conducting
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Solo adventure
As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I travel a LOT. Often at the butt crack of dawn, or overnight, or whenever I need to get on a flight to make it to the next gig. I have platinum status on multiple airlines, which should give you an idea of how much of my time is spent on the road. Very occasionally I’ve been lucky enough to take someone with me on my journey, particularly if it’s a longer jaunt, and to a desirable locale. Husband Paul spent two weeks with me on a Japan tour a few years back. And my dear friend Lilly accompanied me on a memorable…
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Let us be well
I awoke to heartbreaking news this morning of the death of one of my favorite singers; Scott Hutchison, the lead singer of the Scottish band Frightened Rabbit was found dead at Port Edgar, Scotland. Although the cause of death was not determined, from the response of his family and bandmates (and indeed anyone who listened to his music, and knew his struggles), it was clearly suicide. Mental health among performers and artists has been in the news lately, and Scott’s death feels like a devastating but timely reminder of both the toll it can take and its prevalence in modern society. Yet it still feels like a taboo topic…
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My favorite Ben
One of the coolest things about being a conductor who specializes in the Pops side of orchestral music is that I work with an incredible diversity of artists from all kinds of non-classical genres. And while it’s amazing working with all of them, I have a special place in my heart for Ben Folds. (Holy crap we looks so young…) We first worked together at the Mann Center in Philly in 2005 and it was a watershed moment for me – here was an artist whose music I loved and we were performing onstage in a way that seemed to be bringing together the best of piano-based alt-rock and the…
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May the Force be with you
One of the great pleasures of being a conductor who specializes in feature-film-with-live-orchestra concerts is that I get to do movies that I absolutely adore. I’ve been on the Harry Potter junket for a couple of years now and that’s been a huge amount of fun. (Those are Gryffindor and Slytherin scarves, for those of you not versed in that particular universe!) While I adore Batman and Fantasia and Ratatouille I have to confess one upcoming movie gig has the fangirl in me squealing with delight: I mean, I saw it in the theater. Six times. My brother and I owned an LP of what was essentially the music and…