Under 1/4 - still a starving artist

It's been a while since I have written a post that focuses on the more personal side of my life. Many of my colleagues know that I have slowed my music production for the past three years for a couple of reasons: (1) I recently had twins, and they are a lot of work. And (2) we are trying to pay off all our debt (read student loans, because that's all the debt we have). We would like to be a debt-free family.

Why? In essence, if I had no debt, I could live on an artist's take-home salary. I wouldn't have to take on a "day job" to pay for my expenses and then hope to have time to complete my compositions and productions on the side (an impossible concept now that I have twins). I would have the ability to choose to do whatever I want with my time.

I will admit that the past three years have been a little rough, and it requires sacrifice to achieve this goal. To that end, we cut back on all our "extracurricular" spending: eating out, vacations, and all the fun (read expensive) perks of life. It has been tough, but I have to remember that this debt paid for my past, awesome adventures...expensive private conservatory, Paris, living in Boston, music programs over several summers, and more. I don't regret my choices, but I do regret the debt.

And, the plan is working, and I know the lifestyle restrictions are merely temporary. We now have less than 1/4 of our original debt remaining, and we are well on our way of being out of debt. That is super exciting! The closer we get to paying off the debt entirely, the more focused I am about not spending money on lifestyle enhancements. I want all those extra dollars to pay off this debt, so my family can be free!

Then what??? Well...first I'm taking a vacation. After that, I am going to pursue my dreams, and I am going to do so without the limitations of debt. In the meantime...I am still a self-appointed starving artist.

“One Hell of an Opera!” Jean-Paul Sartre’s groundbreaking play receives the operatic treatment!

Okay, I am re-blogging an article on Andy Vores' opera No Exit. Go see it if you can; it's good. I borrowed this from Chip Michael's blog Interchanging Idioms.

-E

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One Hell of an Opera!” Jean-Paul Sartre’s groundbreaking play receives the operatic treatment!:

Chicago Opera Vanguard Presents the Chicago Premiere of No Exit by Boston Conservatory Composer Andy Vores

(September 20, 2009 --- Chicago , IL ) Chicago Opera Vanguard, in partnership with Center on Halsted and Praxis Productions, kicks off its 2009/2010 Season with the Chicago premiere of NO EXIT by Boston composer Andy Vores. Based on Jean-Paul Sartre’s groundbreaking play, NO EXIT’s limited 3 performance run begins Friday October 16 at Center on Halsted’s Hoover-Leppen Theatre, 3656 N Halsted St, in Chicago ’s Lakeview neighborhood.

“Hell is … other people!” Jean-Paul Sartre’s classic black comedy, premiered in German occupied Paris in 1944, receives the operatic treatment! There is nowhere to run and nowhere to hide as three self-absorbed people who neither know nor like each other, are trapped together in one room… forever! Full of intense drama and sly comedy, NO EXIT is a haunting and humorous vision of damnation that you will never forget.

For this modern morality play, director George Cederquist has gathered an impressive ensemble of singing actors, musicians and visual artists from across Chicago’s creative community.

NO EXIT is presented as a part of Center on Halsted’s month long celebration of Chicago Artists’ Month 2009, “Chicago Artists Month 2.0.” More information on Chicago Artists Month can be found at chicagoartistsmonth.org.

Composer Andy Vores was born in Wales in 1956 and raised in England. He studied composition at Lancaster University with Edward Cowie. In 1986 he was a Tanglewood Composition Fellow, studying with Oliver Knussen. In 1989 he moved to Boston and in 2001 was appointed Chair of Composition, Theory, and Music History at The Boston Conservatory.

Mr. Vores’ music has been performed by the London Sinfonietta, the Boston Modern Orchestral Project, the New England Philharmonic, The Cantata Singers, the Scottish National Orchestra, the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Omaha Symphony, Boston Musica Viva, The Nash Ensemble, the BBC Singers, Irvine Arditti, Sarah Walker Lynn Torgove, Dominique Labelle, Dawn Upshaw, Gilbert Kalish, Sanford Sylvan, Kendra Colton, Kathleen Supové, David Kravitz, Karol Bennett, and many others.

