A little feel-good distraction to deal with your election anxiety

Ok, we voted, great! Now what? We wait. It ain’t over ‘til it’s over, so here’s a little distraction while you wait!

When I was a student my dream was to play in a string quartet. String quartets were the basis of some of my most powerful, formative musical experiences, both as a performer and as an audience member. Since then, however, I’ve also had my share of frustrating, less than ideal experiences playing in quartets, and have accepted that my life has taken a different direction and I have found many other satisfying musical outlets. And that's fine.

The past few days, surprisingly, were FULL of quartet bliss! 

On Friday and Saturday, I joined my Concordia Conservatory colleagues to play in the quartet for Rami Vamos’ educational show for neurodivergent audiences, “Time for Music.” We performed 5 times, for special education middle school students, for adult audiences with high support needs, and their caregivers, and in the children's room of the public library in New Canaan. The show was funny, thoughtful, informative, and at times very moving. 

And then on Sunday, I played some of my favorite quartets (Britten, Schubert, Jessie Montgomery) with friends from the Hudson Valley Symphony Orchestra. Usually the 4 of us are just hiding in the string section, so it was really nice to have this opportunity to play together and really hear each other in this way. It was also inspiring to feel the energy and support for our orchestra, which, after our former management did its best to destroy the orchestra, has been reborn as an independent organization.

This coming Sunday Kyle and I will play our recital “For The Beauty Of the Earth” in beautiful Hillsdale, NY. Of course we would love to see you there! I imagine the results of this election will affect our experience of the concert on Sunday somewhat, but regardless of who’s in office for the next 4 years, our connection to and responsibility for our beautiful, fragile planet continues.