This post is coming a bit late, but it’s time to get caught up. Michelle and I were in Fayetteville, Arkansas, from June 18 to June 29, playing with the Artosphere Festival Orchestra. It’s a relatively new group, this being it’s third year in existence. Michelle has been there since the first year, and this was my second year. We love it there – the people, the music, the town, the community – Fayetteville is one of those places that you feel like more people should know about, but are glad they don’t because you want it to stay the way it is. It’s somehow super-progressive and really traditional at the same time, and a really tight-knit community.
We had an incredible two weeks there, playing orchestral monsters like Beethoven’s 7th Symphony and Tchaikovsky’s 5th Symphony, as well as two chamber music concerts with our friends from Cleveland. There was a huge CIM crowd there, and CIM people always just feel like family to me. A friend from Aspen who lives in Tulsa even came out to see us (and a few performances), which was really great.
Trio Céleste played a concert the day after we returned from Artosphere, and two more within the following two weeks. We played Ravel, Beethoven, Brahms, Haydn, Debussy – so much great music! I’ve noticed that, while putting together programs on short notice should be stressful, it’s not with Kevin and Iryna – it’s fun. Playing professionally in a chamber ensemble is rare enough, but having a group that’s a great fit in terms of both music and personality is probably as rare as it gets. Over the next few weeks, we’ll start preparing for what will be an extremely busy and exciting fall season!