Performances!

Hello everyone!

A week or so ago, I had 3 huge concerts back to back; Mozart Violin Concerto #5 with Matt Scinto's orchestra, our Meadowlark Piano Trio Concert, and BU Symphony Orchestra concert for which I was the concertmaster.

I meditated regularly through it to help manage the stress levels, and mentally I felt pretty grounded through it all.  Systematically knocking them out one by one is what I found to be the best strategy!   haha  My body, however, couldn't keep up, and I ended up getting gastritis/ulcers from exhaustion. Thankfully, I have had a few days off from performing before I have to prepare for another 3 back to back performances, so it has gotten much better.  I've been enjoying eating healthy-like a rabbit-, and sleeping at least 7 hours a day.  =)

Anyway, I wanted to share a few photos from the performances taken mostly by David.  Bless his heart--his social calendar filled up dramatically once he started dating me because of all of my concerts!  =)  It's always nice seeing his smiling face during/after concerts though.

with some of my favorites! Matt, the awesome conductor and Grace, the fearless concert master  ;)

Another person who was there for all of the back to back concerts was Bayla, my amazing teacher.  I didn't expect her to come to all of them, or even any of them, since she is so busy, but she was there. For all of them.  But that wasn't all of it!  She also spent so many extra hours with me at dress rehearsals and coachings outside of the performances, and I am so grateful for her presence in my life.  She probably has no idea how much it meant to have her there, but she is one of the most supportive, encouraging, and wonderful mentors I could have ever asked for, and I feel incredibly blessed to be studying with her.  =)

This photo (April's face) perfectly captures Bayla's personality - she tickled us as we were standing there being all good for the photo  haha   Love. Her!

It can be easy to get into the complainy mode when you are sleep deprived, your body is sore from 10+ hours of playing the day before, and you're looking at another 10 hours today...  but there is really nothing better than making music with all of the people I love, constantly working on and improving myself in my craft, and getting to work with such amazing mentors that I have in my life. As cliche as it sounds, even though this was a hard path to choose 4 years ago, I would not change any of it (even the exhausting parts) for the world  =)  

It got a little sentimental there, but you know, sometimes, it's like that.  and that's ok.  Nothing wrong with being thankful for what we have, and what we have been called/chosen to do with our lives  =) (especially if you don't know how you are going to survive the hectic schedule for the next few weeks haha)

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful day!

--Janny

Traveling Musician :: Meadowlarks and Phoenix

Hello everyone!

Since the last Charleston post, it's been crazy over here with music related activities!  I love that I get to do what I love, with people that I love, while traveling and seeing different parts of the world! 

After Charleston, I flew straight to Cleveland to reunite with my Meadowlarks.  This was our first season venturing into the world of chamber competitions, and we had 2 days to get ready for the biggest one in the United States, the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition!  

Those two days were absolutely crazy. We had 2-3 coachings per day, and played 12+ hours a day with one another to try to get ready for the performances...  After the 2 intense rehearsal days, we drove to South Bend, IN for the competition!

The absolute best part about Fischoff was the people we got to meet along the way.  Not only did we get to play for the judges, but we also got to meet all of them afterwards for some feedback (and these judges are like... gods of the chamber music world).  We also had the opportunity to share our love for each other, and for the music, with the incredibly receptive audience for the Fischoff soiree at the Sabato's house. The audience was so warm, and the hosts--the Sabato's--were seriously amazing! We are so glad to have met and have been 'adopted' by the humans, horses, dogs, and cat alike. We love our South Bend family!!  =)

Another incredible thing happened at Fischoff that really touched our hearts, and that was the fact that Maureen and Roger came all the way from Chicago to cheer us on!  We met them here in Boston because their nephew is Sam, the violist in my string trio, and I was so incredibly touched they came all the way out to Indiana to see us.  They were like our adoptive parents for the weekend, and I can't tell you how comforting that was for us -- so many warm fuzzies all around!  I can't wait to see them again in Boston when they come visit!  =)

After the competition, we drove back to Cleveland and celebrated with some awesome food at L'Albatros!  

wow.  

People have always told me that Cleveland is a foodie city, and if more places like this exist, then I can totally get on board with what they mean!  The burger, duck, and the pork belly salad were all. incredible.

