In The Past Five Days I Have:

1. Recorded Jairo's Piece (in about 2.5 hours!!!). I played OK (wish I could have done some things over again, but we didn't have much time) and there was a lot of traffic noise...hope it turns out ok!!
2. Went to Java's several times...and ate at Dim-Sum (see Heather???)
3. Had an uneventful flight back to TX (although it did leave very early) and I got to see the NYC skyline when we flew out of Newark (haven't been to NYC in a while now...)
4. Played the final performances of the six service gig (Tim Powell's Wedding Mass) out in Baytown. I have officially spent waaaay to much of my life in Baytown now.
5. Got lost driving to said gig and we were 20 minutes late and the choir applauded us when we entered. How embarrassing.
6. Taught at TH Rogers...always a joy.
7. Played my final orchestral repertoire final...and it wasn't too bad (well some excerpts were but surprisingly Brahms-Haydn Variation #5 was good!!)
8. Dropped by some favorite Houston spots: Mai's, Hans', RA.
9. Saw Mira play in the Houston Symphony Mahler 2 Concert!! Its an amazing piece...and thats all I'll say about that.
10. Waited for my Tanglewood assignments and still haven't gotten them.

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.

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.

Recital Prep

Those of you who are keeping track know that my masters recital is coming up this Saturday. I don't know why nobody told me that a mostly Carter program would really hard to keep up. But for future reference, it is. I'm mainly just going through stuff slowly making sure my hands really know what they are doing...because there are a lot of (pretty hard) notes to play...like all the time. Yikes.

So, if you are in the area you should stop by Duncan Recital Hall on the Rice University Campus at 3pm on Saturday January 26th for a fun show featuring:

1. A New Piece by Jairo Duarte-Lopez called Ekphrasis sobre "El Miedo" de Tanguy.
2. Both of the Carter Figments for Solo Cello (#1: for cello alone, #2 Remembering Mr. Ives)
3. Enchanted Preludes for Flute and Cello (also by Carter and featuring the spectacular Hilary Abigana)
4. The Carter Sonata for Cello and Piano (with the show-stopping Patti Wolf)

Preview Passed, No Rochester

In case you were wondering, I did in fact pass my preview. Things seemed a little shaky to me, but I pulled through in the end somehow. And they actually liked the enchanted preludes. Imagine that.

I was going to be in Rochester next weekend to record Jario's piece...but it turns out that he is having visa troubles in Colombia and may not be back in the states for up to two months!!! He called the competition people and they don't really need the recording until May so it looks like we will be postponing it for a while. I was looking forward to going to Rochester and seeing everyone and having a lesson with Kathy Kemp (for the upcoming Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra audition) oh well...

Things are a little depressing around Rice....mainly because of this. Its a really small school so everybody knew her, even if you weren't great friends. She lived in my apartment building too. Sigh...

Nervous Breakdown?

I just got back from Mexico this evening...due to an unfortunate/fortunate series of circumstances the next few days in my life are going to be some of the craziest ever I think. My recital preview is this Tuesday, so I need to bring back all of my Carter Shit to working order (plus brush up on Jairo's Piece which I'm recording in a few weeks??? maybe?) and learn Plylar's Piece (which he says is quite difficult)...all before Tuesday. I also need to be entertaining Heather the entire time (which will be a joy...of course)...it just makes things a bit trickier...but maybe I'm blowing this all out of proportion and it actually won't be that bad? I guess I'll find out soon enough. Things I'll be doing with Heather:

1. Hanging out and having fun.
2. Going to the Rothko Chapel and Menil Gallery (I've never been..oops)
3. Going to the Galleria.
4. Having a reading party?
5. Eating at good food establishments like House of Pies.
6. Going out to other fun places. Duh.

I canceled my teaching on Monday to make sure I could fit everything in. I don't want to look like an idiot at my preview so I really need to do some quality practicing. Starting a few weeks ago, oops. Maybe I'm being too hard on myself, I did have everything ready to go before break. Whatever, now I'm just rambling and typing out my crazy thought process and publishing it online. That's stupid.

I'll have more to say about Mexico later. Maybe.

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

Its the end of the semester and things are getting kind of crazy...seriously. My preview is next week...a good 7 weeks before my actual recital...so things are kind of falling into place...well, like one piece...sigh...its gonna be a little bit rough around the edges I think...oh well...I need to go an teach now...

