We're for real

Hello All,

We're for real. We have two concert dates set: on Jan. 20 at St. Matthew the Apostle in Miami and on Jan. 21 Arts at St. John's in Miami Beach. Here's the poster/postcard mailer for this first cycle:



and the back:


Missing some pertinent details, obviously, but we'll get those in tomorrow. The concert is called "Hausmusik" in reference to the masterful reductions done by Schoenberg and Stein to make these works accessible to fine amateurs, and Steve's intimate work fits right in in spirit and scope. We're going to find a chair like Van Gogh's and have it for the concertmaster. Hope he likes it! We love it from a branding perspective, and I'm sure you've all seen ad campaigns similar to this. There was one a few years ago on the Chicago PBS affiliate that used a big, blue, leather easychair that made random appearances all over Chicagoland. Wouldn't it be great if we could do something similar with our more modest Van Gogh chair? Maybe we will!
It's also an homage to the great director Akira Kurosawa and his movie Dreams. One of the dreams represented shows a man at an art gallery suddenly finding himself in a Van Gogh painting. Martin Scorsese plays the mad painter, and the genius of the moviemaking shows itself full-force when you stop deciding what is "real" and what is a "painting". It's this magic we're aiming to recreate in our concerts.

We have most of the personnel set for this first concert as well, with Blake coming down from New York and Randy coming down from Boston. Of course, our featured artists, Brandon and Monica, are coming down from NYC to sing the Mahler and the Danyew. The rest of the group will be filled out with pC members from UM and New World Symphony.

We've been up to other things, as well, including business cards:



letterhead and a press kit. (I think we owe Jim Stephenson a mug for winning the slogan contest!) Happy to send a press kit to you if you can think of someone who might be interested in having us, or even if you're just curious. Just let us know.

We're both involved in a wonderful concert with the Young Musician's Orchestra, the Miami Steel Pan Symphony, Chuck Bergeron Quartet, Bob Heath, organ and Craig Morris, trumpet. Steve did the arrangements for jazz quartet and strings, and Chung's conducting this monster, which literally has something for everyone. Believe me, if you haven't heard Leroy Anderson's Christmas Festival played by steel pan ensemble and orchestra you have not lived. It's a hoot. The Miami Steel Pan Symphony, led by Leon Foster Thomas, is a truly impressive ensemble. They hadn't heard the work a scant month and a half ago. They played it today from memory! Their energy, musicianship and dedication were truly inspirational, as was the spirit of giving and collaboration with which they approached this endeavor. What an honor it was to hear and work with them.

More soon.