Second Masters Recital
I played my second masters recital a couple of weeks ago and I’m very excited to finally be able to share the videos with all of you! This was a huge project for me because I decided to put an orchestra together for my Strauss Concerto (and because I played the Strauss Concerto!). I learned a lot preparing for this recital, but I’m very happy that it’s behind me. Enjoy!
SF Examiner
My recital was featured on page 10 of Tuesday’s San Francisco Examiner. Pretty cool!
Press!
These past few days have been pretty exciting for me! First, the production of Cosi fan Tutte that I played in this past weekend (with Guiseppe Finzi conducting) got a very complimentary review: Examiner Cosi Review. Then today, I was featured on the Music News section of the San Francisco Classical Voice website: Classical Voice Promo! I guess I really better clean up my Strauss Concerto now…
Graduate Oboe Recital
It’s coming up fast!
SF Symphony American Mavericks
I had the great privilege this past week to attend two concerts in the San Francisco Symphony’s American Mavericks series and I’d like to share some of my experiences with those that are interested.
Sunday’s concert was part of the Chamber Music Series and featured Henry Cowell’s famous works for solo piano, five pieces by Harry Partch, Terry Riley’s “G Song for String Quartet,” and the premiere of Morton Subotnick’s “Jacob’s Room: Monodrama” which was commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony. I was very excited to be able to attend this concert because one of my friends from my CalArts days is a member of the PARTCH ensemble, and it was the first time I’d ever been able to see her perform in this group! The concert opened with five of Henry Cowell’s (1897-1965) solo piano works played by the amazing Jeremy Denk. I especially enjoyed hearing these live as I had studied them in 0ne of my music history classes at the conservatory. The set began with “Advertisement,” an up-tempo invigorating piece. This was followed by “Episode” and “The Banshee.” I was shocked to see people trying to sneak into the concert hall during this piece, because it is a very quiet work in which all of the action takes place inside the piano! The last two pieces were “Exultation” and “The Aeolian Harp.” I felt that it was really well-thought out set and demonstrated the unprecedented level of ingenuity of Cowell’s piano works from 1917-1925. I had never seen or heard any of Harry Partch’s (1901-1974) music before, though I had heard about his custom instruments (most notably the micro-tonal diamond marimba.) I found the set very entertaining, but wanted to hear more of the rhythmic instrumental music that began and ended this performance by the PARTCH ensemble. I was also surprised to find that although my ear was initially caught off-guard by the microtonality which struck me as sounding “out-of-tune,” I quickly relaxed into accepting this new sound world for what it was. Fascinating. Terry Riley’s (b. 1935) “G Song” for string quartet was expertly performed by principal string players of the San Francisco Symphony. Although I didn’t particularly care for the composition itself, I really enjoyed watching the quartet interact musically. The premiere performance of Morton Subotnick’s (b. 1933) piece “Jacob’s Room: Monodrama” rounded out Sunday’s concert. This piece involved strings, electronics, keyboard and soprano soloist Joan La Barbara. This was the first time I have ever seen Joan La Barbara in concert and I was very impressed by her command of the human voice. She did a great job with this piece. The use of electronics was almost exclusively limited to interactions with the voice, which involved long voice cadenzas that processed her sound. She held one microphone while two others captured her voice from the right and left sides. There was some really innovative use of stereo effects that made the audience experience her voice coming from multiple directions at once which I found to be very powerful. I can’t say that I was able to get much from my first listen to this piece, but I think upon multiple listens I would probably enjoy it a lot. In my opinion there were too many layers to Subotnick’s work for anyone to be expected to absorb the whole work in one sitting.