After the whirlwind of a trip in the midwest, I flew back to Boston for a few days for the Phoenix Flight!  I've mentioned before how I've been a part of this team getting the orchestra off of the ground for the past year, and it was so incredible to see this last concert of our first season come to fruition.  

Of course, I love the concept, and I feel that I'm playing with some of the best musicians of our generation in this orchestra.  The Boston Globe gave us a pretty rad review as well, and I'm excited to see where the next seasons will take us!

But again, my favorite part of the group is the people in the orchestra.  I know, I know, I'm starting to sound like a broken record over here with my love for the peeps in my life, but what can I say, I'm surrounded by pretty awesome humans!  I've known a few of the members in the orchestra for many years (like Matt, the conductor, and Christina, the bassoonist. We go waaayy back to our high school years).  However, I've gotten to know even the folks I've met either at this concert or at the last one a little better, and I am just so happy to have the chance to play with all of them in Phoenix!  Such amazing musicians with such big hearts  =)   

My favorite photo from the night with my stand partners, Zenas and Abby!   

A few hours after the Phoenix Flight concert, I flew out to Houston for strictly personal reasons, and I left my violin behind for 2 days.  I know, I know, it felt really weird to not touch my violin for the full 2 days I was in Houston, but the break was needed I think  haha.

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you're having a wonderful beginning of the week so far!  I'll be back with a few Houston adventure posts soon! =)

--Janny

Masterclass with Boston String Academy

Hello everyone!

Last week, I had a chance to visit the Boston String Academy and work with a few of the students there in a masterclass setting!

It's an incredible program that gives inner-city students the opportunity to come in every school day before school begins for quality orchestra rehearsals and private lessons.  It's run by two passionate violinists, Marielisa and Mariesther, who went through the prestigious Venezuelan 'El Sistema' program, and I was so impressed with not only the level at which the students played, but also with how well-behaved all of the students were the whole time I was giving the class!  It was extra impressive because the class was at 8 am!

As I've mentioned in the last post, teaching is one of the most rewarding experiences for me, and it was so fun to get to teach in this public environment.  Giving a masterclass is very different than teaching in a normal lesson environment because you only have a short amount of time with each of the students, and also because you are teaching not only the student who is playing, but also everyone who is watching the masterclass.  

When you teach, you usually have so many things that you want to address, but I think it's important to pick out just a few things to discuss per lesson so that the student is not overwhelmed with information.  In a masterclass setting, you have even less time than in lessons, so it was a fun challenge for me to think about what I could say in the time that I had with each of the students that could make the most amount of difference in their playing.

It was so much fun working with these students, and I am so thankful to Dani from Boston Philarmonic's outreach program 'Crescendo' for inviting me out there!  (She is also the amazing photographer who took all of these photos!)

Thanks again to the Boston String Academy and Crescendo for having me, and I hope be able to collaborate and and teach more masterclasses in the future!

Have a wonderful week, and thanks for stopping by!

--Janny

Our First Little Recital!

Hello everyone!

Last weekend, I had such a proud mama moment!  My Boston students had their first recital, and my goodness! cue all the emotions.

I never imagined that I would love teaching so much, but during the past six years or so, teaching has grown into one of my biggest passions.  I love everything about it; getting to know the students and the parents, figuring out different ways to approach different subjects for each student, working out how to solve road blocks in their learning process, and seeing them grow both artistically and personally.  It's truly one of the most rewarding experiences.

I feel so lucky to have so many wonderful students (and their parents!) here in Boston, and together with MaeLynn's studio, we had an exciting recital day full of fun music and wonderful companionship!

We were also lucky to have such a sensitive pianist, Daniel, who was there to play with our students! It's not easy following the students' interpretations sometimes (which can be rather surprising at times), but he did amazingly!  =)

All of our students played so beautifully! We had a variety of range in levels, and they all did their best, and we were so proud!!

We were also joined by a wonderful singer, who is one of my students' sister, and it was so fun to have variety during the recital!

We ended the recital with a little Bach Double action!

With all of the students and teachers!

haha this photo really captures the experience -- sweet, funny, a little distracted..  and never a boring moment!

Everyone brought refreshments to share afterwards, and we had a wonderful time chatting and getting to know all of the friends and family!

