Minneapolis Update #2

(Update #1 was sent in an email and its content doesn't make sense to repost here)

Weather - getting cooler

Well it’s been another busy few weeks here in the Twin Cities! Since I last wrote the temperature has begun to drop substantially - whilst a month ago it was hitting high 20s to mid 30s it’s now ten degrees cooler on average. Yesterday was an anomaly - a bright and warm 27 degrees. I have given up learning Farenheit and use the BBC website instead!

The local neighbourhood & grocery shopping adventures

I’ve been getting to know my local area, and found a marvellous co-op food store about 10mins bike ride away. Of course, this necessitated breaking out the bike, which had been languishing at the end of my bed. I have never been a big rider, so hitting the road (figuratively!) has been new and fun. Luckily, Minneapolis is pretty flat, but of course my house is near the only hill for miles! (The upside to this is that 5min walk from my house is a gorgeous panoramic view of the city. )

My first trip to the co-op was a little over-ambitious in terms of what could fit on my rear rack. After tipping my bike over I had to push the bike and carry the groceries home! As a result I’ve now fashioned my own set of cheapo panniers from old bags from the second-hand shop ‘Goodwill’ and some bits and pieces from Menard’s (the equivalent of Bunnings mixed with Kmart and random processed foods thrown in).

I’ve been cooking to remind myself of home. This has meant recipes from the blog www.trotski-ash.com that I’ve been a fan of for a long time. I made their newest recipe, muesli cookies, last week which were a total hit in the conductor’s office at Uni. Highly recommended.

Shopping

Today I had to make a second pilgrimage to IKEA to pick up chairs as I am having people over for dinner and until today only owned one chair. I didn’t feel bad paying a bit though, considering I got an amazing desk and TV Cabinet for FREE from Craigslist last week. I can report that Ikea hot dogs are the same the world over, although the coffee in Melbourne Ikeas is, unsurprisingly, much better. 

To get to Ikea I had to go to the Mall of America station. The place is nuts and I didn’t stay there long. I think Chadstone is not that much smaller to be honest - but it is lacking the indoor theme park aspect!

St. Paul Chamber Orchestra & Maria Schneider

Yesterday I went to a concert of the famed St Paul Chamber Orchestra, held in a largish church in St. Paul. For those who aren’t flash on their Twin Cities georgraphy, the CBDs of Minneapolis and St. Paul are less than 10km apart. My place is almost halfway between the two, in a suburb called Prospect Park. The concert venue felt quite intimate and...homey. Everyone was seated together on hard pews and all the usual church adornments were present - hymnals in front, hymn numbers stuck on the walls. It reminded me of Frankston Symphony Orchestra concerts back home. Needless to say the players were amazing. 

I went for one work in particular, the Carlos Drummond de Andrade Stories by local composer Maria Schneider. She was guest conducting the work, which is for soprano and orchestra incl. piano and based on writings by the Brazilian poet of the title. Maria has been artist in residence at the School of Music this past week and has been one of the most inspiring women I’ve ever encountered. She first spoke at the ‘Convocation’ - a welcome event by the school of music. One of her works for big band was played, she spoke on a panel about the future of music careers (hot topic!) and was awarded an honorary doctorate. The passion with which she spoke about the necessity for encouraging individuality, valuing expression and providing support during a students music education was electric. 

The next day we were able to watch a rehearsal for a recording session of the above piece with the SPCO and Dawn Upshaw, soprano. This was what fuelled me to jump online and get my $10 (!) ticket for last night’s concert. Maria is speaking again tomorrow at Uni as her last event, and I’m hoping to meet her in person!

You can here a 2008 performance of the amazing piece here. 

Uni work, Conducting & Repertoire

Meanwhile academically I have been continually challenged. After completing in depth analysis on Holst’s Hammersmith these last two weeks I’m now working on Beethoven’s Octet in my conducting lessons, as well as the Octet of Stravinsky. In conducting lab we’re onto another movement of the Mozart Serenade in C minor. Conducting seminar, during which we discuss pieces, professional issues, general conducting challenges etc. has been focussing on ...and the mountains rising nowhere by Joseph Schwantner. This is a mindblowingly complex work, but we are being guided by the best in Craig K! For those who know these works you have an idea of the workload!

For those of you who are ‘bandy’ people you’d appreciate that some fun questions in seminar have been:

• Name 10 Symphonies for winds
• Name excerpts or movements of orchestral works that are written exclusively for winds
• Name all the Pulitzer prize-winning composers who have written for wind ensemble and their works
• Name your top ten works for Wind Ensemble (1 per part)
• Name your top ten works for winds of all time

You can imagine we’re getting into some good debates and my knowledge of repertoire is expanding exponentially!

I’ve also confirmed I’ll be doing a recital in December, where I will conduct Richard Strauss’ Serenade Op. 7 and Donizetti’s Sinfonia. 

All this plus a concert with my campus band in a few weeks and another before the Semester’s out. 

I’ve continually been meeting lots of great people too over the last few weeks including colleagues in Music Therapy, Choral and Orchestral Conducting, as well as performance majors.