Willow Ensemble Concert!

18. October 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: Concert Announcements

From my brother:

Hi Chamber Music Fans!

It’s time for another Willow Ensemble Concert. See all details below. Hope you can make it!

Time: 8PM
Dates: November 12 & 13
Place: Grace Church Chantry at 10th and Broadway

Program Details

Mozart: Overture to Cosi Fan Tutte (arr. for Woodwind Quintet)
Brahms: Trio in E-flat for Horn, Violin, and Piano
Beethoven: Rondino for Woodwind Quintet
Mozart: Quintet in A for Clarinet and Strings

We’ll send out another announcement in a week or two.

Cheers!

Timothy Emerson
Artistic Director, Willow Ensemble

I’ll post all the info when he gets that to me. Timothy and I had fun this past summer playing the Così event … I’m hoping we’ll get to do something like that again soon.

TQOD

18. October 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: TQOD

There was a year or so, age 12, where I told people I could play the oboe. No idea why.

I’m Sure I Would Have Been Asked

18. October 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: Announcements, Clarinet, Symphony

… but I don’t play clarinet.

Or. Um. Not. ;-)

The New York Philharmonic took a step closer to filling a key position this weekend, offering its vacant principal clarinet job to Ricardo Morales, who holds the post at the Philadelphia Orchestra.

RTWT

Yeah … but can he make a double reed. Huh? HUH?!

I love the (and I can’t guarantee I got this word-for-word correctly: “You always try for the best for the next time. You always try to make sure that the next time you play it is better. And hopefully it will be.” … that’s SO true. No matter how good it is, we are always thinking about “how can I make it even better?” Or at least I am.

It Just Felt Good!

18. October 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: Ramble, Reviews, Symphony

So this weekend’s concerts were short & sweet for me, since I only play the Dohnanyi and it was first on the program. But what a fun time I had! I think I played well. (As I get further from the events I tend to think perhaps it was all my imagination.) But also … it felt good!

I was able to focus and play and feel as if I was making music. Saturday went well, so Sunday I thought, “What can I do differently?” So I tried to add just a bit more to some of the lines. I don’t know if it came across at all, but the goal is always to be better, and I think it’s a good approach. To try to “be the same as last night” would feel wrong to me. I love the carrot in front of the nose thing … knowing that, no matter what, it can always be better!

In case you didn’t get to the concert, here is the Dohnanyi (EH is in movements 2 (2:36 on first video — if you listen at about 4:13 you’ll hear the bass clarinet only; I DID play the low A♯ and skipped the following low B, which no one would miss since the bassoons have joined in by then) and 4 (at the start of second video) … and of course you aren’t hearing me or the Symphony Silicon Valley in these):

If you listened to these, you hear that the English horn begins and ends both movements 2 and 4. It sort of makes us feel important. We need that sometimes! ;-)

So far the reviews have been very good:

Richard Scheinin, Mercury News
Beeri Moalem, San Jose Classical Music Examiner

Sunday Evening Music

17. October 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: Sunday Evening Music

Henry Purcell: Blessed Are They That Fear The Lord
Choir of the New College, Oxford

Sunday @ Noon

17. October 2010 · 2 comments · Categories: Sunday @ Noon Music

Man oh man does this song bring back memories of being very young. (I can’t say I ever really enjoyed it … but still ….)

Heavenly Sunshine
Bowed Psaltry and Dulcimer

Sunday Morning Music

17. October 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: Sunday Morning Music

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Sicut cervus desiderat, from Three Motets
Westminster Cathedral Choir

Lajos Sárközi

16. October 2010 · 4 comments · Categories: Videos

Ah-hah! Found another video of our soloist:

Sarasate Zigeunerweisen

I still say, though, that you’ll only understand his talent if you come to our concert tomorrow!

Concert #1 Over & Out

16. October 2010 · 8 comments · Categories: Symphony

I play only the Dohnanyi. Of course I still get nervous. Funny how that works. But tonight went fine … or at least it felt fine. How can I really ever know? My friends won’t tell me I’m awful … um … right? But still, I think I played fine.