I feel so blessed to have such talented and wonderful students. Every single one of them has such good hearts that even when they don't practice sometimes (ahem..), I look forward to every lesson with them  =)

I'm so excited that for the first time in my  life, I am planning on being in one place for more than a few years!  I'm excited to hopefully work with all of these students long term and to see all of them grow!

Thanks for stopping by!

--Janny

Photo Cred: my wonderful fiancee -David  =)

Life Recently :: Surviving March

Hello everyone,

I survived March!!!!  I know, I know, March isn't quite over yet, but the part I wasn't sure I would survive (namely, right after David and I got engaged till now) is done, and the only casualty seems to have been my immune system. 3 weeks of intensive sleep depravation seems to have been too much even for my trusty OnGuard oil to fight off the illnesses, but I can only count my blessings that the sore throat and the fever only hit on the last day of my marathon rehearsal/performance schedule!

Some people have asked if I have been busy planning our wedding, and the answer is the biggest, fattest, 'no'.  haha  David and I got engaged, David left to go back to Houston, and since then I've spent every waking hour running around the greater Boston area for rehearsals and performances.  so... yeah... weddings just kinda plan themselves, right?  if we keep telling ourselves that, maybe it will actually happen that way (fingers crossed!)

I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to play in so many performances with my friends in different chamber group configurations, for many prominent composers and teachers, and in awesome orchestras like the Phoenix and the Boston Ballet Orchestra!  so. so thankful.  

This was my first time playing with the Boston Ballet, and this was the first time I've loved playing in the pit!  Usually, many musicians dread playing in the pit (myself included), but the music was awesome, the Boston Ballet community (both musicians and dancers) was so warm and inviting, and the energy from both the performers and the audiences during the performances was really great!  I can't wait to play with them again soon, especially since the Boston Opera House is absolutely gorgeous!

During the 'off' days from the ballet, I got to be a part of the launch even for Phoenix!  Shortly after I moved to Boston, one of my friends from high school, Matt Szymanski, contacted me with an idea for a new orchestra he was starting, called Phoenix!  Since then, I have had the privilege to work with seriously incredible friends for the launch of Phoenix.  Last Tuesday, our dreams became a reality, and we had our first Phoenix concert ever in Oberon!  

I still get chills thinking about it because that night was... It's hard to describe in words just how amazing the night was. We had put in so many months of work beforehand, and to see it come together so spectacularly...  I'm getting emotional over here just thinking about it haha  but my friend and stand partner, Zenas (the goofball below with light antennae coming out of his head), wrote about the event beautifully on his blog, so check it out here!

Other than these two big orchestra performances, I also had the BU orchestra performances, chamber performances, and my solo recital!  For the recital, April came up to perform the Debussy Sonata, Nels Drue Daily (work written for us!), and the Beethoven Kreutzer Sonata with me, and we had such a rich week together full of incredible music making, companionship, and of course, amazing food!

i love this girl.

like this one.  the most incredible sandwich from Cutty's.  Go on Saturday, and ask for Pork Rabe.  ahmazing!

Abers' visit coincided with PI day, so of course, we had to celebrate.  It was, after all, 3/14/15. We also toasted at 9:26:53pm  ;)   (and yes, I realize just how behind I am on blogging haha)

Anyway, for this event, we got together with my string trio buddies, and made pizzas!

Look at this beauty!

and this one  ;) 

the perfect pie for pi day!

so thankful for these awesome friends in my life =)

More recently, right before a new music concert, we visited the Sunset Cantina to try their infamous dessert nachos!  Look at this...

It's an overwhelming sight, isn't it? so much fried, sweet, and fruity goodness  haha   Personally, it was too sweet for me, but it was definitely an experience, and worth a try if you've never had it before! Oh, but make sure to take a few friends with you...

We still couldn't finish it between the four of us!

So, March.  You have been one heck of a month.  In my sleep-deprived state, no adequate words come to mind to fully describe you, but all I know is that I am thankful for everything.

Now, I'm off to bed.  for the next week or so.

If you need me... I'll be back in one concert hall or another within a few days! haha

Have a wonderful week, and thanks for stopping by for this dinosaur of a blog post!

--Janny