We’ve all heard of no pain…no gain! We all espouse and/or have been told that we need to exercise fiscal responsibility, but what about fiscal accountability? Why is it that in a good year orchestras tout their fiscal responsibility, when in fact sometimes it’s only a good year because some of next year’s advance ticket money is spent to make it a good year…isn’t that fiscally irresponsible, cheating or maybe even fraudulent?…..
On The Go
Harlem In Italy – with apologies to Signor Berlioz
I’m back. What, you didn’t miss me? For the past five days I was in the lovely city of Torino, Italy, home of the 2006 Olympic Winter Games. But really I was in New York City, north of the Upper West Side, deep in the heart of Harlem.
Day Tripper Yeah…
I have no sympathy for Philadelphia. They’re a bunch of bums, anyway.
Cliburn Redux!
Appearing on PBS this month is the documentary from the 13th Piano competition A Surprise in Texas. I was the assistant conductor for the finals and took my Zoom H2 mike and recorded some fascinating behind the scenes audio with some of the major players including an in depth interview with conductor James Conlon and some priceless audience reaction. Click below for all of the related posts (go from bottom to top). This is the stuff that did not appear on the web or in the documentary, only here!!! CLIBURN SOUNDOFF!
Things that move….
I’m in the midst of the busiest schedule of my life in Lake Placid and in Syracuse, with 3 (this week 5) concerts a week till mid August, but that doesn’t mean there is no time to be moved….just not much time to write about it! Yesterday something struck me and a friend shared with me a clip that reminded me just how we can through music both move and be moved, I also kind of broke an unwritten rule….
Summer musings and amusings!
Tagging onto Bill’s random thoughts, some things have been rattling round my head, along with some things I picked up on our trip and online, starting with an intriguing question from a member of the Syracuse Symphony as we were preparing to play a concert in Rome NY…..
Jumping in the Lake!
So we are on our way back to Springfield, MO, after a glorious month dividing our time between Syracuse and Lake Placid, NY, doing concerts in both places. Pictured left is Mirror Lake at Lake Placid (taken with our cheap digital camera no less!) breathtaking does not begin to describe the Adirondack region. There was serious business afoot though as I was there as a candidate to be the next Music Director of the Lake Placid Sinfonietta…..there are also some fascinating connections to great musical icons of the past.
Concert Snapshots: Dr. Piano Man’s Circus
Wow, last week was a busy week. Between the massive practicing I’m doing (recording projects in the future) and doing the parental thing I managed to catch three concerts, two of which I was directly involved with. They have caused me to muse out loud……