New Years News and Travel!

Happy New Year! I hope your holidays were restful, restorative, and fun. After a busy December, I enjoyed some much-needed recuperation time with family in beautiful Colorado and spent a respectable amount of time frolicking in the snow. I’m feeling ready to tackle the new year!

My fall was all about resuming “normal” life after my bout with Long Covid. It was joyful, exciting, and overwhelming at times. The dreamy surrealism has faded and been replaced with a deep sense of gratitude—for my returned health, for all the people I love, and for the challenging but soul-filling work of being a musician.

Two highlights of the fall were performing Gabriella Smith’s incredible ride of a piece, Imaginary Pancake, with the help of a *mysterious* assistant who jumped in for the harmonics :) and winning first place in the Federation of Art Songs’s 2023 competition in New York City with my co-conspirator/duo partner, soprano Sara LeMesh. We were absolutely thrilled to have received this award and we can’t wait for upcoming projects this spring and beyond! We celebrated in style with tea, dog hugs, and goofball British reality TV shows.

Chordless Duo Competing at the Federation of the Art Song competition finals in New York City

With duo partner soprano Sara LeMesh after winning the Federation of the Art Song fellowship!

Performing Imaginary Pancake with "mysterious assistant" composer Gabriella Smith

In the next three months, I’ll be traveling to a few different states - New York, New Jersey, and Wisconsin. I hope to catch many friends and family along the way!

First up is a cello and piano recital at Gualala Arts with Klein Competition winner Gaeun Kim. I had the honor of playing with Gaeun in the 2022 Klein Competition. She is a deeply thoughtful, heartfelt artist already possessing a truly unique voice at her young age. I can’t wait to take on the massive and sumptuous Rachmaninoff Cello Sonata with her alongside some Amy Beach and Beethoven.

After this big project, I’ll take a break from Romantic repertoire for a bit and join my inspiring colleagues at San Francisco Contemporary Music Players and Eco Ensemble for 20th-century works by Frank Zappa and Cindy Cox. I’ll get to perform at Cal Performances for the first time! (with Eco Ensemble) The break from standard rep continues with a trip to Wisconsin where I’ll be in residence at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with Left Coast Ensemble colleagues violinist Anna Presler and cellist Leighton Fong. We’ll be working with composer Laura Schwedinger and her students and I’m looking forward to performing Imaginary Pancake again as part of the festivities.

Back home in the Bay Area, I’ll be playing works for piano, flute, and cello in a wonderful Left Coast program dedicated to the music and legacy of the late and great 20th century composer, Kaija Saariaho. If you like to stretch your imagination and swim in a million different musical colors, this program is for you! Other composers on the program include Sergei Prokofiev and my dear friend Monica Chew. Also in March, I’ll join Earplay Ensemble for some fascinating contemporary works and reunite with cellist Jennifer Kloetzel for our second performance of music by women composers as part of Noontime Concerts’ Women’s Month. 

In early April, Sara LeMesh and I will be performing a program that’s near and dear to our hearts at the Zimmerli Art Museum of Rutgers University — Voices of Identity: Songs of the Jewish Diaspora. We’ve been developing this program for several years now, largely thanks to Sara’s expertise in Jewish song, and I can’t wait to share this gorgeous, rarely heard music from all around the world with audiences. (But I have some serious transcribing to finish before then!). These concerts will be presented by Federation of the Art Song.

I hope to see you on one of the coasts (or in between) this winter. Until then, here’s wishing for a healthy, music-filled, and peaceful start to the new year!