1. Hilary and I are attempting to throw the Carter Enchanted Preludes together in one week. This piece is pretty hard...we are rehearsing basically everyday (even though her boyfriend is in town!) I know that she kind of hates me right now...but I'm really glad we are doing it! Thank you Hilary!
2. I'm playing the Lopez and the Plylar in studio on Tuesday...yikes...and the Popper Requiem with Meta, Chrissy, and Patti!
3. I start my new job at T.H. Rogers on Wednesday (and Friday)...I'm teaching sectionals...yay!
4. Thursday is the Shepherd Chamber Orchestra Concert...Music of Stravnisky, Vaughn Williams, and Saint-Saens...yes, its Christmas Music...but you should come and hear my solo in the Vaughn Williams!
5. Friday is the Symphony Concert...go hear them.
6. I'm judging region band auditions on Saturday...that should be interesting. Very interesting...more on that later.

Apple and Stuff

I just came back from the Apple Store with my uncle...he bought an iPod Nano (blue) a 20" iMac, and got a free printer (with scanner etc.) and a free copy of Microsoft Office (both after rebate)...I can only say that I'm a little bit jealous (even though I already have two iPods of my own and a MacBook...so I really have no reason to be)...but his stuff is newer and better and cooler. I also drooled over the iPhones for a while...I'm getting better at using them, mainly from just playing with them at the store...now all I need to do is actually own one!

Project Runway: I have to admit, I kind of heart Elisa...even from the first challenge when her dress was a total train wreck (as M. Kors said)...it was nice to see her go from almost being the first one auf'ed to almost winning! Yikes! I guess Victoya's was good too...but I just don't like her right now for some reason...I didn't like her metallic flower dress either (from the last episode) that the judges were all drooling over...seems like she will be sticking around for a while. My favorite right now is Chris March...he's kind of hiding in the "I don't get kicked off, but they also never say anything about my dresses" territory right now...so it seems like he'll be around for at a few episodes.

I'm kind of obsessed with David Lynch and Pedro Almodovar right now...I've watched Inland Empire, Twin Peaks Season 2, Volver, and Talk To Her in the past two weeks...and they are all amazing...I really need to go back and fill in some Almodovar gaps...he is such an amazing writer and his movies never go exactly where you expect them to (and always put the audience in a unique position...aka...should we like the main character or not?)...see Talk To Her and look at the main character Benigno for a prime example.

I've actually been doing some pretty good practicing since I've been here...not a ton of time...but I've been getting some things done...which is what I need to be doing. The last three pages of the Duarte-Lopez are pretty crazy in a tongue-twister fast notes/rhythm kind of way...but my fingers are slowly but surely figuring out where they need to be. For those of you who are keeping track I'm playing the entire Carter Sonata at our studio recital on Monday night, then the Duarte-Lopez in studio on Tuesday, and hopefully the Plylar at my lesson on Wednesday...in other words...its a big cello week for me (not to mention all of the orchestra music that I need to know really well...ouch).

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

1. There is nothing quite like a Monday morning Orchestral Repertoire midterm, is there? I missed to real one a few weeks ago and my make-up is tomorrow morning. I'm sure it will be amazing, especially since the teacher is pissed at me right now...and I can't play Mendelssohn Scherzo anyway (for those of you keeping track its some random Suppe Overture Solo + Don Juan + Brahms 2...nothing new...just stuff I suck at).
2. Project Carter Movement 4: Patti and I will attempt to begin to put together the 4th movement of the Carter Sonata...that will be interesting...its pretty freakish on paper, but maybe it will be a lot easier to put together than it seems? Maybe not...Some of Carter may be played in Studio Class on Tuesday (we had a GREAT lesson on the 3rd movement the other day)
3. Chamber Orchestra continues...aka more Christmas music. We start the Stravinsky "Dances Concertantes" with Larry on Monday.
4. Tuesday is lobowell's birthday...its a special day indeed.
5. Strangely enough Wednesday is plyply's birthday.
6. This week is Thanksgiving...I'm flying home on Tuesday evening (and missing orch rep...one of the reasons said prof is pissed at me...hmmm)
7. I expect the highlight of the week to be Project Runway on Wednesday...I'll be watching it with my mom for the first time! I picked Chris (big Chris) to win this one...I thought his dress was amazing last week...but they just advanced him to the next round with no commentary...I'm sure he'll be up there with the best in the next few episodes.
8. Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite, if not my favorite holiday. There is just a certain feeling that I have when I think about the whole day leading up to the meal...everybody is around the house...cooking doing whatever...hard to explain, but it just doesn't really happen on other days. I was just at home a few weeks ago, but I'm looking forward to the break (since I'm kind of wiped out from Beaumont this past week).
9. I'm gonna learn Plylar's "Duel Intentions" and Duarte-Lopez's "Ekphrasis" while I'm at home...my preview is really soon!
10. Back in Houston early early early Sunday morning...yikes!