I wrote this a couple of years ago to make fun of one of my compositional friends. They had gotten one of those "too cool" headshots that made me laugh and, admittedly, they knew it when they chose it. Think Glamour Shots for composers...soft lens, wind blowing in the hair, etc. In response I took a funny-pose fake headshot (which I'll not air hear) and wrote a new, completely fictional biography which she thought was pretty funny. I read it the other day and thought it was blog-worthy. Major bonus points go to those of you who can name the movies and comic book character origins I super-nerdfully quoted and apologies to any Schoenberg fans out there. Enjoy:
Maverick composer JOSHUA SHANK emerged on the scene in the early 1980s from the Canadian wilderness. Raised by wolves and not knowing who his true birth parents were, he wandered south until he miraculously ended up at the Northfield, Minnesota campus of St. Olaf College where he was nursed back to health and taught the art of choral music. Consequently, he began composing music before he was able to read, write or properly play the piano.
Officially adopted by Robert Shaw in 1986, he studied with the maestro while still learning to read and write. Once he graduated from high school (at age 12), he went on to study martial arts with Chuck Norris in New York City while continuing his musical training in private lessons with Leonard Bernstein.
Joshua holds many martial arts records including the fastest recorded punch (80 mph), fastest recorded kick (75 mph), the fastest knockout in a title match (1.4 seconds) and was the founder of the first American ninjitsu system: Shank-Ryu. Martial Arts Quarterly had this to say about Joshua: “His feral upbringing in the Canadian wilderness has lead him to success and heights not previously known in the world of self-defense.”
Joshua’s musical merits make him one of the bright shining stars in contemporary concert music. In 1997, he successfully proved that Schoenberg’s notions about serialistic music were based purely on the fact that he did enough cocaine to kill a small horse. Subsequently, all of the music of Schoenberg, Webern and the rest of the serialistic composers was burned and any living composer subscribing to “academic” music was forced to do hard labor at a ratio of 10 hours per second of crappy music they had written (all tempos at quarter note = 35).
Despite all this, Joshua has remained humble and true to his upbringing: “My wolf mother taught me everything I need to know. I owe my life to her and my littermates. Without them, I would be nothing.”
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Monday, June 18, 2007
Nebraska Childrens' Chorus
...back from the Northwest after 9 days of near-constant driving. It's easy to underestimate how much that can actually take out of you (I logged in over 5 hours behind the wheel today). But that's neither here nor there...just good to be home.
The first part of the drive out to Seattle was Lincoln, Nebraska to hear the Nebraska Childrens' Chorus Bel Canto sing the world premiere of In Magna Symphonia. Nebraska pretty much looks like you think it would (even from the hotel window).
The place where they had the concert was styled after some old Spanish church. The campus took up an entire city block. Really beautiful on a great late afternoon in Lincoln.
Here they are rehearsing with conductor Sean Burton. The acoustic was absolutely perfect. I suspect it was probably some pretty good practice for the European cathedral tour they were about to embark on.
The 2-choirs-for-the-price-of-1 concert also featured the Lincoln Boys Choir performing a great set (including a rendition of The Lion Sleeps Tonight...it's hard to get tired of that one if it's performed right).
With some of the singers. Once we snapped this one a bunch of moms crowded around to take a few more. Remember that happening when you were a kid?
It leads to this...
With conductor Sean Burton. He is totally amazing at what he does and it was great to talk some shop about young voices. His wife, Shannon, is also a professional singer and we all had it out with some top-shelf nerd talk over some good wine.
I had the chicken.
They had these weird bronze statues in downtown Lincoln. My record with municipal sculptures speaks for itself.
I've gotten a few emails from them while they're on the road and it sounds like they're having a blast. They are traveling to France (including a performance in the world-famous Cathedrale Notre Dame de Paris!), Switzerland, Austria and Germany. Go Bel Canto!
The first part of the drive out to Seattle was Lincoln, Nebraska to hear the Nebraska Childrens' Chorus Bel Canto sing the world premiere of In Magna Symphonia. Nebraska pretty much looks like you think it would (even from the hotel window).
