January 2023

​January 2023
 
I am so incredibly blessed to work with these students.  For the past two years it seems that I cannot put enough music in front of them.  I have been successfully exposing them to all different styles, composers, genres, conductors and musical time periods and they just keep gobbling up everything that I put in front of them.  
 
The students completed an assignment on conductors in prior years where they had to watch videos of different conductors (and orchestras) performing the same repertoire and assess how each conductor’s personality and style influenced the sound of the orchestra.  The students were particularly interested in the work of Gustavo Dudamel.  Maestro Dudamel is perhaps the world’s most famous living conductor.  He is the full-time music director of the LA Philharmonic and is known for his significant work with El Sistema and the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles.  He loves children and will be working with the NY Philharmonic on May 19th. An open rehearsal has been made available on that date so that schools can attend the performance.  I am working with Maximum Tours to arrange a field trip so that my orchestra can see the NY Philharmonic (which they have never seen) and also see Gustavo Dudamel conduct live.  I am very excited for the opportunity to expose my students to this amazing collaboration.  
 
Aside from working on this field trip and extra March concert, I have been busy helping prepare Maya and Noah for their upcoming college auditions.  Noah plans to major in Music Education and is hoping to gain acceptance into Fredonia, Crane and Ithaca.  Maya is planning to major in Viola Performance with the goal of becoming an Artistic Administrator.  We are both hoping that NYU is in her future, but she is also auditioning at Purchase, Mannes and Bard.  While I am of course, excited for all of my seniors…I am very interested to see where Noah and Maya wind up next year.  Fingers crossed!