Britten in Boston

Rehearsing for Saturday's concert at Boston University's Marsh Chapel. It's such a luxury to make music with such good friends.

A Pep Talk

Thanks to my cousin, Anna, for sharing this with me.  I'm just passing it on.  

Waking Up in LA

After all that gloating about fleeing the arctic freeze back East, I woke up to this gloriously gloomy weather this morning in LA.

Karma is a bitch, they say...

UPDATE: That statement about Karma having been said - it looks like the sun came out in the end this afternoon...yay. 

More Moscow

As I get ready to head off to sunnier Los Angeles tomorrow (and try to figure out what time zone I'm in!), I thought I'd share a few more pics from Moscow...including a fortune from an Aeroflot fortune cookies I was fed on my flight back home...

Entering the Red Square

More pics after the jump!

Debuting in Moscow

It's been an incredibly fun week here in Moscow working on Hercules.  Our host has been the most amazing tour guide, showing us some of the sites and making sure we eat at some great restaurants around town, and my colleagues are a wonderful mix of friends with whom I have worked (and played) before, and new friends with whom I've enjoyed making music and getting to know this week.

All in all, it's been a fantastic musical start to the new year.

For those of you not in Russia, our concert tonight will be webcast beginning at 19:00 Moscow time (10:00am EST for those back at home in the US).  Watch us here (the top video is for faster internet connections, the lower one is for slower speeds).

Here are a few pics from my week here:

Dress rehearsing Hercules at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall

The view from the stage at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall

Quote of the Day

“Singers and Musicians are some of the most driven, courageous people on the face of the earth. They deal with more day-to-day rejection in one year than most people do in a lifetime. Every day, they face the financial challenge of living a freelance lifestyle, the disrespect of people who think they should get real jobs, and their own fear that they’ll never work again. Every day, they have to ignore the possibility that the vision they have dedicated their lives to is a pipe dream. With every note, they stretch themselves, emotionally and physically, risking criticism and judgment. With every passing year, many of them watch as the other people their age achieve the predictable milestones of normal life – the car, the family, the house, the nest egg. Why? Because musicians and singers are willing to give their entire lives to a moment – to that melody, that lyric, that chord, or that interpretation that will stir the audience’s soul. Singers and Musicians are beings who have tasted life’s nectar in that crystal moment when they poured out their creative spirit and touched another’s heart. In that instant, they were as close to magic, God, and perfection as anyone could ever be. And in their own hearts, they know that to dedicate oneself to that moment is worth a thousand lifetimes.”

- David Ackert, LA Times

Thanks to my dear friend, Josh, for sharing this lovely quote today.   

Inspiring Monday Thoughts

Reminds me of this Robert Louis Stevenson quote:

“The best things are nearest: breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of God just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain common work as it comes certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things of life.” 

― Robert Louis Stevenson

Happy Monday. Oh...and as this is my first visit back here since the new year, Happy 2013!