Anybody want to come to Boston the first week of May? My brother-in-law is contracting a gig, and needs people. You would stay with me, of course. :-)

Call From Europe

Yes, thats right....the one and only Kitty Cheung called me from London last night! We talked for about twenty minutes, and it was SO good to hear her voice!! We had not spoken since May on graduation day. And - it appears that Jen Volmer is engaged (did everyone else know about this too or was I the ONLY one not to know????) and her wedding is in June, so Kitty and Grace are coming to the States for it and want to stop in Boston, and of course, stay with me! Hoorah! That will make up for the road trip I will be missing out on with David and Brian on their way to TMC.

I am doing Bach's St. Matthew's Passion this week with the Back Bay Chorale. Last week I did Bach b minor mass with the Cantata Singers. Next week I'm doing some new opera thing called Boston Construction
with a group called Boston Cecelia. It is a busy three weeks of gigs for me, but worth it - last week and this week I am playing some of the most glorious music ever written. The "Erbarme dich" (Have mercy, Lord) aria at the middle/end of the Passion broke my heart the two times we've done it - it takes place after Peter has denied Jesus three times, and has a sobbing, sighing quality. My sister is concertmaster and sounds absolutely beautiful (its a big violin solo).

I'm thinking that Boston Construction will not be so successful in breaking my heart. I'm sure the effort will be made, however - I think its about the Big Dig here that took 15 years.

In other news, little Butler (where Hannah goes) is in the Sweet 16 for the NCAA men's basketball tournament, and my little sister is going to the game tomorrow in St. Louis! I am incredibly jealous - she is a lucky duck!

Liza is gone again for trombone choir. Mutzi misses her terribly, I think, but I leave my door open so that she doesn't get too lonely at night, and I played with her for a half hour last night with a pink feather thing - she goes nuts. She loves it. She's also taken to pushing a piece of food out of her bowl and batting it around the room as it slides across our slippery hardwood floors and then eating it. I think she misses the little creatures she used to chase as an outdoor cat.

I am procrastinating. Now I'm off to school to learn the last mvt. of Brahms a minor quartet before rehearsal.

I'm Sorry

Ok....

This is an apology blog for unreturned phone calls.

Paul, Mary, and Kimby, I will be calling soon. Things are busy and insane, and my body is really screwed up from the violin. Apologies especially to Paul, who I have not spoken to since November, and he left me such a nice message a week ago!

How my day went yesterday: wonderful.

Why: I had the day off - did not touch a violin - and it finally is getting warmer in Boston.

How I am now as I head to bed: A little tired....but happy its spring break.

Will it be fixed: I hope spring break will go on longer than time seems to be passing.

What I will do in the meantime: watch a movie with Liza and her friend.

DAVID'S ENCORE

Attention All -

David Gerstein will be performing the classic "Ants" by Traditional at his first master's recital as an encore.

It goes something like this:

(pluck A string) Ants, ants, ants
(pluck D string) Digging in the dirt, dirt, dirt
(pluck G string) Going underground, ground, ground
(pluck C string) All the way to China, China, China.

Thank you.

Shostakovich is Over

Thank God.

We pulled off the concert last night. I'm not sure how. Peter sounded wonderful for the Dohnanyi, even though he was making up parts of it. He memorized the whole thing (4 mvts) in about 24 hours. He has a fever, chills, and is losing his voice. But he still did it, and is still teaching today until 8 pm. I just had a lesson with him. I really hope he doesn't give me what he has - I need the next week to practice, not be sick.

My parents were here for 24 hours. It was so good to see them, and they were happy to be here, although some things did not work out as they had so desperately hoped. But there was a meeting, so I am hopeful that there will be better times coming.

My solos in the Shostakovich went well. Peter was happy, but apparently thought I was rushing in the third mvt, while I had asked DH SEVERAL times during rehearsal if I was rushing, to which he kept saying no. (sigh) I would have preferred to be not rushing, but whatever.

Now for a much easier week ahead. The two weeks of nerves/craziness is over. Hurrah!

February is over. It went by way too fast. My recital is now officially NEXT MONTH. Eek.

Time really needs to slow down. Its going too fast. Its March, soon it will be June, then August. The next six months need to stretch out into the next six years. I can't believe I'm almost halfway done with my masters.