A Million Suns over Buffalo
Ok, so I’m way behind in blogging, AGAIN. As soon as I returned from Buffalo (via a last-minute flight to Chicago in order to drive from there to East Lansing with 2 Austrian parents in tow, but that’s a whole other story), I had to pack up everything from my house in Bowling Green to drive it all to Arkansas for summer storage, before heading to Austria for the summer. Of course, none of that explains why I’m in Austin, TX, at the moment (apartment hunting)…
So…quick recap: on Thurs., May 3rd, the Clarence High School Symphonic Band, Chorale, and Chamber Orchestra combined on the stage of Kleinhans Music Hall (I’m seeing Voltron-like images of giant musical robots) to perform A Million Suns at Midnight. It was a real pleasure to hear this piece again after 5 years, and I hope the musicians enjoyed learning and performing the piece. I had a great time in Clarence hanging with director Lou Vitello, who treated me to numerous fine meals (Buffalo has some surprisingly good places to eat, as well as the obligatory wings, of course!). The surprise feather in Lou’s hat is that he’s a part-time fashion model by night. Seriously, did you ever expect to hear someone is a band director/fashion model?!? Here we all are after a show at a Lounge in a Buffalo suburb:
And here’s the band, choir, and string orchestra at dress rehearsal at Kleinhans Music Hall (it’s hard to tell from this distance, but there are a lot of people on stage! Cool hall, too…):
Funtimes. I love this job.
THe concert was loads of fun. It was great to hear A Million Suns at Midnight again, along with Jim’s Sticks and Stones and Eric’s Cloudburst (almost a BCM concert!). The entire concert was great, and I want to give a big shout-out to Bill Eicher, the director of bands, as well as Lou Vitello, Tom Stroth, Brett Ransom, Andrea Runfola, and several other people whose names escape me (that’s what I get for waiting 3 weeks to write about the trip). You all have a great music program in Clarence – keep it going!
The rest of the time since then has involved a day trip to Ohio State to hear Rick Blatti rehearse the Symphonic Band on Alchemy, Mvt. III, which I believe they just performed last weekend, and then pack everything I own into a UHaul and drive 14 hours to Arkansas.
The first weekend of June I’m tentatively planning on going to Dallas for a recording session of “Radiant Joy” by Eugene Corporon and the Lone Star Wind Orchestra, and then off to Europe for the MidEurope Festival! More on that later…