Amidst this sweltering summer, it is with a heavy heart that I share the bittersweet news that I will be stepping down from the Aizuri Quartet. It has been three incredible years complete with many hours on the road, intense rehearsals, master classes, and wonderful collaborations, not to mention a Gold Medal at the 2017 Osaka Competition, the 2018 M-Prize, a residency at the MET Museum, and a trip to the 2019 Grammys this past February. With the group wanting to move toward full-time-land, a new promotion at Cornell and two new co-artistic directorships for me, there comes a time when life only allows for so much…
We performed our last concert together on the Chamber Music Society of Minnesota’s season finale, and though an evening of many emotions, the performance was something quite magical for me. Though this is a closing of one chapter, there are new ones to be read, and I wish the other three gals the best as they move forward. Below is a link to videos of that concert…
Post-Tuscany brought about a super special trip, a nostalgia tour of sorts, to celebrate my mom’s birthday. With brother Nathan getting married this fall, we took one more “pentagon” getaway, this time back to our old stomping grounds in Sandpoint, Idaho. This sacred spot was home to Gunther Schuller‘s Festival at Sandpoint Institute, where my dad headed up the chamber music division. We moved out to Mt. Schweitzer every summer to tag along, attend fiddle camp, hike the mountains, swim in Lake Pend Oreille and eat tons of huckleberries. This trip, nearly 20 years later, was a revisiting and recreating of nearly all of those activities (minus the huckleberries…it was too early in the season for those puppies)…
Back in New York, The Knights had a couple of wonderful Mendelssohn octet concerts, one at our home base in Brooklyn and the second at Temple Emanu-El – one of the most stunning edifices in all of New York City. It was an honor and rite of passage to perform in such a special space. Following that concert I had an Ariana-and-Alma day complete with our annual shopping trip to the Crocs store and some New York pizza by the slice. A performance at my former student HaeSoo and her new hubby Jonathan’s wedding (man I’m getting old if my students are getting married!) took me straight up to the start of my summer festival hopping – first stop, the Crowden Music Center in Berkeley! My darling groups performed some Mendelssohn and Schubert to be admired, and it was a total privilege to be back alongside my Bay Area colleagues teaching at such a fantastic place. Next stop, Santa Cruz for my umpteenth PACO Camp, and then concertos by Piazzolla and Jorge Grossman with the Milano Classica chamber orchestra in Tuscany!
And as always, a photo diary…