The place where they had the concert was styled after some old Spanish church. The campus took up an entire city block. Really beautiful on a great late afternoon in Lincoln.
Here they are rehearsing with conductor Sean Burton. The acoustic was absolutely perfect. I suspect it was probably some pretty good practice for the European cathedral tour they were about to embark on.
The 2-choirs-for-the-price-of-1 concert also featured the Lincoln Boys Choir performing a great set (including a rendition of The Lion Sleeps Tonight...it's hard to get tired of that one if it's performed right).
With some of the singers. Once we snapped this one a bunch of moms crowded around to take a few more. Remember that happening when you were a kid?
It leads to this...
With conductor Sean Burton. He is totally amazing at what he does and it was great to talk some shop about young voices. His wife, Shannon, is also a professional singer and we all had it out with some top-shelf nerd talk over some good wine.
I had the chicken.
They had these weird bronze statues in downtown Lincoln. My record with municipal sculptures speaks for itself.
I've gotten a few emails from them while they're on the road and it sounds like they're having a blast. They are traveling to France (including a performance in the world-famous Cathedrale Notre Dame de Paris!), Switzerland, Austria and Germany. Go Bel Canto!
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Dear Picasso
I went to the Seattle Art Museum the other day. This was written on a piece called "On the Wall" by Sean Landers.
Dear Picasso,
In the time since my last New York exhibit my father unexpectedly died, my beautiful little daughter was born and the century and the millennium has changed. But one thing remains the same as all-ways and forever shall. That is the fact that I'm an artist. I am an artist with every bit of the strengthe you had. There is a deepness in me that no amount of art can fill. I have infinity, I have resolve and I have genius.
You passed away one day after finishing the painting depicted on the wall above. When I die I want it to be the day after I make a funny sad little painting in which the humour and tragedy of our existance is at once embodied. We're all laughing through tears which is what makes us what we are.
As you were the man of your century I am determined to be the man of mine. I ask that you be with me as I endeavor upon it. Give me the strengthe to lead. Give me courage to trust myself. Let every art work I ever make embody the abject tragedy of my father's death, the joy of my daughter's life and the beauty of my wife. Never let me take for granted my good fortune and help me with every day I live and every canvas I stretch to better myself and my art. I so want to be what I know I can be that I will in fact, die trying.
Yours truly,
Sean Landers
It's an amazing testament to the will to create. I don't think his desire to be the "man of his century" comes out of a need for fame but, rather, to express something as pure as Picasso did. Or maybe he does want world-wide fame...I don't know. It just moved me when I sat and looked at it for 10 minutes. I wish I could find the painting Landers was talking about. It really was a "funny sad little painting."
Dear Picasso,
In the time since my last New York exhibit my father unexpectedly died, my beautiful little daughter was born and the century and the millennium has changed. But one thing remains the same as all-ways and forever shall. That is the fact that I'm an artist. I am an artist with every bit of the strengthe you had. There is a deepness in me that no amount of art can fill. I have infinity, I have resolve and I have genius.
You passed away one day after finishing the painting depicted on the wall above. When I die I want it to be the day after I make a funny sad little painting in which the humour and tragedy of our existance is at once embodied. We're all laughing through tears which is what makes us what we are.
As you were the man of your century I am determined to be the man of mine. I ask that you be with me as I endeavor upon it. Give me the strengthe to lead. Give me courage to trust myself. Let every art work I ever make embody the abject tragedy of my father's death, the joy of my daughter's life and the beauty of my wife. Never let me take for granted my good fortune and help me with every day I live and every canvas I stretch to better myself and my art. I so want to be what I know I can be that I will in fact, die trying.
Yours truly,
Sean Landers
It's an amazing testament to the will to create. I don't think his desire to be the "man of his century" comes out of a need for fame but, rather, to express something as pure as Picasso did. Or maybe he does want world-wide fame...I don't know. It just moved me when I sat and looked at it for 10 minutes. I wish I could find the painting Landers was talking about. It really was a "funny sad little painting."
Thursday, June 14, 2007
on the road...
Blogging from beautiful Seattle, Washington. Lord almighty this place in gorgeous...I could totally see myself living here for a while. There is a vibrant choral scene and some of the most breathtaking scenery I've ever seen.
