Greetings from Seattle.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m up here doing an instrumental camp at Bastyr University, which is actually in the hamlet of Kenmore, Washington – right at the northern tip of Lake Washington.\u00c2\u00a0 We’re in the midst of one of the earliest record heat waves in Northwest history.\u00c2\u00a0 In Portland yesterday the official high was around 96 degrees, but friends who were driving around reported temps of up to 104 on the freeway!\u00c2\u00a0 Today is supposed to be up to around 101 in Portland for the official high, and here in Seattle it will reach the mid-90’s again.\u00c2\u00a0 It wouldn’t be so bad except that the buildings are not air-conditioned, and our dorm rooms are on the top floor with poor ventillation (because pigeons will fly into the rooms if the windows are wide open and the blinds are up!).\u00c2\u00a0 Given the choice between sweating in bed and sleeping with pigeon droppings, I’ll take sweating any day.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a good bunch of kids here – I’m working with a viola sextet that’s playing a piece by Paul Pisk, (which is actually a good piece) – the only thing wrong with that is that the coachings are at 8:30 in the morning.\u00c2\u00a0 We also have communal bathrooms, which also isn’t that bad, except that we have to get up at 6:15 in order to get a shower without waiting in line.\u00c2\u00a0 Did I say that I miss my bed, bathroom, and air-conditioner very much?!\u00c2\u00a0 At least we’re not living in cabins!\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Last night I did the U.S. premiere of Dorothy Chang’s piece Streams<\/em> for solo viola.\u00c2\u00a0 She and her husband Paoulo were able to come down from Vancouver, B.C. to see the performance, and happily, she was very pleased with how it went.\u00c2\u00a0 We’ll both listen to the recording and email back and forth to see what changes we’ll want to make, and then I’ll go into the studio this fall and record it (after doing a performance of the revised version), most likely at the colorfully named Dead Aunt Thelma’s Studios.\u00c2\u00a0 Heather played the Beethoven A major cello Sonata last night with Sandy, and played the snot out of it.\u00c2\u00a0 Local cello legend Cordelia Wikarski-Miedel was in attendance and gave rave reviews of her rendition.\u00c2\u00a0 Tonight we do the Beethoven c minor string Trio with Marcia Ott on the violin, and Tuesday night I do the Kodaly Adagio <\/em>with Lisa Bergman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Greetings from Seattle.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m up here doing an instrumental camp at Bastyr University, which is actually in the hamlet of Kenmore, Washington – right at the northern tip of Lake Washington.\u00c2\u00a0 We’re in the midst of one of the earliest record heat waves in Northwest history.\u00c2\u00a0 In Portland yesterday the official high was around 96 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[],"tags":[3655,3662,3660,3659],"class_list":["post-49","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-news","tag-portland","tag-viola","tag-violin"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-N","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7374,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/03\/04\/portland-viol-consort-gives-concert\/","url_meta":{"origin":49,"position":0},"title":"portland viol consort gives concert","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 The Portland Viol Consort presents a \"gallery tour\" of some of the greatest works of the Elizabethan era for a consort of viols, including music by Jenkins, Byrd, Gibbons, Purcell, and others. Poetry of Robert Herrick will also be featured. When: Saturday, March 20, 2012 @ 7:30 p.m. Where:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chamber music"","block_context":{"text":"chamber music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/chamber-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Portland Viol Consort","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/PVC-flyer-e1330911329540-599x783.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/PVC-flyer-e1330911329540-599x783.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/PVC-flyer-e1330911329540-599x783.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":962,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/05\/12\/seattle-loses-long-time-music-critic\/","url_meta":{"origin":49,"position":1},"title":"Seattle loses long-time music critic – is Portland next?","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 12, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Melinda Bargreen, classical music critic in Seattle for the past 30 years, has accepted a buy-out from the Seattle Times as part of a restructuring of the paper's staff. You can read her last column here. Now read this blog entry by our lone full-time classical music critic here in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":719,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/01\/29\/interesting-idea-for-pdx\/","url_meta":{"origin":49,"position":2},"title":"interesting idea for pdx?","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 29, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The Seattle Chamber Players presented their fourth Icebreaker Festival of contemporary classical music this past weekend in Seattle. Present was current classical music writer\/rockstar Alex Ross, who curated a concert of works by seven young New York composers who'd caught his ear (including five premieres).\u00c2\u00a0 Also the SCP presented, in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chamber music"","block_context":{"text":"chamber music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/chamber-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":395,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/07\/19\/under-the-radar\/","url_meta":{"origin":49,"position":3},"title":"under the radar","author":"Charles Noble","date":"July 19, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's a great article\u00c2\u00a0 by David Brewster about the much-respected and financially secure Chamber Music Northwest from the online journal Crosscut.\u00c2\u00a0 Here's the opening: \u00c2\u00a0If Seattle is a bright beacon flashing out its grandness, Portland is a bushel basket, under which well-kept secrets gleam. My favorite example is Portland's Chamber\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17820,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2020\/03\/11\/coronavirus-hits-nw-arts-hard\/","url_meta":{"origin":49,"position":4},"title":"coronavirus hits NW arts hard","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 11, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I will update this page throughout the coming days as I learn of additional postponements or cancellations. Running list of Portland-area cancellations and postponements. UPDATE: 3\/14\/20 10:00AM Basically, everything is canceled, and if it isn't, it's being live streamed. UPDATE: 12:13AM Oregon Governor Kate Brown announces all schools will close\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2305,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/04\/08\/more-cuts-for-orchestras\/","url_meta":{"origin":49,"position":5},"title":"more cuts for orchestras","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 8, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"UPDATE 4\/08 [link] The Utah Symphony\/Opera cut 11.5% of of their benefits plus Keith Lockhart takes 10% pay reduction. [link] The Atlanta Symphony musicians have reopened their previously negotiated CBA (which ran through 2011) and will be taking an 8.8% pay cut by the end of 2011 (the first drop\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"scissors","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/scissors-400x221.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}