I attended Wednesday night’s concert for two big reasons: I wanted to see the John Cage, and I wanted to hear Jeremy Denk tackle the Cowell piano concerto. I say that I wanted to “see” the John Cage because it was such a spectacular visual experience. The John Cage (1912-1992) piece “Song Books” (1970) was performed by Joan La Barbara, Meredith Monk, Jessye Norman, and members of the San Francisco Symphony, including conductor Michael Tilson Thomas. It was so exciting to see all of these people on stage together, knowing that it is unlikely that all of these performers will ever share the stage again. This performance of the Cage included: Michael Tilson Thomas making a smoothie in a blender on stage, Joan La Barbara presenting a wrapped gift to a member of the audience, a symphony member riding a scooter on and off the stage, a basketball bouncing against one of the pieces of the set, live projections of events happening on stage, Jessye Norman playing poker and using a typewriter, Michael Tilson Thomas knocking on a table, Meredith Monk taking off her boots and putting them back on, principal bassoonist Stephen Paulson bowing his bassoon as if it were a violin and then a cello, and vertical fluorescent lights that became flag poles of sorts. It was very entertaining and bizarre, and I think Cage would’ve been very happy with that performance. I did think that the audience at Davies was a bit too stuffy in regards to this piece, however. It’s clearly not a piece that is in any way meant to be taken seriously, but I felt like people kept looking at me when I burst out laughing. I don’t understand why more people weren’t laughing with me! It was such a treat to see MTT, Jessye Norman, Joan La Barbara, and Meredith Monk all on the same stage at the same time. It is definitely a performance I will never forget. The second half of the program began with Lukas Foss’s (1922-2009) “Phorion” (1967) which quotes the Prelude from Bach’s solo violin Partita in E major, taking the audience on a ten-minute journey where this prelude is chewed up and spat out in a large variety of different utterances. Henry Cowell’s Piano Concerto (1928) followed the Foss, and showcased Jeremy Denk’s mastery of the extended piano techniques required by Cowell’s music. I found it really striking that this piece is still perceived as crazy and wild to the ears of the audience (even those of well trained musicians). It’s really fascinating to me that at a piece written nearly a hundred years ago can still be perceived as innovative and new to modern ears! Wednesday night’s program ended with Carl Ruggles’s (1876-1971) “Sun-treader.” This piece really showcased the powerful brass section of the San Francisco Symphony. I think they did a really nice job with it.
I wish I had been able to go to more of the concerts in this series, but I’m also grateful that I got to attend these two concerts. I will certainly never forget them.
Where do we go from here?
So far, I’m having a really good spring semester at SFCM. I still can’t believe I’m almost done with my masters degree, but I’m learning to accept it! First, I’ll start with a quick overview of what I’ve been involved with so far this semester. The weekend before the semester began, we started rehearsals for a student-run production of Mozart’s ‘Don Giovanni.’ It was the third student opera that I’ve been involved with at SFCM (last year I played in Rossini’s ‘La Scala di Seta’ and ‘Barber of Seville’) and they’re usually thrown together in about five rehearsals. This opera was no exception to the five rehearsal standard, but I think that it was pretty successful. At the same time that I was rehearsing ‘Don Giovanni,’ rehearsals began for Ensemble Parallele’s production of John Harbison’s opera, ‘The Great Gatsby.’ This was my first opera with Ensemble Parallele, though I have been playing for Nicole Paiement’s New Music Ensemble at the conservatory since fall of 2010. I really enjoyed being a part of such a huge project!
Ensemble Parallele’s production of ‘The Great Gatsby’ was a chamber version, re-orchestrated by our own Jacques Desjardins. He took Harbison’s original orchestration from 120 players down to 30, making it accessible for smaller opera companies to perform. John Harbison’s opera was commissioned by the Met in 1999 in order to celebrate James Levine’s 25th year as musical director. Harbison wrote his own libretto for the opera, and stuck very closely to the text of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s iconic novel. You can read more about the production and the cast here on Ensemble Parallele’s website.