I'm out here with mi madre to pick up little Shank from college and I'm falling in love with the landscape. The 4-day drive to pick up dorm room accouterments is a difficult one to do solo...so the only over-16 member of my family who has summers off got tapped and I obviously volunteered (or was guilted into it...you be the judge).
One of the things I love about the northwest is the music scene. Jimi Hendrix, Heart, Nirvana, Death Cab, The Decemberists...the list goes ever on. I've been listening to bands from Oregon and Washington for the last six months and, because of that, I've finally dusted the cobwebs off my guitar technique. I really want to start songwriting again. I feel like I've been appreciating other people's words and setting them to music now for a while now and it's long past time I expanded my search for "musical fusion" (or some other lame term) to another area of my brain and start writing those words myself. (Not that I'll be giving up setting other people's words to music any time soon.)
I went to the Experience Music Project today and watched a great video about the music scene here and it occurred to me that there are kids out there that will probably be famous someday. Seriously...they start small enough and you know them when they are young and naive but the ones that have the tenacity and creativity will make it. It's actually that simple. I watched this exhibit today and they happened to mention Death Cab's small start and I thought to myself, "You should give this a try." Not for fame or anything that hedonistic but maybe for the simplicity to find out if I can do it at all. Can I write a song? I've been "classically trained" right? For some that's the faux measure of respectability.
Let the countdown (or the procrastination) start, I suppose. Look for some old, bald dude in a few years that has a minor hit on the adult contemporary charts and you can say, "I knew him when he was young(er) and bald."
More on that whole New York trip (and a TON of other photos) to come soon...
I'm out here with mi madre to pick up little Shank from college and I'm falling in love with the landscape. The 4-day drive to pick up dorm room accouterments is a difficult one to do solo...so the only over-16 member of my family who has summers off got tapped and I obviously volunteered (or was guilted into it...you be the judge).
One of the things I love about the northwest is the music scene. Jimi Hendrix, Heart, Nirvana, Death Cab, The Decemberists...the list goes ever on. I've been listening to bands from Oregon and Washington for the last six months and, because of that, I've finally dusted the cobwebs off my guitar technique. I really want to start songwriting again. I feel like I've been appreciating other people's words and setting them to music now for a while now and it's long past time I expanded my search for "musical fusion" (or some other lame term) to another area of my brain and start writing those words myself. (Not that I'll be giving up setting other people's words to music any time soon.)
I went to the Experience Music Project today and watched a great video about the music scene here and it occurred to me that there are kids out there that will probably be famous someday. Seriously...they start small enough and you know them when they are young and naive but the ones that have the tenacity and creativity will make it. It's actually that simple. I watched this exhibit today and they happened to mention Death Cab's small start and I thought to myself, "You should give this a try." Not for fame or anything that hedonistic but maybe for the simplicity to find out if I can do it at all. Can I write a song? I've been "classically trained" right? For some that's the faux measure of respectability.
Let the countdown (or the procrastination) start, I suppose. Look for some old, bald dude in a few years that has a minor hit on the adult contemporary charts and you can say, "I knew him when he was young(er) and bald."
More on that whole New York trip (and a TON of other photos) to come soon...
Thursday, June 7, 2007
New York - part 3
More photos to come tomorrow. For choral nerds I thought I'd list the program that the Young New Yorkers' Chorus performed last weekend.
M.L.K. (arr. Bob Chilcott)...great tenor solo. There's an amazing recording of this piece by the Concordia Choir.
Sleeping Out: Full Moon (me)
Hope There Is (Clare McClean)...I've only heard one of her other works but I really liked this one.
Horizons (Peter Louis Van Dijk)...always makes me cry. If you haven't heard it get a recording soon.
On the Beach at Night (Jonathan Kolm)...great piece. He is really good at something that I am not: the melisma.
Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine (Eric Whitacre)...the ubiquitous Italian master and American composer.
Inaabid (Daniel Nass)...this was only his second choral piece but it certainly didn't sound like it.
There Will Be Rest (Frank Ticheli)...I've heard that this was written in memoriam for his son who drowned. I certainly hope that isn't true. Beautiful piece, though.
