jet settin' fool 2011

In about 8 hours I'll be en route for a fantastic 2 months of music making, traveling, job searching, and relaxing with family.

The tour will begin with a 30 hour transit to Fairbanks, Alaska. Last March, Ensemble 64.8 (the ensemble in residence at the University of Fairbanks Alaska, directed by Morris Palter) attended and participated in our percussion festival here in Piteå. Now, it's time for Ensemble Evolution to make the journey to the other side of the Arctic world. Charles, Jake, Anna, and I will be picked up by our taxi at 5:25am tomorrow and be on our way! We'll give a masterclass, Anders will give a masterclass, and we will perform together as "The Arctic Connection" on Saturday. It will be great to see Fiona, Eric, and Morris again...and see the Alaskan landscape for the first time!

Next, I'll leave Fairbanks on Sunday morning to make another long transit back this way...to Germany. I'm playing with a select chamber group from the Baltic Youth Philharmonic for a sponsor event on Tuesday! It may sound a little crazy to fly across the world for one small gig, but I love playing with the BYPers, and this event will be very unique. I'll write more about that after the fact :) BYP's website

On Wednesday, November 9, I'll hop back on to a flight (or 3 to be exact) and head over to Indianapolis, Indiana for the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC.) I'll meet back up with Anna, Jake, and Charles and will be networking like crazy during the convention. There are so many friends and colleagues that I can't wait to see! And...so many stories from Sweden and abroad that I have to share :) PASIC website

After the four non-stop days at PASIC, the crew and I will head to Cincy to have a much needed "rest day" at mom and dad's. I can't wait to see them!! Mom has already planned what we're having for dinner and where everyone will sleep. They are really excited to meet the guys and Anna...my family over here.

We'll need our rest, because the next 9 days will be filled with driving and gigs! My duo with Jake has some great momentum happening, and I was able to put together a great University using our repertoire from "Compose. Perform. Inspire. New Voices in Percussion Music"

On Monday, we all drive up to Columbus and visit my alma mater. We'll have to say goodbye to Charles,  as he's working with some other schools in the area, and needs to come back to Piteå for an opera project with our friend Gisli.

Jake, Anna, and I will perform at Ohio State that night (Anna is singing Swedish Folk Songs with us along with our normal repertoire.) It'll be so great to play at my alma mater and hang with Susan and Joe!

After the evening performance, we'll get back on the road for the 2 hour drive to Cleveland. We'll be staying with our great friend Kristen who hooked us up with a gig at The Happy Dog; a bar that only serves gormet hot dogs and beer! yes! We'll be apart of a program call the "Classical Revolution." Can't wait to perform in that atmosphere!

Wednesday will be a travel day; 7 hours to Kutztown, Pennsylvania. Dr. Frank Kumor and his percussion studio were our largest donor in our Kickstarter campaign, and their reward is a live performance of the repertoire. Should be fun!!

We'll perform at Kutztown at 11am on Thursday, and drive to upper-state New York just after. Our good friend, Amy (yes, the same Amy that introduced Jake and I in Paris!) is the teaching fellow at Bard College and is hosting us for a performance/clinic for the composition and percussion students on Friday. It will be great to hang with her and check out what she's doing!  

After all of these gigs, and time in the car...we'll have to let our hair down a little. We're spending the weekend in NYC to visit friends and see the sights! This tour will be Anna's first time in the States, and she's getting to see it all!

We won't party too hard tough...on Monday we will play at New York University for their percussion studio. It will be fun to connect with new colleagues and end tour travels in the big city.

Tuesday, November 22 is the official last day of tour. We'll drive the 12 hours back to Cincy...Jake and Anna will drop me off at my parent's, take a nap, and drive up to Chicago to return the rental car, and board their flights (Jake to Texas, and Anna to Sweden) Hope we are still friends after all of this time together!!

I'll then take the rest of that week to catch up with family and say many, many thank-yous for the opportunities to see so much of the world and meet so many amazing people! It will be a very special Thanksgiving!!

Jake is trying to organize a Texas tour for the first week of December, and it looks promising! Hope it will be warm down there! Then...I'll spend the second week of December with my high school band. I'll be soloing with them (along side a brass quintet of alumni) at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago. It will be fantastic! We played at the convention my sophomore year in high-school, and it was one of the big moments that made me want to pursue music professionally. Can't wait to take the stage with Mr. Snyder again!

The rest of the month will be filled with high-quality family time and future-figuring-out! I plan to leave Piteå in June of next year, and need to decide where to make my next move :) Sky's the limit!

I hope to blog during the next few weeks, so stay tuned! Now...let's try to fit everything into this ONE suitcase! AHHH! :)