March 10, 2005 at 1:43 AM

My mom was right; a lot of bad things happened in February (the competition, Tony, various hundred dollar car repairs, etc) but now that March has arrived, things will start looking up! Some good news. First of all, From The Top, the radio show on Saturday mornings which I was on in September, is doing a special Philadelphia show where people living only in Philly from Temple and Settlement will play on it. The Settlement Chamber Orchestra auditioned, playing the Bartok "Serenade for Strings" and two movements from the Dvorak Serenade. We just found out yesterday that we got in! Yessss! The second good thing: Every year at the Kimmel Center, a professional violinist gives a masterclass. This year, it's David Kim, the concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra. And I was asked to be on it! YIPPEEEEEEE!! I did a masterclass with him before through Settlement, so I'm prepared in knowing a bit about what to expect. I'm going to play Zigeunerweisen. It should be really fun, and a lot of people will be there, but it's in a month so I'm going to be practicing a LOT. The bad part is that during the actual class my teacher is going to be in London so he won't be there....sigh. We can videotape it for him, but it won't really be the same. :-( But all that stuff is really great.

In other, non-musical but still spiffy news, Calla (my 10-year-old actress sister who was in The Village) was requested to come to an audition for this movie being made during the summer in NYC, called "Fur"! It's about the life of Diane Arbus, a photographer born in the 1950s-ish. Nicole Kidman is going to play Diane Arbus. Aaaand...*drumroll*, if Calla got the part, she would play Nicole Kidman's daughter!!! She went to an acting coach today, and got some really good advice (because she wouldn't listen to ours!). The other main character in this movie, Lionel (who has some strange disease where he is covered from head to toe with hair) would be played by Robert Downey Jr, whom, by total coincedence! is of course the son of Robert Downey Sr, who is the producer of the documentary Rittenhouse Square which I'm in. Small world, huh. Anyhoo, we're really excited about this and Calla's audition is tomorrow. Hope she does well!

OK, I think that's about it for now...oh, except the violin from Gregg Alf arrived today. So far, OK, except it's kinda too loud, and that was when I played it in my grandmother's office room (where we had it shipped to) with low ceiling, carpet, etc. So, I dunno...but I have a lesson tomorrow and we'll get another opinion on it.

So all this great stuff is happening now that it's March! Thank goodness.

All righty.
--Alice

From Jim W. Miller
Posted on March 10, 2005 at 3:31 AM

I started reading your blog a while back because I liked your nickname. You've got one of the most tumultuous and active and interesting lives I've ever heard of. Someday I will figure it all out. Good luck tomorrow Calla! And to you.

From Ben Clapton
Posted on March 10, 2005 at 9:50 AM

I'd say video-taping the masterclass would be great for you as well as your teacher, because you'd be able to see how you played, so you can see what David Kim was seeing, and you'll also have a permanent record of what he said, so you can go back to it every time you play that piece.

Give my best wishes, and all of violinist.com's best wishes to your sister. If she gets in, I'll make sure I go see the movie. :)

From Stella Kim
Posted on March 10, 2005 at 6:47 PM

Best of luck to you and hope the rest of the month goes well for ya.

From Pauline Lerner
Posted on March 11, 2005 at 6:26 PM

I'm so glad that things are going better for you in March. I hope the good times continue for a very long time.

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