Everyone Sang (Kirche Mecham)...lots of "la la la" and "ku ku ku" in this one. Good closer. The ACDA Choral Journal just did a great article about Mecham a few months ago but I'll admit that I don't know much about him. I've liked everything I've heard so it might be a good idea to get to know his catalogue a little better.
M.L.K. (arr. Bob Chilcott)...great tenor solo. There's an amazing recording of this piece by the Concordia Choir.
Sleeping Out: Full Moon (me)
Hope There Is (Clare McClean)...I've only heard one of her other works but I really liked this one.
Horizons (Peter Louis Van Dijk)...always makes me cry. If you haven't heard it get a recording soon.
On the Beach at Night (Jonathan Kolm)...great piece. He is really good at something that I am not: the melisma.
Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine (Eric Whitacre)...the ubiquitous Italian master and American composer.
Inaabid (Daniel Nass)...this was only his second choral piece but it certainly didn't sound like it.
There Will Be Rest (Frank Ticheli)...I've heard that this was written in memoriam for his son who drowned. I certainly hope that isn't true. Beautiful piece, though.
Everyone Sang (Kirche Mecham)...lots of "la la la" and "ku ku ku" in this one. Good closer. The ACDA Choral Journal just did a great article about Mecham a few months ago but I'll admit that I don't know much about him. I've liked everything I've heard so it might be a good idea to get to know his catalogue a little better.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
New York - part 2
After getting to New York Friday afternoon and sitting through an awesome rehearsal, I was free to roam the city all day Saturday. I got an early start and headed over to Rockefeller Center to take a look around. I'm a devoted television guru (especially when I'm lucky enough to stay somewhere that has cable) and NBC has a ton of my favorite shows (except for Lost...boy, they missed out on that one). Unfortunately I got a little turned around when I got to a street fair so I had to head into a church and ask for directions. This just happened to be the church that world-famous conductor James Litton (director emeritus of the American Boychoir)was holding a children's choir festival. We've worked together before at a festival in MN and, besides being a genius with kids, he is an amazing human being. I can't believe the stroke of luck I had when I wandered in here. I sat down for a while and listened.
I did eventually make it. Here's me in front of the infamous ice rink. It's converted into a market/restaurant during the warmer months.
Here's a better picture of the statue of Prometheus.
The world-famous Rainbow Room. I would have loved to catch Conan or SNL while I was here...oh well.
Home of the Rockettes. It had never ocurred to me until this point that they were named after John D. Rockefeller himself. I guess I just thought they named them that because they rocked or something.
After walking around a bit (and buying a sweet t-shirt from the NBC Experience Store) I bought a ticket for the "Top of the Rock" tour to the roof of the building. There were several stops on the way up and, at one spot, there was this cool crystal chandelier.
Then there were 3 films on this triple-screen. Two were pretty interesting (one was about the history of the center itself...built in the depression, etc...the other was about the history of NBC) and the third was ultra-lame. It was about being a Rockette and was scored with some cockamamie, dime-store MIDI orchestra. Seriously...this is NBC! They couldn't spring for an orchestra? And it wasn't even the "good" MIDI samples that sort-of sound like real instruments. Totally lame...and are Rockettes really that important? It must be a New York thing to go and see them because I couldn't care less.
Once you board the elevator to the roof it goes completely dark. This is when you notice that the ceiling is made of plexiglass. They projected some cool, colorful things on it during the short ride in the fast machine.
The roof of the Rockefeller Center has some understandably amazing views. Looking south at a national landmark.
Looking north at Central Park. It's crazy how big this thing is. I wish I could have had some extra time to head there and take a look around.
That's me reflected in the plexiglass. I love this picture. I feel like the High Evolutionary when I look at it.
The geometry of architecture is something that's interested me since my mother became an architect. I love the interplay between the grid-like windows on the larger, more prominent buildings in this picutre and how they are juxtaposed with all the "clutter" on the roofs of the smaller buildings around/below them.
After Rockefeller Center I headed to the Museum of Modern Art to have a look around. Luckily, they allow no-flash photography (I HATE museums that say no pictures at all...totally lame). It's nice to have a record of what you saw even though it leads to photos that can be a little blurry up close sometimes. Here's Claude Monet's The Japanese Footbridge.
