Annecy, the Venice of the Alps

Hello everyone,

Welcome to Venice!  of the Alps!

I've never been to Venice in Italy, so I don't know what real Venice is like, but I sure do love this one in the Alps! We visited a lot of beautiful places in Europe during our time there, but Annecy is up there as one of the most charming ones we've seen!

Swiss Castle Adventures

Hello everyone,

After our day at Verdon Gorge, we left our cute little airbnb (with a pool I might add!!) in France and hopped over to Switzerland for a few performances with the Caroga Lake Music Festival's Swiss Tour!

Our home base for the week was a beautifully charming little town called Begnins.

Look how gorgeous this little town is!

St. Lawrence String Quartet Seminar

Hello everyone!

It has been awhile since the last post, and so many things have happened.  The Meadowlarks and I finished the St. Lawrence String Quartet Seminar, I visited Boston for a bit to see my guy and have some adventures there, and now Tim and I are at Garth Newel Music Center again for another year of amazing music, people, and food!  My last year's posts from Garth Newel can be found here  =)

I'll be catching up on Boston adventures soon (and then Garth Newel adventures) but before that, I wanted to share some photos from our adventures at Stanford!

I really loved our time at Stanford.  The SLSQ program is so unique in that it brings so many different people from different walks of life together to create music together intensely for 10 days. There are professionals (chamber music legends), pre-professionals of different ages, and amateurs who are doctors, lawyers, professional photographers, and many others..  It was really simulating and refreshing, and I loved all of our interactions throughout the whole program.

Some of the highlights included a talk with John Adams,

sight reading sessions with a mixture of musicians that included the faculty,

exploring Palo Alto and seeing Tim join in on some belly dancing,

and of course, performing with the Meadowlarks in this beautiful space at Stanford!!

Photo cred: Warren Wu

After the concert, we celebrated with our amazing coaches while watching fireworks!  The fireworks were for the soccer games, but it seemed like it was for us, and we enjoyed it with our ear plugs in  ;)

One of my favorite parts of the night was seeing my baby bro!  He came with his girl, and it was so good to see them  =)

It was an incredible experience, and I feel so blessed to have gone to SLSQ this summer!

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend, and thanks for stopping by!

--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

D&D Wedding!

Hello everyone!

Last Saturday, David and I traveled to Cancun to celebrate Donovan and Dianna's wedding! Dianna and David were each other's first ballroom dance partners (before she started dancing/dating Donovan and waay before David and I started dancing together), and they have known one another for over 10 years!  What I find to be so special about the Berkeley Ballroom group's friendship is that they have all gone their separate ways, yet they all gather every time one of them gets married, and despite the fact that it has been so long, they all seem to pick it back up right where they left off. Anyway, Donovan and Dianna are really a great couple; they compliment each other so well, and it's completely obvious how much they care for one another, so it was really fun to go celebrate this day together with them  =)

It was an incredibly beautiful evening, so here are a couple of the photos of their breathtaking wedding!

the beautiful bride  =)

gosh, their vows just had everyone bawling it was so touching... but weddings are overall a joyous occasion, eh?  

and yay! they are married!!!

then off they went to take amazing photos, I'm sure, so a few of us went off to do a bit of our own photo-taking!
with my guy  =)

and then Pamela/Ted and Janny/David did a bit of switcheroo...

with a few of the ladies!

with every single person I met of the Berkeley Ballroom group, if I guessed that either they were taught by David, or they were David's old partners, I was probably right  haha  so here is the lovely Stephanie, David's 2nd partner  =)

and beautiful Jessica!  David's 3rd partner  haha

It was an incredibly sweet and beautiful evening, and I hope you will join me in congratulating the newly wed couple and wishing them all the best as they embark on this next chapter of their lives!  =)

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a great day!

--Janny

The Calm Before the Storm

Hello everyone!

I am almost done with the crazy couple of weeks I've been having, and today is quite blissfully chill.  I only have about 7 hours of things I have to do today, so other than practicing, I decided to catch up on the blog, write some emails that need to be written, etc.  Though I do have an orchestra concert tonight, this week is going to be the calm before the storm that is about to hit next week.... next week is my first recital here at Boston University, and I CAN'T BELIEVE IT IS SO SOON!!!!  Freaking out a little bit here...  but that's ok.. I still have a little bit of time to memorize and polish everything...  But anyway, if you are in Boston, I would love to see you at Boston University College of Fine Arts Concert Hall on November 7th at 8:30 PM for my recital!  =D

Anyway, for the pas couple of weeks, I have been able to do a bit of exploring in between practicing and rehearsing sessions!

A bit of different side of Boston from where Boston University is located  haha 

hanging out with this lovely lady

social dancing at MIT and finding a little bit of Rice  =)

hanging out with an old friend (like.. waay back to our teenage years) and eating some Thai food!

oh, this is Boston Phil, but I had to take a picture of all of the college students huddled around the food during a break  haha

and lastly, MONTAGE!!

It's a dance recital the BU Ballroom hosts every year, and I am so glad I got to catch half of it after the Boston Phil Concert!

It was so fun to see all of the different groups, like this hip hop group!  i kept looking for my baby bro there because he's in a similar dance team at his school as well haha

and of course, cheering on these lovely folks who danced their hearts out  =)  it was so much fun to watch, and I was so proud!!  haha

after the show, we all went to the Sunset Cantina to celebrate! I've been eating really healthy lately, mostly because I simply don't have time to cook and so smoothies and over-night oats are all I can have...  The other day, I had a dream about eating pizza, so I figured a little eating out was in order!

and this plate of nachos was so. freaking. good.  pulled pork nachos all the way!

If you want to watch a little bit of Paso Doble action from Montage, go ahead and click the video box above!  =)

thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful week!
--Janny