The performances had a certain cliff-hanging quality which you wouldn’t normally get in rehearsed, or even over-rehearsed, performances. I mean, we were actually sitting on the edge of our seats, watching each other like hawks. But that’s what I reckon to be real music making. -Julian Bream: A Life on the Road

This week had me playing in two huge concerts and I must say I’ve had an absolute blast despite all of the stress and hard work. I’m becoming addicted to these unfamiliar musical situations and opportunities to play with other people from the wider non-classical guitar music scene.

The first concert was a fundraiser for the Music Conservatory of Westchester, where I teach. The dean, Jean Newton, invited me to perform with fellow faculty and virtuoso flutist Stefani Starin for roughly 30 highly accomplished people and trustees. After settling on some appropriate repertoire we were able to put on a really enjoyable and balanced evening of music, with Jean and Stefani playing a lovely Bach sonata in between. What was most enjoyable for me though was the set of Brazilian choros we ended with, that had a sort of free and improvised aspect to them that had the audience actually laughing aloud- in a good way! I’d never performed choros before and it was a great experience to play that music and be right there with the audience. 

The next concert was at the renowned Le Poisson Rouge in NYC with the phenomenal singer and composer Alicia Hall Moran and her Motown Project ensemble. One of the greatest things about this project is that it forces one to be creative, spontaneous, and able to make something new every performance rather than simply going and playing your allotted notes at your designated time and calling it a day. There’s room to express oneself, linger, improvise, and genuinely surprise each other. Of course, that sort of spontaneity initially can be terrifying shocking for a classical player, but the fusion of classical lines with Motown and jazz improvisation led to several profound and extremely unique moments of music making and spontaneous audience clapping-along that made it all worthwhile.

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“One should try to ‘charm’ the audience rather than ‘impress’ them.”

— David Russell, Koblenz Guitar Festival Masterclass. (Classical Guitar Magazine)

I recently returned from a week in the Utah wilderness with my friends from college. I must say that I have returned a better man than the one that entered the desert, both physically and mentally. I feel invigorated and excited about the adventures that the new concert season will bring. And I feel confident that no challenge will be too daunting when compared with hiking more than half of the West Rim trail with a pulled hip muscle.

The week involved roughly 40 miles of hiking, 20 hours of driving, a chance midnight encounter with a high-tech desert astronomy club, and my first Major League Soccer game. But the highlight was definitely the day we hiked the Zion Narrows river trail and decided on our way back to go off-trail beyond the mandatory stopping point in Orderville Canyon; into what can best be described as a natural obstacle course.

After reconciling to attempt the wrong-way ascent of the canyon, we agreed to do what the ascent required of us: We abandoned our packs, abandoned our food and water, abandoned our walking sticks, abandoned our spare clothing and our cameras, and began a 2-hour adventure of the sort that many people live their entire lives without experiencing.

It involved climbing several waterfalls and seemingly insurmountable ledges, crawling under multi-ton boulders, scrambling up slick rock faces, and wading through freezing chest-high water until we reached the end (actually the beginning) of the canyon at The Guillotine. In short, we took a leap of faith and shared an unspoken consensus that said, to us -in that moment- pressing on was more important than the fear that our possessions would be stolen; it was more important than the likelihood of growing hungry, or thirsty, or cold; more important than stopping where some authority had told us to stop, and more important than the hesitation we had towards venturing into the unknown. Without taking such risks and giving ourselves fully to the notion of “press-on,” the rewards of the endeavor surely would have escaped us.

At the end of it all, after we had solved all of the challenges together and helped each other overcome every obstacle, I thought to myself that I was living through a period of time in my life that -although brief- could only be described as “glorious” (adj. Marked by great beauty or splendor). Whether I was staring at Jupiter and the “wild-duck” cluster through the midnight desert telescopes of incredibly knowledgeable strangers, or standing at Panorama Point and looking out at a sunset 145 miles into the distance, or conversing with a kind bus driver who shared a beautiful part of her life experience with us on the way to the hike, I was constantly overwhelmed with the sense that this year’s adventure had put me closer to reflection upon the profound than I’ve been in quite some time.

A glorious day indeed, and a week I hope to communicate through my playing,  composing, teaching, and relationships in the days and weeks and months to come. Having experienced first-hand the splendor of creation, how could one reasonably justify not trying to find a way to share it?

Have you ever felt you were living a glorious day? Tell me about it below.

So what good is a blog that only has one post? No good, that’s what.

This is a photo from a recital I gave at the Windsor Art Center this month. I’ve really grown to love this venue. The folks running it are some of the nicest and coolest presenters I’ve worked with (has pizza ever been more delicious?), and the audience was really laid back and friendly. And I don’t know if they did something to the room, but my guitar sounded way better than I remembered it sounding the last time. A pleasant surprise…

The concert was the first time I performed some arrangements I recently made of piano music by the composer Federico Mompou, whom I love. It was great to see my efforts pay off and realize that, yes, they DO work on the guitar. Phew. The administration was also kind enough to record some fantastic video of the concert for me as well, which I hope to be putting up over the next few months. Stay tuned.

Something that particularly stood out for me was the young gentleman (~18) that came up to me afterwards with sheer excitement jubilation about my performance of my composition Neverland. I wasn’t particularly elated with the performance of that piece, but I’m glad it came off so well and that this man left so “inspired” about music, my art, and the guitar.

I must be doing something right…

New blog, new academic year, new recording!

After years of simmering on the ideas, refining the compositions, creating the arrangements, and researching virtually unknown repertoire, I have finally begun recording my first full CD for release hopefully in 2011.

I had my first session at the fabulous Oktaven Audio studio this month and am ecstatic about finally being able to offer some professional recordings of my work to the audiences I play for. Better late than never! More on this later…

This past week was action-packed and had us doing concerts in White Plains NY, NYC, and New Haven CT. We had a really good time and met some wonderful musicians. We got to play a double concerto to raise funds for the homeless with the good folks at the Hamden Symphony, perform in the beautiful space of the Downtown at Grace Episcopal Church concert series, and we met some incredibly talented folks when we played at a Juilliard showcase at the Gerswhin Hotel.

The last concert was particularly fun for us because we got to meet up with our dear friend and composer Ray Lustig prior to performing his amazing piece Figments. If there is any place in the US where amazing new classical music is being performed I would definitely have to say the Gerswhin Hotel is surely becoming it.

Next up, we’re heading out to Ohio to play a recital and perform the Vivaldi double concerto with string quartet. It should be a good time and we’ll hopefully have some updates for the blog after the March 20th concert. Feel free to share your thoughts or questions with us via e-mail and maybe we can post responses here. Stay tuned… (hanging out after playing at the Gerswhin—>)