Tonight was Craig Smith's memorial. He was the founder and director of Emmanuel Music, and the memorial service was held at Emmanuel, to a completely packed, full church. And this is not a small church. The rehearsal was in the afternoon, from 2 to about 4:30. The service lasted almost three hours. The music included mostly Bach, as well as Cantata 127, which was his favorite, and a recording of him playing a Choral Fantasie by Brahms. A lot of speeches, memories, and some hilarious stories. Everyone seems to have a Craig story, and as I was listening tonight to some of the ones told, I remembered suddenly my first meeting with him. He was at TMC my first summer there, doing some Bach with the BUTI chorus and TMC instrumentalists. I told my sister that he was there, and she told me to go introduce myself. So, a day later, at the back stage of Ozawa, I went up and did just that, of course including that my sister was Heidi Braun-Hill. "Oh, Heidi!" he practically shouted. "We know Heidi. We LOVE Heidi." I only played one cantata last year when he was conducting, but I remember it well because I had my first bad cold on being in Boston and I spent the entire rehearsal trying desperately not to cough so I would make a good impression.

Tonight was very moving, very sad, but very sweet. It was also the first time Heid and I got to be standpartners, which is memorable - we have John Harbison to thank for that, which was very nice of him. And I got to see some of David's favorite people, including HW and Mark Morris.

I didn't spend one minute today at BU, for which I am grateful. Tomorrow - I'll be there all day.