The big star of course is our guest violinist, Lajos Sárközi. He’s all of 19 years old, and to find any clips on YouTube of him is nearly impossible. In this first one below he’s the violinist in the black and white striped shirt, and you barely really get to hear him:

And there are a few others I’ve located, but not one of these really give you ANY idea of the wonder of this guy. Truly … he’s incredible, and if you have a chance to get to tomorrow’s concert I highly recommend it!

FBQD

16. October 2010 · 6 comments · Categories: FBQD

The oboe is the most neglected instrument in the whole entire band and because of that I am moving to Perussion but I will still play oboe but again the Oboe is the least used instrument :/

Confession

16. October 2010 · 2 comments · Categories: Ramble

I almost went where I should never go. Truly. This blog is to be encouraging. This blog is honest about my own fears and foibles. (Probably too honest!) But I don’t want to mock someone. And I almost did.

I had seen a video that I won’t even describe (but yes, it included oboe), and I was going to post it here with no comment whatsoever because, well, I’m nice that way and wouldn’t that make me look like I’m sort of innocent in the whole thing. After all, you might think I liked what I was posting … right?

And then, of course, who I am stared me straight in the face. Posting it at all would make everyone laugh. (Really.) And roll eyes. (Trust me.) And groan. (Loudly.) But it also would be mocking another human being. Someone I don’t even know (not that I want to mock people I know).

But my biggest confession is that I DID post it on Facebook for about a minute when it hit me in the face that I was doing exactly what I don’t want to do. Going somewhere I really don’t want to go.

So if I ever do mock someone on this site, aside from yours truly, you all have permission to hit me over the head. Really.

Of course I won’t stop mocking myself. There’s so much material with just little (big) old (truly) me … why go after anyone else, eh? 8-)

So instead, I bring you the following. Because it is sweet. And it made me smile. And smiling is nice:

TQOD

16. October 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: TQOD

Also learned that many orchestras tune to the oboe, as it is most difficult instrument to tune; everyone tunes to it. Nice gig, oboes!

For Your Listening Enjoyment

15. October 2010 · 2 comments · Categories: For Your Listening Enjoyment

Such a Masterpiece!

Enjoy!

Oboist Loses His Case

15. October 2010 · 8 comments · Categories: News, Oboe

Remember when I wrote about the case of the bullied oboist? Well, okay, I didn’t really write about it. I only said Yikes! and let you click on the link to read the story. But anyway … the oboist lost his case.

Responding to the judgment, the WNO managing director Peter Bellingham said: “The decision to dismiss Mr Johnston was taken after genuine concerns about his playing were raised by the then music director, Carlo Rizzi.
“There followed a process of monitoring that spanned nearly four years during which time it was made clear to him what the shortcomings were and how he should address them.”
He added: “We had no option but to dismiss Mr Johnston in order to protect the reputation and high artistic standards of the company.
“It was a decision taking entirely on artistic grounds, one that is vindicated not only by the tribunal’s decision but also evidenced by the very high quality of playing in the orchestra at this current time.”

Sad stuff, no matter what the truth of it all really is.

I do hope I know when it’s time to quit. (I’m not saying this man should have quit … I’ve never even heard him play!) I hope I will recognize it before others start grimacing. But of course I worry that I won’t. Heck, maybe I’m already there and don’t know it?!

A Young Conductor … or Two …

15. October 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: Conductors, Videos

With its continuing focus on youth this season, 17-year-old Ilyich Rivas, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s BSO-Peabody Bruno Walter assistant conductor, will make his subscription concert debut at the Music Center at Strathmore.
Rivas will command the podium, presenting an ambitious evening’s repertoire that showcases Brahms’ “Academic Festival Overture,” Mahler’s “Blumine,” the Shostakovich Symphony No. 1 and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2. Prodigy Markus Groh will perform on piano.

RTWT

I couldn’t find any videos of him conducting, but I found one of him talking …

… and an even younger conductor. (I’d put the video up, but the “embedding is disabled by request” … rats!) Please do watch it! Hmmm. Is someone’s parent a conductor? Seems like maybe. What I like is that he has a tent to retreat into after … don’t you think most conductors should have one?

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