Juventas Review - Murmors From Limbo

REVIEW by BOSTON THEATER REVIEW

Enjoy!

-E

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Murmors From Limbo:


Juventas New Music Ensemble, a resident of the Boston Conservatory, offered quite the “mind trip” with it’s fall selection, Murmurs From Limbo: A Musical Exploration Into the Human Mind. The ensemble features young artists in the Boston area and strives to produce and promote composers under the age of 35, but this is not an easy task. Filling an audience for classical works can be hard enough, but add to that a bevy of unheard of composers and the risk of green performers, and you have the potential for a disaster- thank goodness Juventas pulled it off with class and style.

Murmurs From Limbo featured six pieces that could not be any more unique from one another- from classic compositions, to dramatic percussive performance piece, Juventas pushed the envelope, and pushed the boundaries of the audience’s expectations.

Tim Stullman’s Deaf Ears Hear No Crying is a tribute to those who seek justice but go unheard. From the first moment of odd scratching and the plucking of piano strings, it is clear that this is not your average composition, in fact, the piece defines the genre of “new classical music” in its ability to combine the a classic and beautiful orchestration with elements of jarring and otherworldly reality.

Bit of Nostolgia by Matt Boyd and performed by Brian Calhoon was a surprising foray into the inner working of a percussionist’s mind. Seeing each object on the stage as a potential vessel for music, Calhoon moved about the stage playing everything from a paper bag to a handful of plastic chains. In glorious contrast to Stullman’s piece, it worked as a perfect bridge to what I consider to be the most beautiful piece of the night.

Erich Stem’s Revisited filled the auditorium with the rich and beautiful sounds of the East. Inspired by Japanese Shakuhachi music, the three movements of this piece are unique and beautiful. The third movement, inspired by an 18^th century poem by Minezaki Koto, echoed the feeling of poetry with fluid lines and sophisticated nuances.

The second part of the evening started off with the fun, playful The Mind is a Monkey, Swinging From Branch to branch Through the Forest by Ethan Greene. The mouthful of the title is an homage to the text of the Sutra, and the music does it justice- full of movement and a witty repartee between the instruments.

Part didgeridoo, part tuba beat-boxing is the best way to describe the piece that stole the show. Fnugg by Norwegian composer Oystein Baadsvick was an all around crowd-pleaser as performed by tuba genius, John Eliot. The audience could not help to gasp in audible delight as Eliot morphed the homely tuba into an unexpected boom-box of fun. Whoops and hollers followed him off the stage until he had to take a second bow.

The evening of music closed with the title piece of the production, Murmurs from Limbo by Steven Rice. Unfortunately this piece fell a little flat for me (no pun intended). As the title engagement of the night, I was expecting to be blown away, especially with the caliber of music and fun we’d previously experienced, but unfortunately Murmors from Limbo was not my cup of tea. A mish-mashed conglomeration of weird shouting and singing in middle English, odd and ugly dissonant music, and an irritating lack of balance between voices and instruments left me feeling pretty disappointed- the text translations provided did no assist in my understanding help because it was extremely difficult to hear the vocalists sing (or moan/shout/growl). It almost felt like a parody of what someone might do if they were trying to make fun of “modern classical music”. That being said, I did appreciate the fine performance of the orchestra, and what I could hear of singers Thea Lobo and Owen Mcintosh.

It was wonderful to see Juventas staples Michael Sakir and Julia Carey giving their skill to the production, and special congratulations to new associate conductor, Lidiya Yankovskaya for an excellent debut!

The Juventas New Musical Ensemble has a lot of exciting productions coming up throughout the year, and will continue with their spring Opera project. I’m looking forward to seeing what’s in store.



Music Director, Michael Sakir in action
Photo credit: Cayuga Strategies, LLC.