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 18th 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
Hey! I've found you! Sorry it took so long. :-( I will definitely be sure to bring up the Golden Rules of Ensemble Playing at my next chamber rehearsal. These are important principles that people ought to know! :-D Sounds like you've been having a blast, looking forward to seeing you soon. :-)
ReplyDeleteM the violist, who also kept a blog once upon a time in Austria :-)
Hey, St James stand partner! So nice to hear from you - I sent you a postcard a little while ago. I think the rules are genius, my favourites are nos. 1 and 16.
DeleteThanks for reading, I appreciate that a lot! And I'll see you in roughly 3 weeks.