Marching Into April, and Intense Month Ahead

An Intense Month Ahead- Some Exciting Announcements!

     Where to begin!  The last few days have been spectacular, filled with intense days working with my students, rehearsing, practicing, writing, running, and performing at a House Concert with a great view!

     March has been a great month, and it is still far from being over.  I will be giving an impromptu recital Tuesday, March 31, 8 PM, in Room 264 of the Aaron Copland School of Music, in Flushing, NY.  I will be performing works by J. S. Bach, Günter Raphael, Anthony Green, and Gilad Hochman. It promises to a great evening!

Thursday, April 2, marks the start of spring break, a joyous time where ALL of the schools that I teach at go on break. This year's Spring Break will be fruitful and productive. I am traveling to Oslo, Norway (for an extra long sight-seeing stopover), the Netherlands, and Germany. While in the Netherlands, I will be giving a House Concert at the home of Anthony Green and Itamar Ronen in Leiden, on Sunday, April 5. I will be giving the Dutch premiere of two of Anthony's works for solo viola, Nachtspiel (2006), and Two Pages for Kara (2011), which Anthony wrote in honor of my sister. Additionally I will be performing works by Günter Raphael, (his Sonata Op. 46, No. 3, for unaccompanied viola), and Gilad Hochman's Akeda (2006), and of course, some Bach.

The next leg of my trip will be taking me to Berlin, where I will be doing some extensive research about composer Günter Raphael, who wrote several pieces for viola that I am studying extensively. I will be staying in the Zehlendorf section of the city for much of the week, but will make trips into the city and Leipzig, to do some sight seeing, and to hear the Berlin Philharmonic, performing Berlioz's Damnation of Faust, with Joyce DiDonato singing. If anyone in Berlin wants to meet up for coffee, lunch, dinner, or a drink, drop me a line!

When I get back, the fun continues! I will be giving a Viola Masterclass at the University of Delaware on Wednesday, April 15, working with the students of Viola Professor Esme Allen-Creighton. Saturday, April 18, will include a performance of my beginning string students at PS 115, the Glen Oaks School, at 6 PM, in Eastern Queens. Many of these kids have been playing only a few months, but have been working hard, and are passionate about what they do.

Sunday, April 19 will take me up to Washington Heights, NY, to perform Douglas Townsend's Duo for Viola with violist Nicholas Pauly, as part of an all-Townsend Concert. https://www.facebook.com/events/709807219139654/  This is part of a series hosted by the Washington Heights Musical Society, and will take place at 3 PM.

The month culminates with a performance of the St. Francis Prep String Orchestra, as well as the Honors Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, Percussion Ensemble and Concert Choir, at St. Francis Preparatory School, on Francis Lewis Blvd, in Fresh Meadows, Queens, on Friday, April 24, at 7:45 PM.  

This promises to be a fantastic month!  Stay tuned for updates over the next few weeks, I promise I will keep you all up to date!

Monday Musings

March 23, 2015

      When I first started blogging, it was an offshoot of a daily writing exercise that I started doing to get my brain moving before working on my Dissertation.  The object to this writing exercise was to write freely for 10 minutes, exploring anything that was on my mind, without stopping for air.   It didn't matter what I was writing, if expletives came out, that was OK, and if I ran out of things to say, I could just prattle on and on until the 10 minutes were up.  The month of January was a month where little was going on and I was able to do a bit of this every single day.  February was a bit more sporadic, but for some reason I felt a bit busier, especially with a new semester underway.
      With the blog, I am trying my hand at writing freely again, but having a topic in mind, and sometimes going a bit beyond the "it only took me 10 minutes to write this."  I want to keep it focused on specific happenings in my small corner of the world, topics that I am thinking about, performances I am preparing for, or recaps of exciting travels.  (That will definitely be on the horizon in the coming weeks, stay tuned!) 
      When I first started at this blog though, I was having trouble going straight into Dissertation work, and would often get distracted by other things.  I have done quite a bit of probing of two of Günter Raphael’s first two unaccompanied Sonatas for Viola (Op. 7, No. 1 and Op. 46, No. 3), but have a lot more research and nitty-gritty details to iron out, before I am ready to officially propose my topic.  Definitely a daunting task, and it is difficult to try to juggle that with the other hats in my life, largely the performing and teaching hats, while still trying to pretend to be a human being who likes to exercise, and spend quality time with loved ones and friends!
       A few last thoughts, since I have done a fair share of balancing my playing and teaching sides already today, I did get a chance to see a dear friend, and fantastic pianist Adam Whiting, who was in New York with his girlfriend, Amelia.  I also had a chance to talk with my wonderful Yiayia (Greek word for Grandmother for those of you who are not in the know...) wishing her a Happy Birthday.  So in a sense, perhaps I am succeeding in striking a balance between all of these corners of my life.  And with that said, on to writing!

