Good day friends and fans! I'm writing from home in Penticton BC, where I've been settling in over the past 3 weeks after a long (and thoroughly enjoyable) year of school in Montreal. It's been quite a change of pace, going from hurrying from classes to rehearsals, to gigs, and back to my place for the occasional sleep, to quiet days. I sure have a lot of time in my hands, and I'd like to share with you what kind of things I've been getting up to with all of it! If you'll look at my upcoming events, you'll see that I've posted info about 3 performances of a program that I will be doing with Salmon Arm pianist Andrew Stoney. Most of my time has gone into preparing new repertoire for the exciting program that we have planned! With the first two dates coming up in just under 20 days, Andrew and I met up over this past weekend to start putting the duo music together. We had a very productive afternoon discussing and playing pieces for the program. Figuring out when we will 1 2, 1 2, 1 2, or 1 2 3, 1 2 3 in the second movement of Castelnuovo-Tedesco's Fantasia for guitar and piano, proved to be a lengthy and amusing discussion! The program, featuring duos by Giuliani, Tedesco, and Ponce, as well as music from our own solo repertoires is off to a very good start!
On Sunday I had the pleasure of providing musical entertainment for the Theo's at 10,000 Feet event, which is a fundraiser raffle draw for the OSNS Child development centre, in which the lucky winners are taken up by helicopter to a ridge overlooking the spectacular South Okanagan, and are then treated to a 5 course Greek meal made by the chef at Theo's Restaurant in Penticton, accompanied by live music. This is in fact the second year that I have had the privilege of volunteering my guitar playing for the event. There's nothing quite like making your way out of a helicopter with your guitar in hand, setting up in beautiful Okanagan air, and playing wonderful music for appreciative ears! As many musician would say, in all honesty, the background music gig never feels particularly rewarding (regardless of the pay cheque), but playing for 10,000 feet is quite a different experience. We, the volunteer team (yes even the helicopter trip was generously donated!) welcomed four lovely guests to our beautiful mountain top restaurant, and had a considerable amount of fun doing it! If you ever are crossed with the opportunity like this I would highly recommend it (just don't forget to apply sunscreen!!).
On Sunday I had the pleasure of providing musical entertainment for the Theo's at 10,000 Feet event, which is a fundraiser raffle draw for the OSNS Child development centre, in which the lucky winners are taken up by helicopter to a ridge overlooking the spectacular South Okanagan, and are then treated to a 5 course Greek meal made by the chef at Theo's Restaurant in Penticton, accompanied by live music. This is in fact the second year that I have had the privilege of volunteering my guitar playing for the event. There's nothing quite like making your way out of a helicopter with your guitar in hand, setting up in beautiful Okanagan air, and playing wonderful music for appreciative ears! As many musician would say, in all honesty, the background music gig never feels particularly rewarding (regardless of the pay cheque), but playing for 10,000 feet is quite a different experience. We, the volunteer team (yes even the helicopter trip was generously donated!) welcomed four lovely guests to our beautiful mountain top restaurant, and had a considerable amount of fun doing it! If you ever are crossed with the opportunity like this I would highly recommend it (just don't forget to apply sunscreen!!).
