Summer's End

It has been quite a transition from summer to fall, back into the swing of things, the swing of some new things. Friends have returned to the city, church choir has started back up, new teaching and projected explorations.

Since I last wrote, I finished 10 intense days of Marlboro postseason. It was truly lots of fun, but around day 7 without a day off, my brain was starting to lose connection a bit.

On the business side of things, I am still teaching my online studio of singers, about 15, but many of whom only have lessons every other week or once a month. I started teaching a couple of very young students at Manhattan’s Geneva School Conservatory, and it is a delight to have a couple of in-person lessons each week- even if it is just a couple. And of course, my beloved Marble Church Choir has started singing services again. I am so grateful for that music outlet every week, and especially for that wonderful community.

I am working on three major projects, two of which will be self-produced: the long suffering peace recital at the Brooklyn Peace Center, on which we are starting to make productive progress, and a fresh improvised project with Sylvia Jiang, being reunited since my Juilliard graduation recital performance of my 10-year-old diaries. Keep an eye out for these workings. And I am preparing Pierrot Lunaire for a chamber music festival in Halifax in early November. Beyond that, the usual audition seasonings.

I am taking a weekly improv class, hoping to better craft my moment to moment responses, so that as a performer I can generally be more aware and reactive to the energy around me and not just what I have prepared. I would like to incorporate more of this in my own performing, i want the audience to feel like they are a part of the art that is happening.

I am tempted to say that this is partially because the classical arts often feel far removed from the audience, but I went to see the final dress rehearsal of the Met’s Dead Man Walking (finally they are doing this show!), and I have to say that it was a masterclass in captivating the audience by drawing them into a created world. This particular show is powerful, relevant and important, and while I didn’t love every single thing, the Met’s was a really good, powerful production. Also a good excuse to hang out with the orchestra’s excellent principal oboist, my bud Mitchell. I cried throughout the dress rehearsal with the relevance of the themes of grief, waste and value of life, of choosing love and kindness even at the dismay of some. Sister Helen is still very much a real person, working diligently towards ending the death penalty in this country. New opera at it’s finest, in my opinion. It is a big production, with full chorus, a big cast, a big orchestra and intense material, but I think this opera should be done everywhere. 

Additionally, I finally found a church home. Since leaving home, I have searched for years for a spiritual community where I feel freely welcomed, that feels authenic and feeds my soul. I found this in Vienna, but everywhere else, it has been a struggle. Unexpectedly, I found that this summer at All Angels Episcopal Church on the UWS. They have a 5pm service that I can attend (morning aren’t possible because of my job at Marble) and I have gotten connected with lots of people in the congregation already, a House Church (biweekly small group) and coffee with several people who work at the church. There is nothing that screams community to me like this connection. I am so thankful for this prayer being answered after all these years!

Socially, I have been reconnecting with lots of friends since they returned from their summer festivals or seasons elsewhere. I have also had the gift of connecting with further-flung friends who happened to swing through the city for a spell.