My Hats are Many, My Time Is Brief

Dear Readers,

        I am sensing that tonight's post may require a poem, rather than prose.  I am having a bit of a reflective evening thinking about the week ahead.  It is a week that is seemingly hectic, but promises to be fulfilling.  It is not a perfect poem, and definitely does not rhyme consistently.  The meter is irregular, but will give a glimpse of the world as I am currently seeing it.

My Hats are Many, My Time Is Brief
by Gregory K. Williams, March 22, 2015

My hats are many, my time is brief.
As a musician, I keep a box full of hats,
At the foot of my bed,
Stacked next to the pillars of music,
Waiting to be learned.

The chamber music hat, is truly ornate.
Complete with a headlamp,
That probes the corners of caverns and taverns,
Constructed by the likes of Haydn, Ravel, and Reich.
It sheds light upon mysteries embedded on paper.

The hat as an orchestral player,
Is bristled and pointed.
Aiding in the precision that is found, and required,
In the likes of Don Juan, Brahms,
And Mendelssohn's Scherzo.

The hat as a teacher, has three pointed corners.
The first is soft, fuzzy, and nurturing,
The second has bells, to enlighten and inspire,
The last is ironclad and tough, to challenge,
Both the most stubborn, and most malleable of students.

The hat as a violist, most encompassing of all,
Is multicolored, multifaceted, and really quite tall.
It is feathery, and leathery, and covered in jewels.
To aid in the mastery of dexterous technique,
And the endless supply of illustrious repertoire.

I have hats for the other roles I play throughout life,
As a chauffeur, as contractor, as negotiator,
As writer, and scholar, and internet debater.
I also wear hats for quite important roles,
As brother, son and grandson, colleague and amigo.

You may ask, "How does one wear, so many hats in one day?"
I will reply, "I don't know, but this I can say:
My neck is strong, from playing the viola each day,
That I can balance my hats, upon each other, when I play."
(And may reveal them, to all, in public someday.)

Though my hats are many, and my time is brief,
It is important to cherish them all.  To achieve,
A balanced objective, of being the best one can be,
In all of our roles, is my personal belief.
Our lives are too short, to wear just one hat a week.

Unusual Excerpts, or Are They?

Hello World,

Tonight's blog post is going to be short and sweet, as it has been a long day... (Friday, that is...)

For the first time in a long time, I found myself practicing a few orchestral excerpts.  It has been a few years since I have taken an Orchestral audition, and over the last few years of my DMA program, I have been channeling my energies elsewhere.  For much of this time my energy has been spent developing as a teacher, a scholar, a chamber musician, and definitely over the past year or so, retooling my technique, and building my confidence.  Somewhere between exams and teaching, my attention turned away from dwelling on the sacred concerti of Walton, Bartok and Hindemith, and excerpts such as Mendelssohn's Scherzo.

I was recently encouraged to explore an upcoming audition, and for the first time since Malta, (I will save this for another day when I am feeling more reminiscent about beautiful Archipelagos in the Mediterranean, HA!)  I felt truly confident to take a chance!  Maybe not quite true, when I first left Eastman, I took several auditions after my first few years out, with some being relatively successful.  But since I have been putting greater stock in the organization of my hands, my brain, spending more time listening critically, counting, developing a more consistent vibrato, and the muscles in my hand, and relieving tension, (all lifelong processes), I realize that I am proud of the work that I am doing.  Even if it doesn't work out, I will be a stronger player having taken this audition.

I have been dusting off the first movement of the Walton Concerto for about a week and a half, facing shifts (yes, I spelled that correctly) that were never quite clean enough, reconciling bowing suggestions from various teachers, and counting passages that never completely made sense.  This has been a fun new chapter in my journey to become the best musician I personally can be.   (Forgive me for being vague, although I am a violist first and foremost, there are many other skills in my musician toolbox that can't be completely shirked.)

Friday (in spite of the sinister but secretly satisfying Springtime snowstorm,) was a productive day, where I dove into two new (new for me excerpts) for this upcoming audition.  Many of the excerpts are old favorites: a little bit of Beethoven; Mendelssohn; Don Juan; Shosty; Don Quixote; Brahms.  But there were two excerpts of pieces that I have yet to actually perform (believe it or not!):  Georges Enescu's Roumanian Dance No. 1, and Ralph Vaughan Williams's Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis.  I don't know how I skipped the Vaughan Williams, or missed out on such a luscious piece, delicious viola and string moments.  In fact, I had to replay the recording of Eugene Ormandy with the Philadelphia Orchestra, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbzxhZT6akk, and would break out the viola after midnight to work on it.  (Building regulations and sleep deprivation, gah!!!!)  But talk about a viola sound to emulate!  (I am sensing it is Joe DePasquale is playing on this recording...)

