Knickknacks

Truth time. I am a major sucker for knickknacks and tiny items. I was the kid growing up who couldn’t leave the house without her polly pocket or tiny animal figurines.  I really liked when my toys fit into the pockets of my favorite purple Lion King dress or lilac overall shorts (because purple was WAY more sophisticated than pink). I also had a collection of various turtle figurines that people would bring me from all over the world. I displayed them proudly on top of my dresser along with a couple of other odds and ends that brought me great joy!

Not much has changed in the past twenty-four years. My favorite items are tiny and can be seen peeking out of corners all around my apartment. 

Knickknacks also happens to be the name of a piece by George Tsontakis that andPlay performed on our July concert in the Concerts on the Slope series. It is a piece made up of seven short-ish movements. Each has a distinct character and could probably stand alone, but what is a mantlepiece with only one knickknack on it? They tend to get more fun in numbers! Here are some clips...

Knickknacks II. Goodnight Lullaby (Tomorrow Much Sweeter) 

V. Shufflin' (clip) 

Farewell, Lucerne!

With only one full day left in Switzerland, I figured I should probably blog again! Since I have last posted, I've played two more concerts, and have the final one to go tomorrow. Especially notable was last Sunday's world premiere of Horatio Radulescu's 4th string quartet. While the piece had been performed before, this was the first time it was ever done as originally intended, with 9 live string quartets!

Led by the fantastic and fearless JACK quartet (who played the central string quartet part), we spent over a week learning all of the special techniques that make Radulescu's music so unique and other-worldly. If you haven't checked out his music, I highly recommend that you do! It is truly indescribable until you hear it for yourself. I am so grateful that I got to be a part of that project, and it has inspired me to return to looking at one of Radulescu's solo works for viola, Das Andere.

This past week also included hearing Boulez sing along with the soloist as we rehearsed one of his vocal pieces (when will I ever witness that again?), an incredible performance of Mahler 9 by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (decidedly my favorite orchestra), and multiple adventures in Swiss dairy products!

All in all, I'm ready to return home. I'm looking forward to not having to avoid giant slugs on my morning runs, cooking meals in my own kitchen, and starting andPlay rehearsals for our next show!

See you soon, New York!

Hannah

Pictures: me on top of Mt. Pilatus, despite the clouds it was a great hike; these giant slugs show up everywhere after it rains; my first soft-ice experience with my stand partner Eric. Soft-ice is like soft-serve, but the flavors are vanilla and the most delicious and pink strawberry you've ever tried!

No more shorts!

Happy September! My favorite season is finally upon us (or at least right around the corner)! I am tucking away my shorts into the depths of my closet and dusting off my much missed sweaters. The 80 degree weather will not be a deterrent. If the people wearing booty shorts all over the city would do the same I would be eternally grateful. I am sick of summer with all of the hot subway stations and am completely ready to say ‘hello’ to hot apple cider, fresh notebooks, and cozy socks. To properly say 'goodbye', though, I will post a couple of my favorite summer things...

 This new season is bringing so many exciting things with andPlay and I can hardly wait for it all to begin--I just need Hannah to get back to NYC already! We have had scores from Jesse Diener-Bennet and David Bird for a bit, and I just received the score from Ian Ng this week. In the coming weeks we will have some posts up about their works and little interviews with them so that we can all get to know each other better! In the meantime check out their websites and send them some love!

What are YOU most excited about this fall? Upcoming concerts, seasonal beverages, the changing leaves? We would love to hear from you!

Hello from Lucerne!

Though I promised Maya I would blog semi-frequently, it's been so busy here that I haven't had the chance yet! I just finished my first full week at the Lucerne Festival Academy in Switzerland, and it's been a whirlwind of rehearsals, chocolate, concerts, and cheese.  There are many things I could write about, but for right now I want to talk about today -- the Lucerne Festival's 75th anniversary celebration.

This was a BIG DEAL. The festival broke its normal format and had free concerts happening the entire day. Each concert was about an hour long, so ideally you could attend 5 or 6 if you wanted to.  Not as ideal was the fact that though the concerts were free, they were ticketed, so you had to be one of the dedicated ones who got in line fairly early in the morning. I arrived at nine, stood in line for an hour and 15 minutes, and walked away with tickets to the two concerts I wanted to see.

First, I should mention that the academy orchestra, of which I am a member, played three concerts today (I played in two).  Let me just break down my day for you.

11:30 - played a concert, Vivier's "Siddartha"
1:00 - watched the Mahler Chamber Orchestra perform Beethoven's 5th symphony
2:30 - watched the Academy concert I was not performing in, Steve Reich's "The Desert Music"
4:15 - performed Messiaen's "Turangalila"
6:30 - saw the Lucerne Festival Orchestra perform Mozart and Rossini

The music was incredible, as were the audiences. In one day I experienced probably the best Mozart performance I've ever heard (conductor-less), the crazy talent of the singers in the Reich piece, and playing one of the most adrenaline filled symphonies I can imagine. AND every concert was packed. It's comforting to see that there are places where live performance is still truly revered, and audiences that are willing to take chances (lots of respect to the Swiss audience listening to Vivier at 11 am!). Being in Lucerne, where live classical music is truly a part of their everyday culture, is always a nice reminder that there is value and a future to our profession.

The downside of today? I am exhausted. So, I'm going to head to bed and get ready for our excursion to Mt. Pilatus tomorrow. Cross your fingers that it doesn't rain!

Before I go, other highlights of this week : 2 fantastic concerts by the JACK quartet, playing in an orchestra with an ondes martinot, the Brie truffle cheese I had for breakfast today, reconnecting with chocolate yogurt, and this view from my host's balcony.

That's all for now!

Hannah