A strange week

Last week was one of the strangest in a while. A week full of highs and lows.
Term 3 finally came to a close. On the long list of concerts for the rest of the year created during the middle of July, the list numbered about twenty concerts in the  next five months. Yes, that is an average of one a week. By the end of term three, about fifteen of them had been done. Disproportionate much?! It's been a busy few months, though mostly very good. And don't worry, I've managed to keep well out of trouble too!

The start of the holidays was marked by weddings. A couple of friends got married (separate weddings..), one at which I played at. I was a little nervous about this one, as it was only a three-piece band who hadn't played together on those instruments in a long time. But it all came together, which was wonderful. Another friend got married that morning elsewhere, but obviously attendance at one precluded me from attending the other. Facebook also told me that a couple of other friends also got married that weekend! Must have been a particularly great weekend to get married.

The Breakfast Club convened on Sunday morning at Chez Dre in South Melbourne, a new favourite place of mine. The Breakfast Club was formed at the beginning of this year over a conversation about how a friend and I love eating breakfast food and our decision to catch up and eat breakfast together. We meet probably about once every six to eight weeks. Most of us see each other at least intermittently, if not more regularly, but it is nice to have time to just sit and enjoy eating and catching up.

The start of the ANAM holidays signalled two weeks of hard work for me - a recital on the first day back was looming! A public masterclass with Angela Hewitt kicked off the holidays. It was held at Melbourne Uni, in Melba Hall, and heck, walking in there was pretty strange. Playing in there was even stranger! It was wierd after spending five years in there, being ready to leave, and then having to go back to something so familiar, and something to foreign, all at the same time! I played the Bach Four Duets for her, a piece I've been working on all year. And don't say Bach is easy. It's probably the most difficult thing to play! One is so exposed, and there are so many intricacies. Even those appear to be easy on the page, each piece being three pages long and 'only' two voices, the harmonies are complex - chromatic, and at times, dissonant. They are similar on concept to the Two-Part Inventions, but much more complex. If one takes a wrong turn, they might end up cutting out half of the piece, or going back to the beginning, making the whole process very arduous! These are pieces that one sits with for a long time, to process everything, to find different ways to do things, to come back to how one originally played them, with a whole journey behind them. Angela Hewitt had great feedback, lots of ideas and demonstrated how she plays the pieces; it was so obvious that she has such an affinity and love for Bach. What was more interesting for me, however, was that many of her ideas were very different, opposite in fact, to Nikolai Demidenko's ideas. Interesting. What to do?! I'm one of those people will absorb all the ideas and suggestions like a sponge, and then process them all, and figure out which ones I will take, which ones I discard. In the end, I had to decide how I wanted to play them, right? It's no use sounding like a mashed-up combination of many very different ideas and not to sound like me, is it?

The following night, I unfortunately missed Stephen Hough's concert (as well as Saturday night, which was a real pity - I was planning to go, but another opportunity presented itself. More about that later.). I won some tickets to see a screening of The National Theatre's "One Man, Two Guvnors". If you get the chance to see it (though limited screenings), you definitely should. It's based on the play 'Servant of Two Masters' (I think, or something that sounds very similar to that). Think British comedy with some over-the-top stereotypes. Fabulous acting, fantastic physical comedy and some really cool interaction with the audience too! It was an utterly hilarious evening with some great company.

On Wednesday night I went to see Matthias Goerne (baritone) and Eric Schneider (piano) perform Schubert's Die Winterreise. It was probably one of the most moving concerts I've been to. It was absolutely incredible. From both performers were so many extraordinary colours, such moving music. Truly extraodinary. It was also a highly appropriate day for it, as outside the weather had turned very wintery. In preparation for recitals, a couple of us piano students stayed late to practice the following night. During the week, the Melbourne International Festival of Brass had commandeered ANAM and there were very many concerts going on. That night was a concert presented by the Australian Brass Quintet, and our teacher was to be playing Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue in a new arrangement for piano and brass quintet. We watched that little bit and watched our teacher totally nail his part, though at times it was a struggle to hear him above the brass resounding for a very long time in the bathroom that is the Hall!

On Friday I had coffee with a school friend that I really haven't seen in almost seven years! She has just moved to Melbourne. It was great to catch up after all this time, reminisce a little, and see what was going on. I've said it several times, but it struck me again, that school was really good - we had plenty of opportunities but now is a different stage in life where things are different. I really enjoyed school while it lasted, and I was sad to leave, but growing up means things change for the better and worse. It is an interesting thought, is it not?

I managed to avoid the city for most of the Saturday, which was Grand Final Day. I have friends who are hardcore supporters of both teams that were in the final - I knew I was going to have friends who were ecstatic and devastated whatever the result. The evening, however, was a most exciting event - an Orchestra Victoria fundraiser dinner. Dame Elisabeth Murdoch actually had bought a few tables, and donated one of them to ANAM. Nine students and the Artistic Director were invited to attend this black-tie event. All a bit exciting. It was held at the Myer Mural Hall, which is on the top floor of the Myer building in the city; it's a swish venue, Art Deco style and usually not open for public access. Champagne and canapes greeted us upon entering. We swooned at the extravagance of the venue and I giggled with glee at how exciting the whole idea of me getting to go this sort of function was. I will admit that I may never get to go to something liek this ever again. Stephen Hough would unfortunately have to wait until his next tour. It was an extravagant affair. The Orchestra played a few numbers, there were gift bags at the tables for the women (some moisturising cream, a new product being launched at Myer), golf leaf on my dessert, Placido Domingo and Katherine Jenkins at dinner (unfortunately they didn't sing), David Hobson as the MC (we had a photo with him, to prove it), many who's-who in Melbourne in attendance. I feel like I should have been provided with a document in advance with photos and a little write-up about each person's claim to fame or what not. Like diplomat's aides have. It was a very enjoyable evening, free flowing drinks and great food, all with fabulous company. How funny.


Those were the highlights of the week. Quite extraodinary, let me point out. I don't usually lead such an extravagantly glamourous and exciting life. The lowlights were being hit over the head with sad news of tragic deaths of two young men - one I didn't know, the other I knew vaguely. Both were surprising, both were unexpected. Given that there had been quite a bit in the news about young children dying in tragic accidents, it was a pretty rough week of news. And one doesn't really ever expect that somebody they know is going to be around one day, the next day not. I suppose it gives us reason to be thankful for everything that we have every day, and to live life to its fullest and to have no regrets. As a friend once pointed out that it sucks for the people who are left behind. Yeah it does, but I suppose this faith is also one of great comfort and assuarance.