Snowy Street
This is the fourth winter I have lived in New England.
There is a good chance it will be my snowiest one yet.
We have had three snow days and it is only January.
At this point, I might be teaching make-up lessons until July.
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Looking back, 2010 was a musically satisfying year of fabulous concerts, collaborations, and dedicated students as well as fun travel, entertaining Boston visitors, crafting adventures, and a new apartment!
We ventured around the world to:
We are watching the Boston snow storm from Christmas in Tennessee with Greg’s family. I wish we were back in Boston to see all the snow. Check out the projected snow totals according to Channel 7 News in Boston.
Projected snow totals!
2011 looks to be exciting and kicks off with an exciting concert on January 7th. Rachel and I are excited to perform on the Vortex Series for New and Improvised Music on their first concert in their new location at the Democracy Center in Cambridge. Check out the link here and the performance calendar on my website for more information on the concert.
The spring includes a few concerts and trips, culminating in a visit to Austin in May where my younger sister, Carmen, is getting married in the Austin Hill Country. She will be a beautiful bride!
Sisters on an Alaskan Cruise - May 2005
Happy New Year! Stay tuned for more upcoming events.
This fall was a blur of teaching and playing – my intentions of posting on the blog once a week definitely did not follow through. Luckily, December looks like I will have more time to breathe! Gregory and I wrapped up November with a long-delayed “honeymoon”, although I like to consider it our “1st Anniversary” trip since we celebrated one year of marriage on October 3rd. We left on a red-eye from Boston and work up in Reykjavik, Iceland for a quick 24-hour stop on the island. A few years ago, we watched this movie “Reykjavik 101” and I kept having flashbacks to the dark, desolate-looking city as it didn’t start to get light until after 10 AM. We arrived at our hotel at 8 AM and wandered aimlessly for a few hours in the morning around the city waiting for shops to open and people to come out.
City View of Reykjavik
Quiet downtown street
As we woke up early the next morning to catch the flight to Paris, we found out why no one was out on Saturday morning – we had just missed all of the partying until 6 AM when we arrived! The Icelandic people definitely know how to party.
Our 9 days in Paris were wonderful! Greg spent six weeks during the summer in 2001 studying in Paris and I had traveled through Paris twice – once in high school and once in college, but this was our first time to experience the city together. The tourist scene was very quiet as there were not many Americans around. We took in 3 concerts: Jazz pianist Brad Mehldau and saxophonist Joshua Redman, an interdisciplinary dance/music concert at IRCAM, and an evening of chamber orchestra with Ensemble Intercontemporain. The last concert left me feeling so inspired to perform! Of course, delicious food, great museums, and long walks through the city rounded out the trip.
One of my favorite places in Boston is the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in the Fenway area of Boston near the Museum of Fine Arts. From my first visit, I have loved the eclectic and unique nature of the Gardner Museum – from the beautiful greenery in the courtyard to the variety of art and pieces in the rooms. It is just the kind of decorating that I enjoy! I was excited to be invited to perform with the Callithumpian Consort on an evening concert at the Gardner when they stay open late on the 3rd Thursday of each month to have a party! Since they don’t allow you to take pictures in the Museum, I leave you with a picture of the Courtyard that I found on their website. If you ever visit Boston, the Gardner Museum should definitely be on your must-see list!
Gardner Museum Courtyard (credit to Gardner Museum Website)
(Some reviews of the concert!)
I’m excited to announce that I have joined the Flute Faculty at the Indian Hill Music School in Littleton, MA. I will be available for lessons on Thursday afternoons and will be directing the flute choir on Thursday evenings. The building is beautiful and it was great to meet so many lovely families and faculty members this past weekend at their Open House. I’m excited to be a part of this school and look forward to a great year there!
The Indian Hill Flute Choir meets Thursday evenings from 7:30-9:00 PM and is open to intermediate and advanced students! More information is available at www.indianhillmusic.org.
In my attempt to out-grow the college age furniture, I was making an effort to avoid collecting any additional Ikea furniture. This video might change my mind.
One highlight of my summer was participating in the Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice at New England Conservatory. This was my third and favorite year of playing! I met some great new friends and musicians and had the opportunity to perform pieces I had been wanting to play for some time now. I had the privilege of working with Jennifer Bewerse (cello) and Kyle Blair (piano) on Kaija Saariaho’s Cendres for alto flute, cello, and piano. The piece is beautiful to listen too and perhaps my favorite of her works that include flute. Our group coalesced smoothly and had a great time working together during the week. Another high point of the week was working on Afastim, by Chaya Czernowin, the composer at Harvard University. It was enlightening to hear her speak about her musical thoughts and creative process when we performed the piece in a master class for her.
We had an impromptu photo shoot before our Flute and Cello Duo Recital this past June. The Sanctuary of the Danvers United Methodist Church is filled with beautiful stain glass windows and we were lucky enough during our warm-up time to see some beautiful light coming through the windows after a torrential rainstorm that afternoon. A few of the pictures in the gallery show us working with Charles Turner, the Music Director and Composer-in-Residence at the Church, on the premiere of his new piece for flute and cello entitled Eleven Love Songs.
All of the gallery photos are credited to the artistic and talented C.E. Courtney.
Rachel Arnold and I have been busy rehearsing for the upcoming flute and cello events. Jim Scully, the composer of Duplicitious Encounter, which we premiered in January, arranged a concert and recording session after he was awarded a Subito Composers Grant. We will record Duplicitious Encounter at the WGBH Fraser Recording Studios on Friday, August 6th. The Saturday evening concert will feature music by Jim Scully, Nolan Stolz, Elliott Carter, Kaija Saariaho, Charles Turner and others! It should be a fun evening – hope to see you there!
From Matthew Guerrieri’s Boston Globe review of the Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice Iditarod on June 19th, 2010:
Many works privileged artful arrangements of envelope-pushing sounds over melodic or harmonic narrative. In Kaija Saariaho’s “Cendres,’’ flute, cello, and piano (Ashley Addington, Jennifer Bewerse, and Kyle Adam Blair) churned up an undulating sea of keening and growling swells.