A closeup of his brushstrokes. So cool...
Pablo Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon ("The Ladies of Avignon").
Gustav Klimt's Hope, II.
Picasso's Three Women at a Spring.
Picasso's Three Musicians. I worked at a school once that had this thing painted on one of the walls in the band department.
Picasso's Two Acrobats with a Dog. Painted in 1905 during the Rose Period.
Giacomo Balla's Swifts: Paths of Movement + Dynamic Sequences.
Close-up.
A cool painting that I failed to get info on.
The world-famous Starry Night. I love this painting a lot...oh yeah and I happened to bring a real camera to take a picture of it rather than my wussy camera phone. What would Vince think? He'd probably cut off his other ear in protest.
Close-up. When I was in Amsterdam last summer I checked out the Van Gogh museum and got completely addicted. He was just amazing. The way he applies paint to the canvas seems violent but with some crazy degree of logic to it. I do NOT understand how a person could think this way. It completely blows my mind. I refuse to get a print of any Van Gogh work because it's a such a 3-dimensional experience.
Picasso's Fruit Dish.
Woman's Head (Fernande) by Picasso. It's named after a model, Fernande, who influenced his Rose Period.
A painting I didn't know but immediately liked. Henri Rousseau's The Sleeping Gypsy.
I did eventually make it. Here's me in front of the infamous ice rink. It's converted into a market/restaurant during the warmer months.
Here's a better picture of the statue of Prometheus.
The world-famous Rainbow Room. I would have loved to catch Conan or SNL while I was here...oh well.
Home of the Rockettes. It had never ocurred to me until this point that they were named after John D. Rockefeller himself. I guess I just thought they named them that because they rocked or something.
After walking around a bit (and buying a sweet t-shirt from the NBC Experience Store) I bought a ticket for the "Top of the Rock" tour to the roof of the building. There were several stops on the way up and, at one spot, there was this cool crystal chandelier.
Then there were 3 films on this triple-screen. Two were pretty interesting (one was about the history of the center itself...built in the depression, etc...the other was about the history of NBC) and the third was ultra-lame. It was about being a Rockette and was scored with some cockamamie, dime-store MIDI orchestra. Seriously...this is NBC! They couldn't spring for an orchestra? And it wasn't even the "good" MIDI samples that sort-of sound like real instruments. Totally lame...and are Rockettes really that important? It must be a New York thing to go and see them because I couldn't care less.
Once you board the elevator to the roof it goes completely dark. This is when you notice that the ceiling is made of plexiglass. They projected some cool, colorful things on it during the short ride in the fast machine.
The roof of the Rockefeller Center has some understandably amazing views. Looking south at a national landmark.
Looking north at Central Park. It's crazy how big this thing is. I wish I could have had some extra time to head there and take a look around.
That's me reflected in the plexiglass. I love this picture. I feel like the High Evolutionary when I look at it.
The geometry of architecture is something that's interested me since my mother became an architect. I love the interplay between the grid-like windows on the larger, more prominent buildings in this picutre and how they are juxtaposed with all the "clutter" on the roofs of the smaller buildings around/below them.
After Rockefeller Center I headed to the Museum of Modern Art to have a look around. Luckily, they allow no-flash photography (I HATE museums that say no pictures at all...totally lame). It's nice to have a record of what you saw even though it leads to photos that can be a little blurry up close sometimes. Here's Claude Monet's The Japanese Footbridge.
A closeup of his brushstrokes. So cool...
Pablo Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon ("The Ladies of Avignon").
Gustav Klimt's Hope, II.
Picasso's Three Women at a Spring.
Picasso's Three Musicians. I worked at a school once that had this thing painted on one of the walls in the band department.
Picasso's Two Acrobats with a Dog. Painted in 1905 during the Rose Period.
Giacomo Balla's Swifts: Paths of Movement + Dynamic Sequences.
Close-up.
A cool painting that I failed to get info on.
