We just finished our second major concert of the tour, at the beautiful (sonically and visually) Glaser Center in Santa Rosa. We had a small but very appreciative audience and an easygoing time on stage. Everyone was laughing and joking and we had a great time with Mozart, Grieg, and Tchaikovsky. Thanks Santa Rosa!
San Francisco homecoming
I couldn't wait to take off on the tour...but there was so much to do before we left that it didn't hit me til I woke up on the plane and we were almost there. Then, when we landed and I could see the bay and the hills, the excitement started bubbling up and I didn't know what to do with myself! I always love coming home to the West Coast, but what I didn't know was how much this feeling would be intensified by bringing the 15 other Criers along! Every part of life in San Francisco that I especially missed from conservatory days...bonfires on Ocean beach, breakfast at Zazie in Cole Valley, Brothers Korean, and the views from every hill...these I started to anticipate and experience not just for myself but for everyone else too. That's almost too much happiness to handle. The best though is the people in the city. So many friends, including many who went away and then moved back, and so many who opened up their homes to have us stay with them. A special thanks to Bill and June who not only hosted and fed and supported...but Bill also photographed and recorded our concert and gave us the cd the next day! Also, seeing my teacher Ian and two of his children at our concert meant so much. Talking with him before the concert made my whole warm-up different as the things he had taught rushed to my mind again.
I love it here! (but I'm already pretty pumped for Portland....my real hometown homecoming!)
Crashing a great party!
Hi everyone - Monica here, guest blogging for Jesse. I thought I'd give you the scoop on some of the other fun stuff we've been up to in gorgeous (and hot!!) San Francisco. Since several criers are native to the area, we've had lots of guides to help us navigate the 'touristy' activities (like checking out the view from Twin Peaks, riding the classic trolley cars, and hitting the beach) as well as of course finding great places to eat and drink. A real highlight was the evening we spent at a very cool cafe called SoCha in the Mission, which hosts Classical Revolution's weekly chamber music reading nights. When we showed up, there were already a bunch of great players there digging in to some quartets, but we were very graciously welcomed and the reading party expanded to sextets and octets. It was great to see old friends and new friends rocking out together over music that everyone knows and loves, and while the players and the other musicians listening were having so much fun, what I thought made the vibe so special was that the patrons at SoCha were really listening and whooping it up as much as the players were. Thanks to Charith, Jory, and the rest of the Revolutionaries at SoCha Wednesday night - what a great spot to catch live chamber music in a really informal setting!
San Francisco Debut
A Far Cry played its first public concert on the West Coast last night, at the Koret Auditorium of the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco! When we first entered the space, my breath was taken away. What an amazing theater. The seats rose steeply from the stage, with rows of mod leather armchairs separated by red-LED-lit aisles. The front and back-of-the-house staff at the museum were all extremely friendly and helpful, which allowed us musicians to concentrate on the music. We drew a wonderful audience of new and old friends, and we'd love to keep in touch. If you saw the concert last night, thanks again for coming. If you'd like to stay in the loop, sign up for our mailing list here. Also, we'd love to hear your feedback - click the "Audience Comments" link below and let us know what you thought!
Thanks JetBlue!
We had a nice, smooth flight over to San Francisco yesterday. I can only speak for myself, but having leather seats and the ability to watch Top Chef continuously on a personal TV really speed up a coast-to-coast flight. Plus, the flight attendants were great. I knew Loewi was up to something when he went up to speak with them midway through our flight. It was still a surprise, though, when at the end of the standard "prepare to land" speach the head stewardess added, "and flying with us today is A Far Cry, Boston's proudly unconducted string orchestra..." She went on to mention our Globe quote and plug our two concerts in California! So, thank you Unidentified JetBlue Flight Attendant, for making our day!
Bon Voyage
I'm standing at the center of Logan Airport Terminal C, waiting for the rest of the Criers to arrive. Jason and I considered the T, but broke down and called a taxi - 4 heavy suitcases filled with posters, music, postcards, and (oh yeah) clothes, plus two instruments and a backpack, were just a bit too much for us. So a relatively serene can ride to the airport (empty bottle of beer rolling around the floor notwithstanding) led to my current post at the serene center of Logan. It is almost eerily calm as we wait for the others - I have a feeling this may be one of the last moments of calm I'll have for a while. Nothing about the assemblage known as "A Far Cry" is serene! Soon we will be taking Logan Airport, our flight, and the West Coast by storm!
Tour Kick-off in Boston
A Far Cry's tour kickoff will be on May 12, at 8 PM in Room 320 of the Saint Botolph building of the New England Conservatory. 241 St. Botolph St. It will be a very informal run-through of our program, and a chance to celebrate the beginning of our trip with our friends. Stop by for all or part of the evening! (no charge)
A Far Cry packs for West Coast Tour!
