MAY

May 1
Performance at 4pm by the Womens' Voices choir and orchestra in Duke Chapel. Went very well and large audience.
http://cvnc.org/article.cfm?articleId=3782

Rush on over to UNC for the Viol Consort and Baroque Orchestra Concert at 7:30pm.
Brent was really into pieces that reflected Susanna. Here's the text.

Susannah solicited one day by two old men desiring her beauty
Was sad at this attempt on her chastity. She said:
"If by this you enjoy my body,I am lost; but if I struggle
You will put me to death. But I prefer to perish innocent,
Rather than offend the Lord".

Many composers wrote pieces about her. Tonight's composers featuring Susannah are Didier Lupi Second (16th c.), Orlandi di Lasso (16th c), Francesco Rognoni (16th c), John Dowland (16th c.).
The group was made up of treble, tenor and bass viols, lute and soprano. A lovely concert.
That was the last concert of the University year, so we are off until late August.

May 7
Now starts the wedding and graduation season.
Wedding #1 with a string quartet in my favorite location - Fearrington Inn, 8 miles south of Chapel Hill. The wife of the owner, Jenny Fitch, created beautiful English gardens and it is the place for a picture perfect wedding. http://www.fearrington.com/house/?gclid=CLvvtqzwz6kCFZJb7Aod8jc38Q
We have played there for over 30 years and watched the house and gardens grow more beautiful each season.

Wedding #2 at the Governors' Club a few miles south of Chapel Hill, was with a string trio. In a beautiful location also, it was a Southern outdoor ceremony overlooking a lake. The lead violinist said it was especially moving when two swans floated past the couple.  http://www.governorsclub.com/clubhouse.php 
May 8
Graduation Day at the UNC. I only prove music for the individual school graduations which are smaller, not for the huge event early in the day. This year I provided two Brass Quintets for the Schools of Journalism and Dentistry.
I had a wedding featuring the violin and guitar duo for the ceremony and jazz piano for the reception, held at the Doris Duke Center, part of the Duke University Gardens, another exqusite location where we play often. See April 10th event  thttp://www.hr.duke.edu/dukegardens/doris_duke_center.htm

May 9
Final group rehearsal for the students' cello recital.

May 13
Started rehearsals for the Early Music concert with Mary Fran, violin playing the Handel Sonata op1 #11, I the Bach Gamba sonata #1, with Simon Zaleski, harpsichord. Simon is a whiz on the harpsichord and agreed to play a Suite by William Croft in the concert.

In the evening was my students' end-of-year cello recital at Carol Woods. The Assembly Hall there is  excellent, especially for cellos. Beautiful wooden floors and great acoustics. The Intermediate/Advanced group played the Beethoven Rondo which went extremely well. Everyone had really made an effort to be together and we made it through the fugue without a spill! The beginning ensemble and solos went well and everyone seemed happy with their contribution. The audience was not only parents, siblings and friends, but residents from the retirement community so we had a good crowd.

May 14
The graduation of Duke University's Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (MALS). This unique program allows adults to pursue a degree in any subject they wish, while still having a "day job". Therefore there are fascinating topics described in the program. We were a string quartet and free to choose whatever music for the Prelude we wanted, so we had fun. http://liberalstudies.duke.edu/

May 20
Rehearsal for the Early Music concert

May 21

Wedding in a lovely private home in Chapel Hill. One of the older homes close to the university, with beautifully landscaped grounds and established bushes and trees. We were on a lawn which overlooked the stone-laid patio where the ceremony was held, and continued playing there when the wedding party and guests came up the steps to the reception. It was a perfect afternoon and early evening, not too hot. The best North Carolina can have.

May 22

Rescheduled Durham Symphony Pops concert (the first time it was cancelled because of the tornadoes). Last one of the season, it was terrbly hot and no shade for the cello/bass side of the orchestra. We were really sweating. It had been a while since we had played together, and strange not to have a rehearsal or warm-up, but soon it all came together and it was a good performance.

It was sooo hot!!

May 26 - The 5th grade strings - violin, viola and cello, gave a short concert at school. After each group played a few pieces, they joined together to play in an ensemble - Chorus from Judas Maccabeus, the Brahms' Waltz and Turkey in the Straw. This is the last year they have separate classes, next year they play together in a string ensemble with the 7th and 8th graders. They really have not had enough technique classes to manage the orchestra parts.  For some of them, practice is not a priority, and so we start seeing a divide between the ones who are progressing well and the ones who are progress at a slower pace. Quite often we get new students who come in to 5th grade with no strings experience at all, and then it is so hard for them to catch up. Over the years I have noticed that many of the Asian students who are here for only a couple of years make a big effort to catch up by taking private lessons, sometimes twice a week. They seem to value musical eduation very much, along with their regular education. 

May 27 - Rehearsal of the Bach Gamba Sonata with Simon. The trick is to find the right tempo that works for both of us. Once the movements get going, and we are together, everything ticks along nicely. It's the together part that is tricky on the fast movements. We both like to play them fast, but it takes quite a bit doing, especially for me.

May 28 - Today is one of those days that exemplify the joy of doing what we do. We played late afternoon/early evening for a retired Duke doctor who had spent months planning an elegant garden party. He has an exquisite garden, not overly large, backing up to to a green of the Chapel Hill Country Club. The weather was perfect, not too hot. The poor man had been in agonies the day before as there had been a huge thunderstorm and part of the golf course (not near him, fortunately) had flooded. In fact I had trouble getting Kate home that day, as the road to her house, not far from the Doctor's, was flooded in sections. Fortunately the sun came out and dried up all the rain. The garden looked gorgeous. We were set up on the veranda in the shade, overlooking the garden and played  baroque, classical and light classical for a couple of hours. It was a perfect setting, and the guests seemed to be enjoying it very much. Afterwards we were invited to partake of the food (delicious heavy hors d'oevres from a superb caterer) and I spent a pleasant half-hour with an English friend, a retired doctor, and a good pianist. She had been to Dartington the summer before, so we chatted about my forthcoming trip. A lovely ending to a perfect afternoon!

May 29. I played in one of two weddings we had, as they overlapped.  Mine was an orthodox Jewish wedding in a Durham synagogue. All the family had gathered together to prepare the wedding, the groom had designed and decorated the marriage contract (ketubah) with cutouts of birds on a blue background bordering the beautifully done calligraphy of the contract.  I love the way the two families and wedding party gather together under the huppah to support the bride and groom. The service however, was quite short, the cantor did not make the 7 blessings overlong. It was a very happy service, not formal at all in spite of being orthodox. Our trio was well received and I was glad to be a part of such a meaningful event in that couple's life. 

The other wedding was totally different, a Southern outdoor ceremony overlooking a lake at a hotel in Cary. Another beautiful venue.  www.theumstead.com

May 30. After the group class with my students to rehearse "Home on the Range" I had the first rehearsal of the Vivaldi concerto for 2 cellos with Dorothy. We set the tempos and had a good run-through.