Blog

So, this past weekend, Lauren and I went to Midland. It was a nice trip. I had to go through all my boxes of music to find as many scores as I could for the Fitelberg competition. (I was named one of the competitors for this year's competition). Other than that, things have been good. We have a production coming up in September at Bayou Bend, and we finally got the music sorted out, though I think the parts will either have to be photocopied or hand copied for the violinist and the cellist.

I found out yesterday that I'll be a finalist for the Fort Bend Symphony Orchestra in Sugarland, TX. The bizarre part!?! I'm going up against a good friend of mine, Ken Masur. I have a lot of admiration for his musicianship, and moreover, he's a wonderful human being. It is weird to think that we'll both be up for the same job, but in this field, it happens! The Fort Bend Symphony has a wonderful group of conductors coming in, and I'm very excited to be a part of it!

Amy Beach's Cabildo is a fun opera. It has pirates, prisons, and love... Basically everything a good opera should have. It should be interesting to see since it will be a Texas premiere of a piece written in the '40s. We are pairing it with Aaron Copland's The Tender Land suite arranged by Murray Sidlin. It basically uses the same instrumentation as Appalachian Spring. I'm really excited to be preparing both pieces. (along with the million others for this competition in Poland!!!)

Right now, I'm working on our press release for our collaboration with the folks at Bayou Bend. I'm very excited about that prospect. I think it will be interesting for our singers as well as our partners at Bayou Bend. I'm curious to see how the great outdoors affects our ability to convey a great musical project. I think it's really going to accentuate Opera Vista's ability to bring an audience into the production. (One of our big goals with Opera Vista is to endeavor to make the audience a part of the opera as opposed to "voyeurs.") One of the ways we do this is through Chuck Winkler's creative staging. He is, without a doubt, one of the most interesting stage directors I have ever worked with. He is also one of the most thoughtful about the singers' needs, and the best way to maintain the integrity of the production. I really think that the Bayou Bend fans are in for a treat.