Sunday, October 6, 2013
This is the first time that a major Katzenjammer reunion has been held outside of the regular Princeton Reunions festivities. Since graduating in 1982, I have made appearances at most of my major reunions every five years on the ’2’s and ‘7s. The Katz events (SATB a cappella singing group for those who don’t know) are held the next year on the ‘3’s and ‘8’s resulting in two years in a row of too much P’ton Hooplah. Continue reading
Sunday, September 15, 2013
The Holidays were very early this year, for my 19th year going to Wichita as the “rent-a-cantor” at Congregation Emanu-El. Has it really been 19 years!!!??? The weather was beautiful for Rosh Hashanah as I flew out of a deserted Newark airport on Labor Day. Because of various scheduling issues involving Tony the pianist and the local High School musical, we rehearsed, if you can call it rehearsing, a day early. Continue reading
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Australia: “Uluru” Ayers Rock 2009
So there we are standing in front of Ayers Rock, or Uluru, as the indigenous Australian people call it. It was winter down under, but we enjoyed beautiful October-like weather in the red center of the country. After a week in Brisbane at the voice teacher conference, Michael and I set out on a whirlwind 10 day tour of the top sights in Australia. Continue reading
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Michael and I are standing in front of Queensland Conservatorium in Brisbane, Australia, with Mimmi Fulmer on the last day of the 8th International Congress of Voice Teachers. More than a year ago, I had been asked to contribute a chapter on ornamenting Classical and Bel Canto arias to a book edited by Scott Harrison, who teaches at the Queensland Conservatorium. He was also involved with hosting the conference, and he suggested that I give a talk on the material from the chapter. Continue reading
Sunday, April 28, 2013
What an amazing experience! I got to play triangle in the Princeton University Orchestra’s two performances of Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe. Years ago when I asked Michael if I could play percussion, he had said he wouldn’t trust me to be able to count 247 measures of rest from an instrumental part and then go “ding” in the right place. After all, I was used to singing the ongoing melody from a piano/vocal or full score. OK, I was offended, but I basically agreed. Since then, I have actually played percussion in various small things and not totally messed up. Daphnis, however, was another matter – long, hard, tricky. In the big climaxes there are 8 different percussion parts all whacking away. Continue reading
Sunday, March 3, 2013
I have decided to take a break from practicing. The Richardson Chamber Players concert two weeks ago was a big success.Yet, as I wooped up to the high C at the end of Bachianas Brasilieras, I realized how much pressure I had been feeling leading up to this concert, and how relieved I was that I had gotten through it. Continue reading
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Dragon Mother with Princeton University Orchestra, Amsterdam
I have spent the past week mostly in bed, recovering from the stomach flu. Little did I know when I sat with Kendra on the bus ride from Cologne to Amsterdam and told her the story of my trip to Mongolia, (see Diva in the Desert on the writing page) complete with food poisoning and a memorably revolting bathroom at the last concert venue, that there would be a repeat performance on this trip. Continue reading
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
The Music 214 concert was last Saturday night, and it was a huge success! During the Fall semester, harpsichordist Wendy Young and I were co-teaching Music 214 – projects in vocal performance, as a Baroque Solo Cantata class. Continue reading
Thursday, December 27, 2012
I finally have some time to write about Dragon Mother. The whirlwind of the Fall semester has settled a bit over the holiday break and I can look back on the whole process of bringing this project to life. It started almost two years ago in the interval between semesters when I felt restless without enough to do. I decided to ask various composers to write pieces for me in the coming years. Continue reading
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Here is Hugo, our new rescue dog, his first day in his new home on Opossum Road. We picked him up on October 24th, in Aston, PA from a foster home in the Mid-Atlantic English Springer Spaniel Rescue system. He was found poking in an ally in Lancaster, PA and taken in by MAESSR – a very impressive organization all around!. Continue reading