October, 2007

Onto another trip! Whew, my October has been quite the challenge. I certainly did not to help the cause by travelling to New York for a vacation between France and England either. However, before I knew it, I was off to London. I was greeted with some of the best people, and the best weather that England had to offer.

My first stop was to Cambridge. I was invited to visit the town by my good friend, David Earl (http://www.davidearl-pianist.net). Not only is he an amazing composer, he is one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. Everyday, David takes this walk to work...on this particular morning there were cows grazing, and you can see the hint of fog covering the river in the backgroud.

What is so incredible about these places is that there are so many colleges in such a small space, with such a small population. There is also so much history and tradition that comes with the territory. Here I am walking over the Bridge of Sighs, which is modelled after the one in Venice. I have been given some music of Mr. Earl’s, and will be quite excited to start working on it. Hopefully I will have the chance to perform it somewhere soon! Thanks, David.

Next, it was off to Oxford. I had no idea of the rivalry between these two schools. Folks from Oxford call Cambridge “the other place”, and vice versa. Apparently the yearly rowing event between the schools is as crazy as the Olympics. Oxford is a beautiful city, again with so much history behind it. I stayed one of the oldest (if not, the oldest) college in Oxford. Balliol College was established in the 1250’s...unbelievable.

The Balliol Concert Series was established back in the 1800’s. Many students comprise the Music Society, which runs many concerts every term. I was apparently the 1767th concert in the series, which included such musicians as a young Rubinstein!!! Even the chalkboard where I saw my name was so worn down, I thought it was one of the neatest advertisements.

One special mention goes out to Wolfgang (the chap with the tie), who was my contact in Oxford. He was always a great host and I wish him all the best in his endeavors. After the concert, I was treated to a nice night out at a local pub by the Music Society. It was a very fun night. Oh....I forgot to mention the concert itself! It was a very heavy program (Dutilleux Sonate, Liszt Venezia e Napoli, 4 Chopin Ballades, with a Liszt Rigoletto encore). The hall was well-filled, though I felt sorry for the students that had to sit on wooden benches for the WHOLE concert. That is why I played the Rigoletto for them!

When you are a part of a tradition that dates back over a century, you can’t help but feel the energy in the performance. I was very grateful to be there, and hope to return sooner than later. After the Oxford experience, I went to London for a couple of days to visit as many museums as I could. I stayed with Rupert Egerton Smith (http://www.rupertegertonsmith.co.uk), who tied for 2nd at the Paris competition. I’m glad to have stayed in contact with other competitors. These amateur competiitons bring so many great experiences, including meeting people just like you around the world. Rupert and I shared a few laughs about how limited our repertoire is....although, he plays all 4 Rach concerti so I wouldn’t exactly call that “limited”. Here we are in his quaint little local pub.

It was a great trip to England. I feel refreshed to some degree. I plan to take a break a bit from performing soon to re-equilibrate this body of mine and start working on new repertoire. This trip, like all the ones I’ve been on, is one that will be a great memory.