Music, Art, and Everything in Between

Asturias . . .  Hana Janatova on Piano and Michele Medina on Violin. Misky Merino videographer.

The culmination of all my work and vision! Rustikas Ephemerales was performed at Mudson with Amy Freitas, Emily Haygeman, and Katherine Alder. Violinists were Michele Medina and Sarah Glistos. The only other thing I would have done was make all the costumes, and perhaps hire a double so I could watch myself perform. Emily, Katherine, Amy, and I shared ideas for choreography. We split up the selected pieces, and magic happened, including friendships and more creations in the future.

Interpretation of selected Bartok duos performed by Michele Medina, Jon Kahananui and danced by Samuel Hansen.

The last time I wrote for my blog was after I returned from Honduras. Not only was Juticalpa, Honduras a learning experience that taught me that anything that you dream up can become a reality, but it was also breeding ground for the ideas that I have thought up, planned, executed, and still will execute in the future. Before I left, I had dreamed up a vision of performing a selection of Bartok's Violin Duos with 3-5 modern dancers who would improvise or loosely choreograph movement to the short pieces. Sam, a creative dancer enjoyed the idea and his response was simply "We would just need a space . . . " and I was impressed at the ease of his voice and the lack of limits he put on such a project. The other violinist and I coordinated with Sam and the performance came through but there were no other dancers like I had wanted. We all wore black (unplanned), but there was the promised recital of Bruch's Violin Concerto, a Ysaye violin sonata, and the Bartok Duos...

Last night (December 13, 2012) I played a unique house concert in Sugarhouse, Utah.  I play with  a group of musicians who play early music: medieval, renaissance, and baroque.  We even play Turkish music, and a few years ago we played Jarabe tapatio from Mexico.  This group appreciates all music! There are recorders, drums, bells. Most of the times Mary Amanda plays harp but she played keyboard tonight. A few of the musicians also sang songs, as did the audience!  Our program was the following: One of the fun parts of these concerts is that we wear Renaissance garb, most of it made by Mary Amanda or by the musicians (or a seamstress they know). I think I shall have to get back into sewing and sew myself a little tunic. If you think about it, Renaissance garb really does come in handy because one never knows when they will need it! One of the highlights of the concert was when Anna, Sidney, and I played Pachelbel's Canon in D. I haven...

Walking past La Casa de la Cultura on Saturday, April 21, 2012 was different than most Saturdays. Normally, it's closed. This time, it was open. Students and teachers from The Day-Star School were taking tickets at a table situated at the door. The main themes of the event were “The Divinity of Art and Music” and “I love Honduras!” A few students did works of art that were different, but had high quality and strong meaning. Once the patrons entered the building, they were greeted with a painting of a red and blue Guacamaya, the national bird of Honduras. Next to it a meticulously painted crying boy, a brown tree in a sunset of rose and gold, and a painting of the yellow Casa de la Cultura itself. All the paintings at the art exhibit were set up on wooden easels. Dioramas of Mayan pyramids were lined up on the center of the floor. One group of students created diorama which contained figures of clay primitive people and branches from live trees. Two eighth grade gir...