Mountains Mountains Mountains

I would never tire of you! We went up to the top of Sulfur mountain the other day, which is where most of these photos were taken. The outcrop of buildings at the foot of the smaller mound in the middle of the last photo is the Banff Centre, where we are living. Sadly not for too much longer. I don't want to leave this place!

Coffee Talk: Spill the Beans! with Katie McCarthy

Alright we're trying something new on 60 beans today!  Here's a guest interview of a good friend of mine, Katie McCarthy, who is one of the coolest and cutest horn players you'll ever meet. Katie lives with her husband Benjamin in Chicago, where they have lately been taking further steps into the world of coffee aficionados (cofficionados?). Read about her history with coffee after the jump! 

some Banff photos

This blog has been sadly ignored for awhile. There is an effort afoot to change that! Here's a start -- some photos from around Banff, where I'm finishing up the second of 5 weeks as a member of the musicians in residence program. That means I'm holed up in a little studio hut most of each day working on Bach. This is my first time in Canada; it's so beautiful here! That elk in the first photo just sort of wanders around the campus, by the way. And that castle-type building in the bottom two photos houses the Banff upper hot springs, just a short walk away!

my new job

I have a new job! I'm teaching at MusicWorks, an El Sistema-based program run through CKYO. I started taking some photos of the kids involved this past week; see more and read more after the break if interested.

clayspace co-op in asheville, nc

When my mom came to visit me in Brevard we went to Asheville for a day, and while the city has a lot to offer (amazing restaurants!), I've heard about it largely in the context of being a hotbed for ceramics. So I dragged my mom into every ceramic studio we passed (Eventually it was, "Uh, Maureen, do you think we could look at something else now?"), and my favorite studio was the Clayspace Co-op. We walked in and chatted with one of the resident artists who came out from throwing in the back and was very friendly. They've set up their studio to be this great combination of a comfortably lived-in workspace + beautifully clean gallery, and I saw all my my favorite pieces of the day there. If you head to the River Arts District you have to stop in! Bonus: it's in the Wedge building, which houses a bunch of other studios and a brewery.

driving on the blue ridge parkway

Here are some photos that I took while Will and I drove up to stay in Virginia for a few days after Brevard, via the Blue Ridge Parkway. It's so beautiful! It took twice as long than if we had traveled by interstate, but it was well worth it. Or at least, I felt that way during the first four hours :) Back home in Kentucky now.

Brevard Concerts

I haven't shared much about Brevard yet, and now we're 6 weeks in with 2 weeks left to go! The schedule here is more draining than I anticipated - it's not like we walk around exhausted all the time, but there's a lot of music to learn, rehearsals to attend, and concerts to perform or watch. Some of the highlights for me have been seeing performances of the Liebermann flute sonata (it was SO good), Schumann piano quintet, a new piece called "3 Riffs" for 3 cellos and timpani, the Shanghai Quartet (whoa), a couple members of ICE giving a recital where I really liked some pieces, and really disliked others, but they were awesome performers either way, and seeing Garrick Ohlsson play Brahms and then do this transcendental performance of Clair de Lune as an encore that actually left many people silently wiping away tears. 

For my own performances, the most exciting part of the summer so far was playing Souvenir de Florence on Bill Preucil's recital. We did a side by side of 3 faculty and 3 students. I think it's the most professional-like demand I've ever experienced, as I'd never played it before, and we had 3 rehearsals and a dress to put it together (not to mention that half the people involved were very professional.) I met a couple times one-on-one with the other cellist though, which helped a lot to prepare for the first full rehearsal. The performance ended up being super fun and kind of surreal! I also played a program that included Stravinsky Symphony in C, Strauss oboe concerto, and Haydn 60 with Matthias Bamert leading, who is one of the best conductors I've ever played under. (That's a picture of the cello section with him afterwards, a couple pictures up.) We opened up the season playing with Itzhak Perlman, which was a lot of fun, and last weekend played Brahms 2 and and Prokofiev 2nd piano concerto under another conductor that I really enjoyed. He was a great musician and effective leader, and he cracked me up because for some reason he would exaggerate certain words or syllables. He is originally from Peru - I don't know if that had anything to do with it - and would say things like "take the fiRRRRSSSSTTT ending," or make a comment about the "TEMpo." It was the most intense annunciation I've ever heard! Awesome. Tomorrow is Beethoven 1 and Dumbarton Oaks, and my mom is coming to visit! Hooray :)



ps: All photos of the sextet by Stephen Houseworth photography.

Belated Anniversary Wishes!

Two important dates passed recently! May turned one year old, and Carolyn and Brandon celebrated their first wedding anniversary! It's kind of hard to believe - time passes so quickly, bringing many changes and reasons to be happy along the way. May has developed a favorite facial expression over the course of a year :)  

Brevard, North Carolina

 Haven't written anything in awhile here...a quick catch-up is that in the past month or so, I officially finished all my Master's degree requirements, had a couple weeks for a break, then prepped my apartment to be empty for most of the summer, and drove off to stay in Brevard, North Carolina for two months for a music festival. It's really beautiful here! BMC's campus is right on the edge of the Pisgah National Forest, (Think forested scenes from The Hunger Games; parts of it were filmed in the area.) so there is great hiking and loads of waterfalls to see in the area. We live in cabins, and the campus isn't huge, but big enough to accommodate about 400 students, plus faculty and workers. The food is decent, music good, and people friendly. I haven't taken many photos yet, but here are few from the dusky hour of the day. Hope you're all well and stay tuned for more tales to come :)

~xomo