Manon

20. August 2009 · Comments Off on Manon · Categories: Opera, Videos

Opera San José will be opening the season with Massenet’s Manon. We played it once before, when we were in the Montgomery Theater, but I have a confession: I don’t remember a bit of it! Ack! I was hoping we did it so long ago I’d have an excuse, but I believe we did it in the 2001/2002 season. Not long enough ago that an excuse would make sense, except to say that I did still have two of three children living here and I was probably pretty busy. I have my own copy of the music, and in going through it I see some fun solos that I suspect are entirely cut; I think they are part of a ballet portion of the opera. Oh well. I’ll find out soon enough.

OSJ has a brief video up about it:

(We’ve had Joseph Marcheso as an assistant before, but this is his first time to come in and do the whole thing.)

Reminder … Free Concerts!

20. August 2009 · 2 comments · Categories: Concert Announcements

Don’t forget: There are five free Target sponsored Symphony Silicon Valley concerts at SJSU beginning this weekend running through next Sunday.

I’ll be playing the first two concerts (The John Williams Film Scores Concert and the Family Concert). I’m not needed for Cleo Laine or the Beatles concert, and the “Brass Band” (confusing, since I was asked to play and I don’t think oboe is a brass instrument!) is on the same day as the second San Jose Chamber Orchestra concert so I opted out. (Yes, I could have done three services that day, but I was concerned that I’d be a mess by the SJCO concert.)

So … free concerts. Can’t argue over that price, eh?

Info:
Mercury article
SSV link

Here are the two I’m playing:

  • Saturday at 7 p.m.: John Williams film scores, from “E.T.” to “Harry Potter.”
  • Sunday at 3 p.m.: A family concert, with Lemony Snicket music (“The Composer Is Dead”) and harmonica virtuoso Robert Bonfiglio playing Gershwin. The orchestra will give away 1,200 harmonicas — again, all free — for a mass play-along.

    Nope, they aren’t handing out free oboes. Or even free oboe reeds. Too bad, eh?

    • TQOD

    20. August 2009 · Comments Off on TQOD · Categories: TQOD

    I don’t think my oboe can comprehend the words “in tune”.

    Dear James Taylor,

    20. August 2009 · Comments Off on Dear James Taylor, · Categories: Links, News

    Please move to San Jose. Pretty please? BSO gets more publicity than we do. And they get more money.

    The singer/songwriter plans to donate his $500,000 in earning from a five-day music festival at Tanglewood next week to the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

    The Boston Globe reported that Taylor decided to donate his earnings because he and his wife are concerned about diminishing support for classical music. The couple also donated over $700,000 between 2005 and 2008 to the orchestra, which makes is summer home at Tanglewood in western Massachusetts.

    I read it here.

    PS I do listen to you and I really like you so I think we’d be good friends. We could get together and make music. My studio is always open.

    Cute

    20. August 2009 · Comments Off on Cute · Categories: Other People's Words

    Andy also is a member of the Fox Valley Children’s Chorus. But his musical talents are not just confined to singing.

    He also plays the piano and in June, started taking oboe lessons.

    “I like the sound of it,” he said. “I did violin, but I didn’t like it too much.”

    The article just made me smile. It ends with a cute link:

    “If somebody wanted me to sing on a cruise, I would take the job,” he said. “I want to be on the Nickelodeon Family Cruise.”