Busy, busy, busy
Since the concert season began this year, I haven’t had much time to practice. My day job is sucking up a great deal of my time and energy (I reckon it gets priority since it pays the bills 
). As a result, I haven’t been as happy with my playing over the past month.
I’m not really a New Year’s resolution type of gal, but I’m thinking that making a regular practice part of my day would be a good one. It’s like any other kind of exercise. If you do it, you feel great! If you don’t, you feel bleh.
Here’s a rundown of what has happened since my last posting:
International Horn Symposium 2009
I attended this year’s symposium at Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois. I performed with the University of Louisiana – Lafayette horn studio, bought a ton of music, and enjoyed visiting with horn-playing friends.
Northwest Mahler Festival 2009
I participated in all of this year’s NWMF reading sessions, including a stint as a soprano in Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky. We also read a bunch of movie scores, Copland’s Dance Symphony and Suite from The Red Pony, Janáček’s Sinfonietta, and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9. I also performed with the Festival Orchestra, playing one of the Wagner Tuba parts on Siegfried’s Funeral March from Götterdämmerung and Fourth Horn on Mahler’s Symphony No. 6.
Seattle Symphony Orchestra
I have attended a couple of concerts, including:
- July 11, 2009 – Distant Worlds: Music from FINAL FANTASY
- October 4, 2009 – Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto & Mahler’s Fifth Symphony
I’ve renewed my subscription for this season, so I’m looking forward to some great performances in 2010.
Seattle Chamber Music Society’s Summer Festival
I heard Brahms’ Trio for horn, violin and piano in E-Flat major performed by Jeffrey Fair, horn; Stefan Jackiw, violin; and Jeremy Denk, piano.
Pacific Northwest Film Scoring Program Recording Session
I helped record film music composed by student composers in the Pacific NW Film Scoring Program. It was a neat experience and my first time playing along with a click track.
Sammamish Brass Quintet
My quintet performed the national anthem at two Seattle Mariners baseball games. I enjoy attending Mariners games anyway, so this was especially cool!
Julius Watkins Jazz Horn Festival
The festival celebrated jazz horn and the life of Julius Watkins (1921-1977), who pioneered the art of jazz improvisation on the French horn. The day included talks and workshops about Watkins and jazz improvisation and an evening concert that featured renowned jazz hornists from all over the world.
Seattle Opera
I attended the final performance of Seattle Opera’s production of La Traviata. I also purchased a subscription to the opera this year. I’ll also see Il Trovatore and Falstaff.
Okay… I guess you can see that work isn’t the only thing keeping me busy.