Dear Friends,
On Tuesday, May 13th, the Criers fly to San Francisco to begin their 3-week trek up the West Coast to Seattle, with stops along the way in Santa Rosa, Roseburg, and Portland. From outreach programs to concert hall performances, chamber music shenanigans, and a working retreat, A Far Cry is prepping for a very busy tour!
Do you know someone who enjoys music? Please bring them with you! Do you know someone in the cities we're visiting? Please tell them about our concert and invite them to attend! Here's the line up:
San Francisco - Thursday May 15th 2008 @ 8pm - Koret Auditorium at the de Young Museum
Santa Rosa - Sunday May 18th 2008 @ 3pm - Glaser Center at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation
Roseburg - Wednesday May 21st 2008 @ 7pm - Melrose Community Church [by donation]
Portland - Friday May 23rd 2008 @ 7:30pm - First Unitarian Church
Seattle - Monday May 26th 2008 @ 7pm - Great Hall at Town Hall
Tickets to these concerts can be purchased in advanced through Brown Paper Tickets, a Seattle-based fair trade ticketing service (www.brownpapertickets.com or toll-free 1-800-838-3006). Get your tickets ahead of time!
There are three very important and easy ways you can partner with A Far Cry in our commitment to bring you world-class, passionate performances:
1. Come to our concerts and bring your friends along!
2. Tell all of your friends about our performances, invite them to come, and also encourage them to visit our website to learn more about us!
3. Make a fully tax-deductible contribution to A Far Cry (we are a 501(c)3 non-profit incorporation). This is as easy as clicking the link on our main page and donating by credit card or mailing a check to the address listed under "Get Involved". This, our first Tour, is made possible entirely from your generous support.
As always, please contact us with any questions you have at info@afarcry.org / 617.297.2796.
We look forward to seeing all of our West Coast fans at the concerts!
There is no invisible wall between us
I would like to share with you a thought I've been very busy with lately. A thought about the significance of the audience in a performance. I have always believed in a phenomenon I call 'The Concert Miracle'. Maybe not always, but I think I remember it from sometime around when I was in High school. I remember my school orchestra conductor mentioning something about it, and I have never forgotten it. As the years go by I believe in it more and more- I believe in 'The Concert Miracle' so strongly, you could almost say that I count on it, that I trust it to happen every concert...
And what is this miracle? It is the miracle of the performer meeting their audience, and the way these two interact and affect each other.
It is easy to see how the performer affects their audience: the audience receives what the performer performs on the stage, they can see it, hear it, and hopefully feel it and think about what is happening on the stage, and how it affects them personally. We as performers put hours and hours of time in to finding the best ways to transform whatever it is that we want to share with our audience into the media that we are working with. I'd like to think that every performance, regardless of what kind of performance it is, is all about sending out a message to whoever is receiving it in the audience. Sometimes this message is one and strong, and sometimes it is soft and personal, but it is the goal of the performer to make the audience go through a process, and come out of the it just a bit different from how they walked in. Transfigured, you might say...
What is often not as easy to see is how the audience affects the performers. In my experience from being on stage I want to share how much the audience affects the performance, which is in my opinion no less but as much as the performers affect the audience. It is important to me to share this with you, since without all of you there is no performance!
While being on stage I can sense an energy coming from the mass of people sitting across from me, an energy that is unique and special to each performance. It is a combination of the different people which comply of the audience, the mood and set of mind each one of them are in at the specific moment of the performance, the weather, time and place, and of course of the performance as well. When we pour from the stage out to the seats, an energy comes shooting back which feeds us, and vice versa; when we get on the stage and this energy is in the air, that affects how the performance will start. I can not explain how I sense it, and why it happens- it is a miracle.
And this Miracle is a once-in-a-life-time experience, which will not live again outside of the memories of the ones who've shared it. It can not be captured in a recording, and it can not be duplicated. It is tragic in a way, how this special thing which was there and everyone could sense it is gone and lost forever. It is also wonderful in the sense that you have experienced a very special thing, which you have shared with the people around you.
'The Concert Miracle' is also the reason why 'A Far Cry' in concert is a totally different organism than the 'Rehearsal- A Far Cry'. Things suddenly come together. Suddenly there is only love between us, which can not be interrupted. Suddenly we are one unit which breaths and feels together, and we are free to do anything we want. When we go through the rough rehearsing period I hang on to my belief and know that in the concert, once we meet our audience, everything will be fine. Fine? no, everything will be... I don't have the right word to express this feeling that we share through the language of music. Something positive and wonderful, with a lot of love and honesty.
I am writing all of this in honor of our audience this past weekend, and of all the audiences around the world of the different arts whatever they may be. We need you, we feel you, and we want to thank you for being yourselves, because we do all of this only for you.
Much love,
Sharon
Aftershocks
Well, "Words and the Night" is behind us. Without a doubt, it has been our most challenging, most risky, and ultimately most successful concert cycle yet. There were many new faces at our performances this week, from curious Globe readers to members of HUMANWINE.
If you saw a performance, please tell us and the world about it by clicking the "Audience Comments" button below.
