I am just back from vacation in the Northwest, where I enjoyed the beauty and wonder of that part of the country. I had great adventures and wonderful conversations. I was intrigued and amazed by how much my musical history and my musical life affected many aspects of my daily experience as I explored places and connected with people. I grew up playing the piano and then the clarinet, have sung now in choirs for more than 30 years, and as the Executive Director of SFYSA and previously through my work at Performance Santa Fe, my life is in many ways oriented around music even though I am not a professional musician. At SFYSA we believe in our vision of creating and nurturing a life long passion and appreciation of music and it is one of many, many benefits of participating with us. I was amazed how much my passion for music affected me everyday while on vacation, and I want to share with you a number of the moments I noticed, and how being part of a community of musicians makes the world a smaller one where one might discover friends anywhere.
At that concert, after enjoying a new work by Jon Kimura Parker, a pianist who had just spent the first two weeks in July playing the piano in the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and works by Bruch, Rachmaninoff and Schubert, I was enlivened, and renewed in my enthusiasm to add a chamber music aspect to our programing this year at SFYSA! At the reception following the concert, I met Walter Gray, the original cellist in the Kronos Quartet, and we had a delightful conversation about youth orchestras and Santa Fe. Many, many musicians played in youth symphonies when they were kids. Walter has been looking for a reason to come back to Santa Fe, and I hope I gave him one in an invitation to come do a master class for our kids. |
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