The world-famous Starry Night. I love this painting a lot...oh yeah and I happened to bring a real camera to take a picture of it rather than my wussy camera phone. What would Vince think? He'd probably cut off his other ear in protest.
Close-up. When I was in Amsterdam last summer I checked out the Van Gogh museum and got completely addicted. He was just amazing. The way he applies paint to the canvas seems violent but with some crazy degree of logic to it. I do NOT understand how a person could think this way. It completely blows my mind. I refuse to get a print of any Van Gogh work because it's a such a 3-dimensional experience.
Picasso's Fruit Dish.
Woman's Head (Fernande) by Picasso. It's named after a model, Fernande, who influenced his Rose Period.
A painting I didn't know but immediately liked. Henri Rousseau's The Sleeping Gypsy.
Monday, June 4, 2007
New York - part 1
I got back from New York yesterday where I had the pleasure of listening to the Young New Yorkers' Chorus give the world premiere of Sleeping Out: Full Moon for SATB chorus and piano as part of their Third Annual Competition for Young Composers. They gave it an amazing performance and, by some stroke of luck, I actually won the competition! I was all over the city for part of my time there (with pictures to come in a later post) but, for now, I'll stick to my interactions with the choir.
My host, Stella, took me out to an amazing sushi restaurant in the upper east side called Oki Sushi. We started with this awesome miso soup.
I had this enormous plate of eel, salmon and tuna that was over-the-top good. Words seriously can't describe...
Stella opted for a similar plate but got the "Jekyll & Hyde Rolls" instead. That's mango draped over the top on the left. As 2 devoted food-swappers we traded and I can say for sure that these were crazy-delicious as well.
After dinner we headed down to 80th & Lexington for the rehearsal. Here's the YNYC with music director Michael Kerschner conducting at the podium.
After rehearsal we hit the local barbecue joint, Jimmy's. Due to the fact that I was still really full on sushi all I had was this bowl of mac and cheese. As a connoisseur of this dish (I love everything from the eponymous Easy Mac to the gourmet-style mac and cheese from Axel's Bonfire Grill) I will just say that this was less-than-perfect. But it still looks good.
Stella and her boyfriend, Dave, have a Nintendo Wii. For those of you who don't know anything about these things, you have NO idea what you're missing. I'm not a fan of video games but this was the most fun I've had since the old-school Nintendo from back-in-the-day. The thing that makes the Wii different from any other gaming system out there is that it is a physical workout to play. You hold the controller in one hand and, during a game of bowling, you hold the button down and swing your arm just like in an actual game. Dave and I played against each other in an epic one-sided match (he kicked the living crap out of me: see picture below).
The other cool thing about the Wii is that you create your own character (your "Mii") to play in the Wii Sports game. Here's mine:
That's right, folks. I knocked over 86 pins in one throw! It's SERIOUSLY addictive. Stella and Dave may have just cost me $250...
Speaking of Stella and Dave: here they are. She sings alto in the choir and works at a downtown ad agency for pharmaceutical drugs. She's also a mean crossword enthusiast and has had one of hers published in the New York Times. Dave works for a hedge-fund in Connecticut and plays a ruthless game of Wii Sports.
The other 2 composers in the competition both just got their doctorates from UNT. From left to right are Dan Nass, Jonathan Kolm and some bald dude from Minnesota.
Dan wrote a great work in the Anishinabe language called Inaabid. The whole piece was fearlessly made up of a 1-sentence statement: "You will never destroy the dream that I have dreamed." It was awesome...really great. Since he was celebrating his upcoming 10th anniversary I got a chance to meet his super-fun wife, Gina, as well. Jonathan took this great Walt Whitman text and crafted an impeccable vocal tone poem called On the Beach at Night around it. They are both really great guys and their future is going to be bright. They made me feel totally stupid with their intellect and knowledge of our craft (my choices of the ubiquitous top 5 favorite pieces were SIGNIFICANTLY less smart than theirs).
After the concert we had the honor of drawing raffle tickets for the audience. Here's Jonathan's turn.
Now he makes a point.
With conductor Michael Kerschner.
