Playing with the Canadians...

I am in Montreal now in rehearsals with several exciting groups, Les Voix Baroques and Le Nouvel Opera. We are actually not performing at all in Montreal, but are performing in other parts of Canada - from Orford to Vancouver. I know at least one friend who is traveling from Oxford, Ohio to the Vancouver concert. Okay, this just happened to work out on her vacation...
It is such a pleasure to play with new people and get new perspectives on music. I am enjoying meeting new people and making new friends. (One of my good friends from university is here singing, too - Sumner Thompson.) I am pretty tired now after a long day of rehearsals, but I will write more later about my time here!

Summer Work for Catacoustic

Rehearsing and personal practice are only a small part of my job responsibilities as director of the Catacoustic Consort. The summers are my time for finalizing the concerts for the next season. It is also prime time for grant writing. I have written six grants and a final report in the last month! Catacoustic's fiscal year is August 1-July 31, so it is also a time to close the books on the season and refine the financials for the upcoming season. While I may have a general idea of the music for concerts, the summer is when I try to make my musical selections. I checked out ten books from the CCM library this week to choose tunes for my September concert of "Music from Gainsborough's Time." I have been listening to more recordings to become inspired by other musicians' programming choices and musicality. It is also time to set the venues, hire musicians, arrange for musicians' housing and travel, as well as put together the season brochure and press releases. Okay, so I need to stop writing this blog entry and get back to work...