SF Music Day Live+Free

...from SF 

Several weeks ago I ushered for a wonderful annual musical event put on by the San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music: SF Music Day Live + Free.  As the name suggests, it's a day of musical events that are 100% free to the public.  The SFFCM curates it, with a focused theme each year, and some 30-40 chamber ensembles perform classical music, crossover repertory, new music, and jazz, a half hour show each, with breaks along the way and a food truck or two serving snacks outside. This year it ran from noon to nearly 11 p.m.

It's been at various venues, but this year it was at the newly remodeled Herbst Theater (which I only caught a glimpse of from the inside, as I was mostly enjoying greeting duty)--a terrific venue. And there were raves about the music making from the many happy concert goers in the crowd.

What a wonderful event! (Full disclosure: E4TT is honored to be a fiscally sponsored affiliate of SFFCM, and I think they do such great work for chamber music in the community).

And for a plug: if you're near Berkeley on Dec. 13 at 2:00 p.m., don't miss the Christmas concert at the First Church of Christ Scientist on Dwight at College, a beautiful historical Maybeck building.  Bach, Mozart, Handel, Hildegard von Bingen, and seasonal favorites, with 2 sopranos, 1 mezzo, violin, cello and organ.

What I'm reading:Seymour Chwast's adaptation of Dante's Divine Comedy; Handbook of Dragon Slayers by Merrie Haskel.

What I'm working on: Handel's Tolomeo, Mozart, Bach, songs by Germaine Tailleferre

What I'm listening to: Bach, Berlioz, and more Bach...'tis the season, not that Bach is ever out of season...and Wagner: tomorrow I'm hearing Die Meistersinger at SFO.

Back in Berlin: Don't Forget to Vote!

Dear long-suffering blog readers who've told me they wish my occasional blog would...occasionally have an occasion...and to new readers, too,

I am back in Berlin after a great concert here about two weeks ago at the Lichtburgforum, presented by the Juedische Gemeinde, with the Jewish Music and Poetry Project.  I promise to post soon and to catch everyone up, at least somewhat.

But in the meantime this is just a quick post to say, run, do not walk--safely, of course--and VOTE today, preferably for the candidate of my choice, i.e., Obama, but no matter what, please, vote!

The world is watching with a decent amount of anxiety to see what we do, whether the shenanigans of voter registration will affect the legitimacy of the count, whether the electronic balloting in Ohio will be honest and fair, and most of all, perhaps, if the shadow of Sandy that still hangs over the Northeast will cast a pall on the overall ability of people to get to the polls and cast their vote.

So, even if it seems super-daunting this time around, if you haven't already voted, please,make that extra effort, folks, get out there and vote.  (And for those who are wondering, I cast my vote via absentee ballot from the U.S. Consulate in Munich.)

What I'm reading: various books on Kindle for the Sharp Writ Book Awards (there are some excellent ones this year!).  What I'm working on: the Marshallin's monologue (Rosenkavalier)--except bin ich ein bisschen erkaeltet, also singe ich nicht fuer ein Paar tage.... Total pain...
What I'm listening to: Ravel's Sheherazade, which I recently heard live by the Berlin Staatskapelle (along with a wonderful performance of Beethoven's 8th and Berlioz' Romeo and Juliet), in an illuminating Regine Crespin historical recording:  Here's to you, Christina!