The weather outside was on the cool and cloudy side. Inside, though, it was pretty sunny—a lovely day of making music. Not that there weren’t some obstacles. It seems that today was the only time the repairman could come to fix a broken door at Poquatuck Hall, so the first three-plus hours of our rehearsal […]
Read MoreWe just had the first day of NYFOS@North Fork, our newest Emerging Artist Program. I’ve nurtured this dream for a number of years and—as if in preparation—I’d done a few concerts out here in Orient, Long Island, in past years. Orient is the easternmost point on the North Fork, and has a serenity unlike anyplace […]
Read MoreIt’s funny—the minute a concert is over, life washes in like a tidal wave, and all the things that I’ve put on hold scream for immediate attention. Therefore: a belated log-in about Tuesday’s show. I worried that we might not have much of a house because my former student Naomi O’Connell was having her official […]
Read MoreVocal Rising Stars at Caramoor, fifth season, days seven and eight: out-of-town debut, in-town dress. Two halls, two pianos. It’s the night before the New York show and I do not want to jinx things. Suffice it to say that we had a beautiful performance yesterday, and that the audience at Caramoor who came to […]
Read MoreVocal Rising Stars at Caramoor, fifth season, day six: reassuring dress rehearsal. Final Lock and Load, tray tables up. We had an amazingly good dress rehearsal today, and I couldn’t be happier with the program or the singers. I even had one of my first above-average days at the piano, which was a huge relief. […]
Read MoreCaramoor Vocal Rising Stars, Day Five: Resilience and Breakthroughs. A faux-blizzard only makes it all the more Scandinavian. It was the third day Michael and I couldn’t get to Caramoor for our morning session, this time because of a very wet snowstorm that made driving conditions somewhere between irritating and dangerous. We waited till 11:45 […]
Read MoreCaramoor Vocal Rising Stars, Day Four: Mecca slowing coming into view, on a road strewn with umlauts Today the singers showed us the staging they did for the encore after Mikey and I left last night. I won’t divulge what piece we’re doing because I want it to be a surprise. But they came up with […]
Read MoreCaramoor Vocal Rising Stars, fifth season, day three: hard work and patience We had a great afternoon session and managed to delve deep into every single song in the program. It felt a little weird not having a native speaker in the room for the Scando stuff (the bulk of the concert), but that didn’t […]
Read MoreVocal Rising Stars at Caramoor, fifth season, day two: buckling down Today was our second (and last) with John Lidal, and we went through the whole show with all hands on deck. Of the five languages on the program, English and German are familiar and non-threatening; but navigating the intricacies of Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian […]
Read MoreVocal Rising Stars at Caramoor, fifth season, day one: RELIEF I work very hard in advance of our annual week-long residency at Caramoor to get everything just right. I need a sweet-tempered, housebroken quartet who also happen to be great singers; a worthy program; inspiring guest teachers. It’s good if I also get a chance […]
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