I seriously can't say enough how impressive the sound of the choir was. For the Young New Yorkers' Chorus they sounded pretty mature to me. It was one of the few times that, as a member of an audience, I have been struck by the freedom of tone the choir had. The performance of each piece was spot-on perfect with first-rate tone. Michael's sensitivity to phrasing is a rare talent, I think. His reading of Frank Ticheli's There Will Be Rest made it into a seamless, Renaissance motet. Just breathtaking...
During the after-concert celebration this little dog walked by. His name was Lewis. Huh? Oh, that's Cynthia's dog. I think it's a Pomeranian. I can't leave him home alone or he eats the furniture. I'm watching him while Cynthia and Marty Ackerman are in Hawaii.
My host, Stella, took me out to an amazing sushi restaurant in the upper east side called Oki Sushi. We started with this awesome miso soup.
I had this enormous plate of eel, salmon and tuna that was over-the-top good. Words seriously can't describe...
Stella opted for a similar plate but got the "Jekyll & Hyde Rolls" instead. That's mango draped over the top on the left. As 2 devoted food-swappers we traded and I can say for sure that these were crazy-delicious as well.
After dinner we headed down to 80th & Lexington for the rehearsal. Here's the YNYC with music director Michael Kerschner conducting at the podium.
After rehearsal we hit the local barbecue joint, Jimmy's. Due to the fact that I was still really full on sushi all I had was this bowl of mac and cheese. As a connoisseur of this dish (I love everything from the eponymous Easy Mac to the gourmet-style mac and cheese from Axel's Bonfire Grill) I will just say that this was less-than-perfect. But it still looks good.
Stella and her boyfriend, Dave, have a Nintendo Wii. For those of you who don't know anything about these things, you have NO idea what you're missing. I'm not a fan of video games but this was the most fun I've had since the old-school Nintendo from back-in-the-day. The thing that makes the Wii different from any other gaming system out there is that it is a physical workout to play. You hold the controller in one hand and, during a game of bowling, you hold the button down and swing your arm just like in an actual game. Dave and I played against each other in an epic one-sided match (he kicked the living crap out of me: see picture below).
The other cool thing about the Wii is that you create your own character (your "Mii") to play in the Wii Sports game. Here's mine:
That's right, folks. I knocked over 86 pins in one throw! It's SERIOUSLY addictive. Stella and Dave may have just cost me $250...
Speaking of Stella and Dave: here they are. She sings alto in the choir and works at a downtown ad agency for pharmaceutical drugs. She's also a mean crossword enthusiast and has had one of hers published in the New York Times. Dave works for a hedge-fund in Connecticut and plays a ruthless game of Wii Sports.
The other 2 composers in the competition both just got their doctorates from UNT. From left to right are Dan Nass, Jonathan Kolm and some bald dude from Minnesota.
Dan wrote a great work in the Anishinabe language called Inaabid. The whole piece was fearlessly made up of a 1-sentence statement: "You will never destroy the dream that I have dreamed." It was awesome...really great. Since he was celebrating his upcoming 10th anniversary I got a chance to meet his super-fun wife, Gina, as well. Jonathan took this great Walt Whitman text and crafted an impeccable vocal tone poem called On the Beach at Night around it. They are both really great guys and their future is going to be bright. They made me feel totally stupid with their intellect and knowledge of our craft (my choices of the ubiquitous top 5 favorite pieces were SIGNIFICANTLY less smart than theirs).
After the concert we had the honor of drawing raffle tickets for the audience. Here's Jonathan's turn.
Now he makes a point.
With conductor Michael Kerschner.
I seriously can't say enough how impressive the sound of the choir was. For the Young New Yorkers' Chorus they sounded pretty mature to me. It was one of the few times that, as a member of an audience, I have been struck by the freedom of tone the choir had. The performance of each piece was spot-on perfect with first-rate tone. Michael's sensitivity to phrasing is a rare talent, I think. His reading of Frank Ticheli's There Will Be Rest made it into a seamless, Renaissance motet. Just breathtaking...
During the after-concert celebration this little dog walked by. His name was Lewis. Huh? Oh, that's Cynthia's dog. I think it's a Pomeranian. I can't leave him home alone or he eats the furniture. I'm watching him while Cynthia and Marty Ackerman are in Hawaii.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)