As usual, the time between mid-February and the spring comes out as a blur. What happened to all that time?
In my case, it's been tons of work and a little play - a very memorable Rachmaninov 2nd symphony concert with the WSO and Jean-Marie Zeitouni; a fantastic trip to Ottawa to play my favourite Brahms symphony with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, followed by a short concert tour to my home town Roy Thompson Hall; and then some snowboarding/shredding in the beautiful rocky mountains.
Also as usual, a big question on my my through all of that has been "what am I going to do with myself when the season is over in May and I'm unemployed until the fall?" Well, this year, it's looking real good.
At the WSO, we just finished our season with a visit from an incredible young violinist, Bomsori Kim, who performed Shostakovich's 1st violin concerto with us. Her playing was impeccable and beautifully refined - if you ever have a chance to hear her play, do yourself a favour and get a ticket! We also played Ein Heldenleben, and though we had severely under-powered strings, I thought the orchestra managed quite a good performance!
Next up I'm packing my bass for Ottawa and performing Hedenleben again with the National Arts Centre Orchestra for their final concert of the year.. I'm very psyched for both concerts, and also really happy that a few of my colleagues from the WSO will be coming along to Ottawa to bolster the ranks there - Strauss is always a party!
The summer gets exciting after that. I'll be working on a few top-secret recording projects in a couple beautiful places before taking a quick trip to Indiana University to tour the grounds with the rest of the International Society of Bassists Board of Directors for our 2019 ISB convention. From there it's straight to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, for a couple weeks at the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance as the resident bassist, collaborating with the Iris Ensemble (Yolanda Bruno, Mark Lee, Rory McLeod, and Leana Rutt), and the LAMP Composition Academy, run by Dinuk Wijeratne, Nicole Lizee, Robert Aiken, and Roger Reynolds. I love the east coast, and it will be my first time in a decade spending more than a week out there, making music.
In July I'll be taking some time to relax and practice things I never seem to have time for any more - namely El Perro and other fun technique from The Canadian School of Double Bass. I'll also be leading/coaching the bass section of Boris Brott's National Academy Orchestra in Hamilton for one of their concerts.
Soon after Lunenburg, it's off to the pacific coast to play some more chamber music with the once again with Kaimerata Festival on Denman Island. The focus of our concerts there will be Czech music, and I'm very excited to perform the Dvorak string quintet there.
So, lots of travelling, and once again crossing the entire continent on my musical journey this summer! If you can make it to any of my concerts, I'd love to hear from you and see you. Get in touch!