Happy Autumn!

Although the 87-degree heat yesterday didn’t quite feel like the first day of autumn, I enjoyed a long walk home in the warm sun, taking in the last few moments of summer.  School is back in full swing at Cornell and I am elated with my studio of gifted students — they all have such beautiful artistic talent but are equally wonderful human beings.  I had missed walking up the slope, attending Bethe House dinners and hearing the chimes from the clock tower — it’s hard to believe I hadn’t been on campus in nearly 9 months.

I also had the great pleasure of really sinking my feet into my new life as an Aizuri — although I began with the quartet while I was living in Italy and we had some projects in Philadelphia, this fall is our first full-time entree together.  We kicked off the season with a whirlwind 5 days at Avaloch Music Farm, with which I completely fell in love!  The idea of creating an artist colony for performers is so beautiful; having a chance to take advantage of such a glorious setting, gorgeous facilities and the company of other fantastic musicians was inspiring.  Thank you to director Deb Sherr and the best, sweetest mascot of all time — Sylvie!

Amidst the new school year and quartet goings-on (as the newbie, I’m definitely playing catchup — on the docket this past month was 9 new quartets for me!), we also packed in a Knights chamber tour at the Skaneateles Festival, where I put in some serious time with a David Lang duo for violin and piano, some very cool tango-inspired quartets and quintets, and enjoyed the chance to take in beautiful Lake Skaneateles and our final performance outdoors at Anyala’s Vineyard…

Now it’s off to a recording project and Brooklyn show with the quartet, the Chamber Music Society of Minnesota season opener, a trip to catch my kid brother’s first performance with the Boston Symphony, and lots more teaching at Cornell.  Oh!  And I bought another home — this time a lovely house up in Ithaca!

As always, here I leave you with a little photo/video diary…hugs from NYC!

The famous Cornell Slope, first week of school!
The famous Cornell Slope, first week of school 2016!
Pre-concert @ the Skaneateles Festival
Pre-concert @ the Skaneateles Festival
Our final concert of SkanFest @ Anyala's Vineyard
Our final concert of SkanFest @ Anyala’s Vineyard
The gorgeous Avaloch Music Farm grounds
The gorgeous Avaloch Music Farm grounds
Aizuri Selfie!
Aizuri Selfie!
The salon-style performance space @ Avaloch
The salon-style performance space @ Avaloch

aq-mozart-avaloch

A little video snippet of our Mozart K. 387 run (click link above to watch)…

Dinner time with the whole crew!
Dinner time with the whole crew!
and Sylvie! Our dearest Avaloch mascot...a 4-month-old Berna-Doodle =)
And Sylvie! Our dearest Avaloch mascot…a 4-month-old Berna-Doodle =)
A visit with my former teacher, Mr. Bobby Mann and his wonderful wife Lucy
A visit with my former teacher, Mr. Bobby Mann and his wonderful wife Lucy
Painting time! The baseboards in my new house needed a little facelift, so nothing like a 1am solo painting party!
Painting time! The baseboards in my new house needed a little facelift, so nothing like a 1am post-teaching solo painting party!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *