Penelope Band
I couldn’t be happier about the ensemble that we have put together for New Music Raleigh‘s performance of Penelope with Shara Worden. The tricky and most interesting thing about this music is that it requires both classical music and rock music awareness. Not everyone can pull this off, but let me tell you – we...
Music for Prague
I had the opportunity to perform Karel Husa‘s Music for Prague over the weekend with the North Carolina Symphony. I had performed the wind ensemble version with Tempus Fugit and the Duquesne University Wind Ensemble with Mr. Husa conducting years ago, and it was great to come back to the piece. A few points come...
Horowitz!
In an interview conducted by WDET radio in Detroit about the Detroit Symphony labor dispute, Joseph Horowitz, the former arts manager and author of Classical Music in America: A History, said that … players should no longer expect to work full time. His point is supported by his view that orchestras are presenting too many...
CMF – Week 1
The first week of the festival is over and it has been busy. Two children’s concerts, a pops gala, two Festival Orchestra concerts, and a Percussion Ensemble concert for kids. It’s been great to just dive in here. The Percussion Section is really great, and so is the rest of the orchestra. And it’s great...
Drums for Mahler 3
Here are the drums I’m using this weekend for Mahler 3 with the Pittsburgh Symphony. Come check it out, or listen online: http://www.wqed.org/fm/ Live tonight at 8!
Hitting the Road
It’s that time of the year. Everything in my life seems to hit the fan at the same time. In the next three weeks I’m playing Mahler 3 with the Pittsburgh Symphony, I’m taking an audition, and I’m driving to Boulder, CO in time for my first service with the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra. In...
Thank goodness for coffee!
Here’s the schedule from my past weekend: Saturday: 11am Load Marimba into car 12pm Load Marimba into Hayes Barton United Methodist Church, Raleigh 2:30pm Rehearsal with Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle – Rossini Overture/Schubert Sym. 6, Raleigh 5:30pm Drive to Southern Pines, NC 8pm Concert with the NC Symphony, Southern Pines, NC. Bernstein- Candide...
I’m Back
After a crazy couple of weeks, I have found my website again. Plenty of things have been going on, but I just haven’t had time to write. Some of this blog is supposed be about my experiences as a freelance percussionist, but in the process I’m finding that when I am most busy, I have...
The Atlanta Symphony’s Bold Move
This week the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra surprised some people by naming Stanley E. Romanstein its new president. The big news is that he has never led a performing arts organization. He spent the last nine years as president and CEO of the Minnesota Humanities Center. This bit of information was really not enough to catch...
Baltimore Symphony – Undercutting Extras?
I lived in Baltimore for a couple of years while I was working in DC. During that time I had the opportunity to hear the Baltimore Symphony a number of times. I always enjoyed hearing this orchestra. In most cases, I enjoyed hearing them more than the NSO, but that’s not the point. I...
Tickets for friends
Last week some friends came to hear the North Carolina Symphony. It was a perfect fit – young, aware, artistically minded people who wouldn’t have otherwise come to hear the orchestra, and a great program of the Bach Orchestral Suite No.4, the Shostakovich Cello Concerto with Lynn Harrell, and Brahms 4. They really enjoyed themselves,...
Higdon Percussion Concerto – Grammy
I’ll disclose right off the bat – I’m not really a big fan of this piece. And I don’t really like percussion concertos. Sorry! I know – I’m supposed to be the number one advocate of percussion pieces. Especially concertos, but I just don’t think that any of the ones I’ve heard so far are...