I played 2nd oboe/English Horn on ‘The Great Gatsby,’ and I have to say it was pretty challenging. Harbison’s music is known to be tricky (i.e. his woodwind quintet–see video posted below!) and it was made even more challenging by the reduced orchestration. All of the wind parts in this opera were technically demanding. The re-orchestration also required wind players to pick up parts that would’ve been covered by other players in the larger version, meaning that we were playing almost the entire time. Harbison’s music is rewarding to play, though it does require a lot of rehearsal and practice time. One of my favorite things about his writing in this opera was the focus on 1920s-era jazz. The opera includes an on-stage jazz band made up of members of the pit orchestra that appears during Gatsby’s lavish parties. Harbison wrote original music for these sections, and the tunes were so catchy that the pit orchestra was often bobbing along and could frequently be caught humming them off-the-clock. One thing I would say about Harbison’s score for this opera is that throughout the course of the rehearsals I really grew to love it more and more. The orchestra became pretty intimately acquainted with the music, and the themes would get stuck in my head constantly. Although I grew to feel intimately connected with the music over the course of the production, I can see that it might’ve been hard for some audience members to relate to upon a first listening. It’s hard for me to step back and view the music objectively because I spent so much time with it, but I heard from a lot of my peers who saw the production that it was a little hard for them to grasp. Some of the music can be heard in Harbison’s orchestral suite, ‘Great Gatsby Suite’ if you’d like to take a listen (video below.) The costuming and staging for the opera were absolutely fantastic, and I really enjoyed the little bit that I was able to see from the pit. My mom was able to come out and see the premiere, and it was actually the first opera she has ever seen. She really enjoyed it, especially the production value. There are a number of reviews and I will include links to them at the end of my post.
Now that those projects are over, my focus will turn to the SFCM production of Mozart’s ‘Cosi fan Tutte’ which I will be playing principal oboe on next month and to my upcoming recital on which I will be performing the Strauss Oboe Concerto with an orchestra (April 29th, 8pm!). I’m in a strange state of mind right now about my playing. I feel as though I have so much to work on that it’s a become a little overwhelming knowing where to start. I decided to make a list tonight of all of the things I’d like to improve and what I need to do in my practicing in order to make them happen. It really helped me organize my thoughts post-practice session. I’d like to share this list with you, and please feel free to comment if you have something to share or add to the list!
What I’d Like to Improve About My Playing:
1) Intonation:
- only play on pitch-stable reeds as demonstrated by crowing and octave tests (I need to start being pickier about what reeds are acceptable to play on)
- practice everything with a tuner and pay close attention to necessary adjustments (I do this anyway, but it’s good to include!)
- practice with a drone
- practice tuning scales and intervals with the tuning CD
2) Consistency of tone:
- focus more on reed-making and don’t get behind!
- long tones and scale exercises, focusing on evenness throughout the range
3) Breath control:
- play pieces through 3 times everyday without stopping (I probably won’t really be able to do this every day, but the intention is there at least!)
- focus on support
- practice ending notes (tapering)
- plan breaths and stick to the plan in practice sessions (I’m really trying to be a stickler about this lately for myself and my students!)
4) Connection between notes:
- Gillet etudes (Vingt Minutes d’Etude)
- slow scales and scales in 3rds (Vade-Mecum scale exercise)
- play “on the wind” (don’t vary air on different notes)
- record myself and listen back (often!)
5) Dynamic range/control of dynamics:
- long tones and attacks at different dynamic levels (with a tuner!!)
- record myself and listen for dynamic range specifically
- control vibrato to create dynamic effects with vibrato addition and subtraction
Links for Reviews of ‘The Great Gatsby’:
Videos Related to this Post:
Long Overdue
It’s been so long since I’ve updated, and I have a lot of catching up to do! I’m just going to start with this quick post for now. There will be some longer reflection-type blog updates over Christmas break. Anyway, just a couple of images to share with you. The first is the SFCM Christmas tree, which makes me feel like I’m attending an elementary school (though it’s also kind of charming I suppose).
The second is a picture from our oboe masterclass with John Ferrillo which took place on Monday. It was a great masterclass! I really enjoyed hearing what he had to say about my playing, and he inspired me to spend a lot of time on fundamentals over the break.
The third is a picture of my cane/razor blade order from RDG. Let me just say that I’m super impressed that this order got here today given that I placed it late on Monday night! I didn’t even pay for faster shipping. They are super on top of it!
