist flying on the same flight as me) was denied entry on to the plane because his case was too big to check. He couldn't buy another plane ticket so he wasn't able to fly out to the audition. Hmmm...so around 5:15am or so we board to flight...about 20 mins later the pilot comes and tells us that the plane is broken so we pull back into the terminal and deplane. A mechanic is called and about an hour later they announce that they will need a part to fix the plane. The problem is that the part is in Atlanta...so we have to wait for the next flight to arrive from Atlanta carrying the part.

This is when it gets interesting...they realize that most people are missing their connecting flights now (this plane was only going to Atlanta)...so they start to work out other plans for most people on the flight...however, they do this by calling out destinations (randomly) and only making plans for those people who they randomly decide to help. I try and go up and explain that flights to Rochester only leave in the morning so if they wait too long then there won't be anymore...but I get the reply, "are you going to Charlotte? We are only working on Charlotte right now...we'll get to you soon." However, it takes them at least one to two hours per destination to figure it out and make the plans for everybody since there are only 2 airtran employees working.

Somewhere around noon they make the announcement that the plane is finally fixed and ready to go, but that the crew has gone back to the hotel to take their required rest period. They can't come back to the airport until 4pm, which is when they will board the plane. By this time there are only a handful of people left and we finally convince them to start working on the Rochester plans...there are four of us heading to Rochester, and they send us to lunch...upon our return we learn that there are no more flights to Rochester on any airline...period...surprise surprise...but they can put us on the first airtran flight in the morning, "No...I need to be there tonight."

I have the bright idea of going to Buffalo instead, so a few minutes later the four of us are booked on a Southwest flight to Baltimore and then on to Buffalo. Our bags are retrieved from the airplane (my cello has been sitting out there all day...) we go down to the baggage claim to get them and then we recheck in and go through security (on Southwest now). By 10pm we arrive in Buffalo and I decide to rent a car and split it with another guy and his 6 year old daughter (random)...so we drive together from Buffalo to Rochester...drop him off at the airport and then drive on to my hotel...I'm there by 12:30 (thats after midnight...)

Go to sleep...up at 7am to warm up in a conference room at the hotel...quick stop at Java's for coffee and bagel...then onto the audition...play all the standards (Beethoven 5, Brahms 2, Mozart 35, Don Juan, Dvorak Concerto, and Mendelssohn 4)...I play everything and some of it goes really well (and of course some of it doesn't)...I don't advance (no big surprise)...so its back to the hotel (quick lunch at Java's) and then a nap...meet up with Jairo, meet up with Sara...

Then the best part...I call Patty (who currently has a one year position in the orchestra and was playing in the finals)...she says that there was super drama at the audition and that I need to come to her apartment...thats right THEY DIDN'T PICK ANYBODY TO FILL THE POSITIONS...they had three openings, two permanent positions and one one year contract...and nobody was good enough, not even to sit in a chair for one year...how is it possible to win a job in an orchestra?

Now I need to get to bed to catch my 6am flight (up at 4 to drop off the rental car) and then its back to Houston (pending no weather delays) and then I need to take my orchestral repertoire midterm (joy of joys) and play in an english horn recital...and then I collapse. I'm so tired right now that my body has no concept of what time it is...what a crazy weekend...

A List For You

1. I am giving a short presentation in class tomorrow on Earle Brown
2. He is very interesting.
3. I just made a handout to give to the class.
4. And now I'm burning a CD of listening examples.
5. Tonight I recorded with the U of H Orchestra.
6. It was a piece called Astral Blue.
7. Tomorrow I am playing on their concert.
8. Today somebody asked me to contract a gig for them.
9. I was surprised since I've never done that before.
10. But I said yes.
11. I need to practice more.