Hello All,
Steve and Chung are safely ensconced with family (and dog) in chilly Vermont and Chicago, but still working away. Chung has reverted to hermitdom with the score to the Mahler/Stein Symphony No. 4, while Steve continues working on publicity materials and all of the other print essentials for our debut concert. Even in the midst of this quiet reverie we have exciting news to report, as we received a very nice e-mail from Greg Stepanich, the music critic for the Palm Beach Post, about doing a post on his blog featuring Project Copernicus. He even said that there might be some interest in doing a feature article in the Post, so we will be sure to be as interesting as possible when we speak with him!
In other news: Carol from Arts at St. John's has very generously provided us with 5000(!) postcards, 4000 of which we Project Copernicus members will distribute and post. Let's drum up lots of interest and pack the houses on Jan. 20 and 21.
Father Perry and everybody at St. Matthew's have been simply spectacular. They have really gone above and beyond, providing rehearsal space, housing guest artists, and now handling the reception. Jean Carmichael at St. Matthew's has been described as the "Hostess with the Mostest" and Jeff Alban, the Music Director at St. Matthew's reported that this is the case several times.
We're looking forward to a long and fruitful relationship with both of these wonderful organizations going ahead.
Hope everybody has had a wonderful holiday season thus far, and all best wishes from Project Copernicus for a safe and prosperous New Year.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
NTV News Feature on Monica Yunus
Unfortunately, the user who posted the fantastic Peace Prize ceremony video has removed it from YouTube, but this video will give you a different look at our featured artist.
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Monday, December 18, 2006
Updates and more good news.
Chung had a great breakfast meeting with Father Perry, the priest at St. Matthew, and Jeff Alban, the music director. They are very excited to be working with us and they've been extremely generous with time and facilities. They'll be able to accommodate us for all of our rehearsals as well as concerts, and that is a huge coup for our group. Chung went over to visit and they have a beautiful sanctuary with a gorgeous and acoustically advantageous wooden ceiling. The pews were actually quite comfortable and there is ample parking. There is a very nice dining room and the reception's going to be lovely. The real big news that came out of this is that St. Matthew's is very interested in having us there for a four concert series, and Chung also broached the possibility of doing a holiday concert. Chung's going to meet with the vestry (church council) on Thursday evening to discuss the concert series as well as finalize details for our debut concert. The only downside is that they don't have a piano there, so we'll have to work with a digital piano for the moment, but Jeff's working on this and we hope to have something worked out as we move forward.
More soon, and some pictures of our venues if Chung can figure out how to get pictures from the phone to the computer!
More soon, and some pictures of our venues if Chung can figure out how to get pictures from the phone to the computer!
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Details
Hello All,
Steve was in Miami and it was a whirlwind weekend. Got tons done.
The YMO concert was a huge success. Mark Hart, the executive director of the Coral Gables Community Church Community Arts Program, thinks there were at least 1400 people in attendance. The church holds 1,800, and it was hard to find an empty seat. There were people standing in the back! The Steel Pan Orchestra outdid themselves. They played incredibly intricate and lengthy works completely from memory, and the standards for ensemble precision and dynamic contrast rivalled some of the best classical ensembles I've heard. Most of the members of this group were in their mid-teens with some much younger than that. Everything they did was simply amazing.
On to our first concert. Most of the personnel are set, with Cristhian Rodriguez, a tremendously gifted undergrad from UM playing clarinet/bass clarinet, and Seth Ruse, a percussionist from NWS, also joining us. Rounding it out will be Jamecyn Morey on violin, David Bebe on 'cello, Rod Squance (who just played with Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble) and three others to be named on oboe, flute and harp. Steve, Karen and Chung worked on strategic planning for this concert series and beyond, and Steve took on the huge responsibility of getting the program together. Karen, (whose background in the business world has been invaluable to our group as we plan for the future), is taking care of strategic planning and organization. No detail escapes her eye. It's a great team, and a huge honor to work with them.
Steve and Chung met with Dean Hipp this morning. He looked over our press kit and was very impressed. It was great to have someone of his experience and stature encouraging our efforts, and his door has always been open to us. He is an extremely positive and knowledgeable person, and one gets the definite sense that he considers all of us UM people to be part of an extended family.
Chung's going to meet later this week with Jeff Alban and others from St. Matthew the Apostle Church to go over details for our debut concert, including publicity and (very important!!) the reception.
So many details! We've got a great start, though, and, we'll just keep plugging along.
Steve was in Miami and it was a whirlwind weekend. Got tons done.
The YMO concert was a huge success. Mark Hart, the executive director of the Coral Gables Community Church Community Arts Program, thinks there were at least 1400 people in attendance. The church holds 1,800, and it was hard to find an empty seat. There were people standing in the back! The Steel Pan Orchestra outdid themselves. They played incredibly intricate and lengthy works completely from memory, and the standards for ensemble precision and dynamic contrast rivalled some of the best classical ensembles I've heard. Most of the members of this group were in their mid-teens with some much younger than that. Everything they did was simply amazing.
On to our first concert. Most of the personnel are set, with Cristhian Rodriguez, a tremendously gifted undergrad from UM playing clarinet/bass clarinet, and Seth Ruse, a percussionist from NWS, also joining us. Rounding it out will be Jamecyn Morey on violin, David Bebe on 'cello, Rod Squance (who just played with Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble) and three others to be named on oboe, flute and harp. Steve, Karen and Chung worked on strategic planning for this concert series and beyond, and Steve took on the huge responsibility of getting the program together. Karen, (whose background in the business world has been invaluable to our group as we plan for the future), is taking care of strategic planning and organization. No detail escapes her eye. It's a great team, and a huge honor to work with them.
Steve and Chung met with Dean Hipp this morning. He looked over our press kit and was very impressed. It was great to have someone of his experience and stature encouraging our efforts, and his door has always been open to us. He is an extremely positive and knowledgeable person, and one gets the definite sense that he considers all of us UM people to be part of an extended family.
Chung's going to meet later this week with Jeff Alban and others from St. Matthew the Apostle Church to go over details for our debut concert, including publicity and (very important!!) the reception.
So many details! We've got a great start, though, and, we'll just keep plugging along.
Saturday, December 09, 2006
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.
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.
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