January 2005

January 30, 2005 08:06

I'm so excited! On Friday I found out I'm in the finals of the big competition!!! Just the Children's Division, but it's really cool nonetheless. My teacher is giving me a regimen of technical stuff and new ways to practice the piece for two weeks, until the finals, which will be great because I was getting a little weary doing the same stuff every day. I'm really happy, but also kind of dreading it, because I get pretty nervous. But I'm really happy! The two other finalists are pianists, and I haven't heard of either of them (hope they don't go to Curtis!) But I'm just going to focus on my own stuff and hope for the best! I'll be playing the first mvt. of the Viexutemps 4.
Also, on Friday I found out I'm going to be in my school's annual musical! It's going to be Annie. Because I am a violinist, I am one of the only people in my school who's not tone deaf. So people have been telling me to audition for Annie, but I'd really like to be Miss Hannigan (heheheh). Also a bunch of my friends are in it too, so it will be really fun.
This year for summer camps I applied to Encore (which sounds great but I don't especially want to go to Ohio for 6 weeks). I also applied to Itzhak Perlman's camp (the Perlman Music Program) in Long Island, which sounds like heaven on earth. It's based off of Kinhaven, the camp where I had some of my best summers ever.
I had a really busy day yesterday; we left the house at 8:30 to go to my youngest sister's quartet rehearsal. Then we went to Abington Friends School to perform with my quartet (sister Madeline, and our friends Sabrina and Genevieve Tabby, which we met via Kinhaven and a youth orchestra). We performed one of my favorite ever compositions, excerpts from A Short Set for String Quartet by Gweneth Walker, an American composer. It was also a ballet performance, we played and some dancers were choreographed to us. Then we went over to our orchestra rehearsal at Settlement, which we had missed half of (yikes, hope my conductor is not too mad). Then we rushed over to Temple for Madeline's voice recital in which she sang beautifully, as always.
Right now I'm sitting in my pajamas but I have to get dressed and start practicing! Have a Japanese lesson later today, too.
It snowed again last night! Calla and I have to continue construction on our back yard tobbogan run.
--Alice

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January 19, 2005 19:29

I have to be more diligent about writing in here. :-)

A lot is going on. A week ago, my mom and I drove up to NY for an audition, and to see the New and Improved version of the movie (which is, by the way, a documentary about Rittenhouse Square in Philly directed by Robert Downey Sr., which I play/walk around in). We got a call from my sister's acting agency, looking for a conservatory level vlnist. They said it was for a commercial. So we thought, hey that could be fun, and also I could earn some $$$. So we drove up to midtown Manhattan for this audition. There were a bunch of kids w/ violins there. The audition went fine (it was conducted by a couple of cluless blonde 20 y.o.s). The director of the agency came up to talk to us and informed us that it wasn't for a commercial but for a live concert in Miami for a bunch of advertising executives. My mother had a phone conversation a few days later with a difficuly, annoying woman who, when asked whether there would be an accompanist, said "The point of the concert is not to focus on a pyeenist. It's about the talent. She's the talent. They want to see the talent."
So.
And then we went to see the movie (in the meatpacking district, which sounds very gruesome). It went as planned. It was basically a screening for the distributers. Even though I was kinda tired and had a lesson the next day, we went out to dinner with the director, director's wife, a couple of editors & producers. And as it turned out, Nick Kendall (my hero! :-) also in the movie) was in NY and met us at the restaurant. (He's a Curtis graduate living in Philly and making his career as a soloist and part of a trio.) It was great to see him again.
We got home at 2. The next day, I slept till noon.
So a few days later, I did the Greenfield Philadelphia Orchestra Competition. It went as well as it could have (and there were only ten other people competing in my division). So, we have to wait two weeks to find out if I get into the finals. In the meantime, I have another competition on Saturday.

Since my previous entry, I have been in a temporary orchestra led by David Kim for a benefit concert, which I would love to go into details about but won't because I'm too tired.

Ooh, ooh, and also, I'm applying to the Perlman music camp! It's in Long Island. It would be AWESOME to go. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

So I still have my teacher's full size vln. which I use for the competition. I love it so much, it will be hard to give it back. And then I have to return to my French 3/4 violin??! >:-0

And also, I've started playing Banjo and Fiddle by Kroll, and Wieniaski Polonaise in D (I think...) Also, I'm going to order The Love of Three Oranges by Prokofiev which I love to pieces, and It Ain't Necessarily So by Gershwin from Porgy and Bess. So all these cool pieces I'm learning now.
And it snowed today! YIPEEE!!!!!
More later.
--Alicelizard

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More entries: February 2005 • November 2004

January 2005

January 30, 2005 08:06

January 19, 2005 19:29

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