Similarly with the Enescu, I am sensing I found two new pieces that I am suddenly enamored with.  They will quickly go from being the two pieces I know the least about on this excerpt list, to being the ones I know the most thoroughly.  Cheers to the sounds of strings in my slumber!

Musings Before Practicing

So today I have an afternoon off from the kids I usually work with at PS 115, in Queens, NY.  They are a fun bunch of kids, who give me a lot to think about, and usually a few chuckles in there too.  But that afternoon off means that I have a few extra hours of free practice time, which I am looking forward to.

Something that I am pondering, (I wonder if any readers can weigh in on this), how does one convey the importance of new works to new audiences in new countries?  How does one convey the importance of old works by old composers, that few people know about?  Which would get more weight?  To what degree to you pitch one over the other?  How much time do you spend describing the pieces, so that your audience members become converts and fans of these composers?

I ask all of these questions, not only to any readers out there, (I would love to turn this into an open dialogue), because I am asking these of myself.  I am putting together a recital in a few weeks, the first recital that I have done in almost a year, in the Netherlands.   It will be my very first time in that country, and my very first time performing a full recital outside of the country.  (I have performed on a few occasions in the Czech Republic and in London, and an audition in Malta.)

This is actually going to be a really exciting performance, and if it goes well, I hope to bring it back to this country.  The repertoire is all for Solo Viola, spanning almost 300 years!  I will be performing at the home of American composer Anthony Green and his partner Itamar Ronen, in Leiden.  Among the pieces that I will be performing are two solo works for viola, that Anthony wrote, the first being his piece Nachtspiel, which he wrote in 2006; and his Two Pages for Kara, composed in 2011.  Both pieces I have had several opportunities to perform; the second he wrote specifically for me, in memory of my sister Kara.  I will also be performing Gilad Hochman's Akeda, which he composed in 2007, recreating the parable of Abraham and Isaac.  The piece is very fitting and relevant today, as we question the insanity of terrorist groups around the world, and the senseless act of governments worldwide for sending their youth to war.

The other two pieces will include J. S. Bach's Suite No. 3 in C Major, which I have performed and taught on several occasions, (an old favorite!)  and Gunter Raphael's Sonata for Solo Viola, Op. 46, No. 3, which is one of the pieces I am looking to explore in my upcoming Dissertation.  The Raphael is a charming piece that was composed in October 1940, while Raphael was practically a prisoner in his own country, (Germany) unable to work, based upon his heritage (he was forced from his University teaching position in the mid-1930s because of his Jewish background).  Yet the piece is loaded with optimism, and filled with energy and charm.  Few people, if any, know of this composer in the States, and he is certainly under-appreciated.  My goal is to inspire others to consider my passion and enthusiasm, not only for Raphael, but for the Solo Viola works by Anthony Green and Gilad Hochman as well.

The Start of A New Chapter

The month of March is often considered to be a turbulent month: the weather is unpredictable; love and romance can mangle our brains and hearts; and for musicians, this is often the start of the busy season.  This March is proving to be a busy month, but my busy period began back in January, and hasn't let up.

I am amidst an intense growing period.  January helped me develop new habits of consistency: practicing everyday; writing everyday; exercising on a regular basis.  I was fortunate to start rehearsing with an incredible bunch of people in the Archipelago Quartet, putting together a brilliant piece (Ravel's String Quartet).  I have been trying to collaborate with friends old and new, and trying to find the spark and passion that has fed me as a musician.  I have been wanting to use that spark to help me continue forward- so that I can finish my Dissertation on time, and take my career as a violist and teaching artist to a new level.  I don't quite know what this means yet, but I want to be able to put all of my cards on the table.

I have been incredibly fortunate in how many facets of my career have developed thus far.  Fortune has been kind to me in terms of the quality of students that I have worked with, the colleagues I have crossed paths with, and the musical opportunities that I have had thus far.  I want to continue to aim high, and see where this journey is going to take me.

I chose the name of this blog, "Violist of the Archipelago" a few years back, and delayed starting it until now.  The name had multiple meanings- string quartets are like archipelagos, in that they are a set of individuals who formed together to create a fantastic combination.  (The islands of the Galapagos each have a unique biodiversity, but are best known as a larger group.  New York City, spanned over several islands, is another prime example, even the Bronx!)  

I didn't start writing this for a long time though, and was nervous about starting to write tonight.  Perhaps I didn't have time to write on a regular basis (I am going to try to write at least a little bit each day, or fairly regularly), or was fearful that I didn't have enough to say that would sound too mundane, too cliche, or too abstract for non-musicians.  But at this stage in the game, I have a lot to share, and hope that I can help inspire and enlighten a few people along the way.