Ugh, it’s that late-night-getting-ready-to-leave-for-a-few-days-at-a-festival madness, and as usual, I’m not at all keen about leaving home. It’s always difficult to maintain any sort of practicing routine when you’re away from home. You might not have any privacy, or won’t want to disturb your hosts, or you just might be too tired. Or all of the above.
We’re off to the first weekend of the Astoria Festival, which should be plenty interesting if you want to head out to one of the most picturesque of Oregon coastal towns. Check out the full schedule here.
This first weekend (Friday-Sunday) is a mixed bag of goodies. Friday night is Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4 “Italian” followed cleverly by highlights from Verdi’s La Traviata, with baritone Richard Zeller, soprano Emily Pulley (MET opera), and tenor Mark Panuccio (Chicago Lyric Opera) singing the major roles. At rehearsals they have sounded amazing! Saturday night features Tchaikovsky Competition gold medal winner Sergey Antonov playing Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations followed by Beethoven’s mighty Ninth Symphony. Sunday afternoon features the Astoria Festival Chamber Players, performing a variety of works, including the Arensky Quartet No. 2 for violin, viola and two cellos, played by Inès Voglar, violin; Joël Belgique, viola; and Dorothy Lewis and Heather Blackburn, cellos.