...I received this e-mail at 11 this morning ( Read more... )

I'm playing in Starker's masterclass today, and I'm really nervous. Like so nervous that I woke up nervous. So nervous that I couldn't go back to sleep after sleeping less than eight hours. I hope this goes ok. Emilio said that I had to make the decision as to whether or not I was ready to play, and I did. I know he keeps people from making ( Read more... )

I generally am pretty talkative, but there is one circumstance I've dealt with multiple times in the last week in which I just don't feel like I know what to say. First, after our conductor died, I talked to Andrew about how close they were, and how hard it was for him. Then, on Wednesday night, Lee called me with perhaps the worst day any of my ( Read more... )

Well, I got cut from the opera today. They decided that because it's Mozart, they're going to only use three stands of cellos in the pit instead of the usual: four. I was kind of disappointed-- we have all just gone through the loss of Mr. Behr, and I was looking forward to working with Andrew-- but now I have 28 more hours to do with as I please ( Read more... )

Beth (my roommate) had her 22nd birthday party tonight. It was amazing... it was a Pajama Luau (because she couldn't decide between themes), we drank pineapple-coconut rum punch, we had a balloon and pillow fight in my glow-in-the-dark bedroom (my blacklight is awesome, especially combined with space sheets, stars on the ceiling, and christmas ( Read more... )

I have great admiration for the student who has been asked to conduct the opera. He worked with our late guest music director on the same opera this summer, spending at least 10 hours a day with him every day. This of course makes him the logical choice to continue the work that was started, but it is an incredible task to take on at such a ( Read more... )

Firstly, I kind of made a fool of myself by reading into an e-mail too much, and getting really upset about what I thought it said. Even after that was sorted out, though, I still felt stupid; I get way too attached to people, and talk through my emotions instead of thinking through them... I need to get better about that ( Read more... )

As a student of Early Music History, I am extremely lucky to have grown up in the Episcopal Church. I can't even imagine trying to learn the difference between the mass settings and the psalm settings, let alone their order in the service, from scratch. It's also really interesting to learn new things about the tradition I've grown up with. Like ( Read more... )

... but I wanted to update more often, so here I am. I had a great day today. I played well in both my lesson and masterclass, and learned sooo much in both situations. I also went swimming for the first time since Spring semester; it feels great to once again experience the power of my arms coursing through the water, knowing I'm moving solely ( Read more... )

This first week back in Bloomington has been kind of crazy. I lived out of a suitcase for another full week after having done so all summer, because I had two auditions, my first cello lesson, and my first piano lesson this week. My room was an utter wreck until yesterday after my second audition, but I learned at least three of my excerpts on ( Read more... )