AKT and DSO

This past week has been a much more productive one than most for me. I finally got myself into a solid practice schedule (although if a part-time ever DOES gets back to me I'll have to re-work it), I applied for a gym membership (which I hope to actually use), and I attended a couple great performances this weekend! I hear too often that there is not enough "culture" in MI and more specifically in the "downriver" area where I live and this is so far from the truth.

I will admit that sometimes you really need to look hard for it, but if you do  you will find so many little gems and a few big 'ol rubies around the area I live. One of the "little gems" is a theatre company known as the AKT Theatre Project. My very good friend Angie Kane is the Artistic Director and owner of this wonderful little company and I am always pleasantly surprised at the quality of performance that her group is able to put forth knowing that many of her productions also include or are majority made up of students from high school through college. This past Friday I attended the "Turn of the Screw" which is a one act play based off the novel of the same name and is written for only two actors. It was great! The actors bios were extensive and the performances from both backed up everything they had to say about themselves within. Angie usually directs but as she just started work with the Purple Rose theatre she brought in her friend Adriane Galea who really knew how to use the unique theatre space to get the most out of the emotional content of the play. Overall I give it 4 stars and a job well done!  ****

Read a review of Turn of the Screw

Actors Bailey Boudreau and Rachel Dalton
Turn of the Screw, 2013

Last night I went to see the Detroit Symphony Orchestra perform a huge concert. The program; Overture to the Flying Dutchman - Wagner, Benjamin Britten's first Piano Concerto (soloist Benjamin Grosvernor), Oceanides - Sibelius and ending with the great La Mer - Claude Debussy. Teddy Abrahms tried to lead the orchestra through this great music but I must admit they seemed a bit lack luster under his baton during everything but the Piano Concerto which I had never heard before. I don't know a ton of Britten but the more I hear the more I love it! The concerto's first movement is something I cannot wait to get a good recording of! Sharon Sparrow soared during the first half as Principal Flute and really blew me away during the Britten (which had some exceptionally tricky sounding passages) and David Buck (newly appointed Principal Flute) sounded immaculate during La Mer. He has some especially soft passages that were so exquisite I will be surprised if they don't tenure him (if they haven't already). Jeff Zook always makes me smile when he gets the last piccolo say and he did not disappoint in the waltz movement of the piano concerto where he had the final flourish and he soured over the orchestra in the last movement of La Mer adding perfectly to the oceanic effect the orchestra was portraying.

Teddy Abrahms with soloist Benjamin Grosvenor after his performance of Benjamin Britten's First Piano Concerto this Saturday (10-26-13)

I'm so hopeful that now my audition hell is over for a few months that I can continue to really focus on living here now and seeing more great performances. There are so many other concerts coming up that I would like to attend and hope to see! Hopefully I also get called for a gig sometime soon (fingers crossed) and as my first official concert as Piccoloist with the Lansing Symphony comes nearer I am getting more and more excited to really start my job with them! After seeing Detroit last night my thirst for a full time orchestral position is re-vitalized and I can't wait for my next audition to come around. Bring it on!