Please accept these belated Happy New Year greetings! It has been quite some time since I've written, so what better way to start with an update on my activities of the early months of the 2011/2012 season. I have to very humbly and with some embarassment that one of the reasons, probably subconscious, that I have not written - particularly about one particular event - was because I could not find the article from which a quote came.
Today, I found it...an interview with Kyung-Wha Chung. In this article, Ms. Chung reflects on the London debut which launched her international career. "It was very successful," she says, "though at first everything seemed to be against me: I had stepped in at the last moment, and there was so much confusion that I hardly had any rehearsal, but as a result the musicians were all the more concentrated at the performance. The communication with the audience was very strong, so the event was a wonderful experience. The concert was a benefit and not supposed to be reviewed, but the critic with the Financial Times wrote one of the best reviews I have ever received in my life."
Flash to the beginning of the 2011/2012 season - in August I received an email from Annelisa Guries, personnel manager of Washington DC's Great Noise Ensemble. I had been contacted by Annelisa before, but at that time I was not available. This time, however, I was - and it just so happened that their core violinist (who has become a very good friend over the past few months) was not able to play...so of course, I said yes. The program, titled "Lullaby, Eulogy, Homage", was substantial: Stephen Hartke's Beyond Words, the world premiere of Hannah Lash's Hush and, in celebration of his 75th birthday, Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians.
SO....I said yes...
More soon,
Sam
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