Week 9: October 21

Probably the best thing that happened this week was the David Kim residency and concert. For those who are unfamiliar, David is concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra, an incredible violinist and a strikingly warm and generous spirit. He was here at SFCM for a three-day residency in which he gave lessons, a masterclass and put together a chamber orchestra concert, which we performed last Tuesday. By great good fortune I was put in the chamber orchestra, which was arguably the best experience I’ve had yet. We did Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings with eight firsts, eight seconds, four violas, four celli, two bassi, three days and five rehearsals. 

Regarding the concert itself, all I can say is that it seemed so…..joyful. Maybe it was the intimate size of the orchestra, or maybe it was the “European entrance” David had us do, or the fact that we were all wearing brightly coloured blouses, or maybe it was David’s passionate and very clear leading of the orchestra that infused it with a joyful energy. Or maybe the energy came from us, from the total involvement of each one of my colleagues and our commitment to finding beauty in both these well-known pieces. I’m sure the fact that we were standing up contributed as well.

At any rate, it was an experience I will remember for a long time.

We're all just having a great time. That's me in the centre, in the back, in the red shirt.

Saturday I went to a dress rehearsal at the San Francisco opera, for their production of "Der Fliegende Hollander". I haven't been to see live opera in ages, and the house was magnificent, and the production was extremely well done. The soprano who played Senta was particularly impressive.

On Sunday was my good friend M’s 18^th birthday. I gave her two presents: a box of chocolate donuts and an excursion to a real “quest-type” geocache in which we had to follow a long and complex series of clues to find the well-camoflaged and well-stocked box. We had a blast questing. At one point we were passing through a Best Buy parking lot, and M grabbed a shopping cart and insisted I push her across the parking lot in it, which I was quite happy to do. College kids have no dignity. Ours is the best age because we’re not too old to want to do fun stuff like push each other around in shopping carts, but we are old enough that everyone assumes we’re too mature to do those things, and so they leave us in peace and we can be as immature as we want.

M’s lovely mother also came down from BC for the weekend and took the four of us out for dinner (M, her boyfriend N, yours truly the Antisocial Violinist, and K from Estonia). Then we had chocolate cake, which we cut with dental floss. This worked almost as well as the internet said it would.

Birthday Girl, Estonian Alien, Beloved Boyfriend, Antisocial Violinist. You can see the floss too

One of the best birthdays I’ve ever had, even though it wasn’t mine.

To finish, I present you with the Golden Rules of Ensemble Playing, each of which played a significant role in the success of our Tuesday concert.

 - Antisocial Violinist