various thoughts and comments

I have too many random thoughts too make a cogent post, but I'll just put them out there anyway. Friday night I went out with Kim, Shirley, and Julianne to the movies, and Denny's (surely there are more places open after 11 in Santa Monica, we just don't know where they are). We went to this really cool theater at the Montana Street shopping area. They were showing a double bill of Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries, both of which I have seen with Andy and loved. Julianne and Kim had rehearsal so we missed the Seventh Seal, but we did see Wild Strawberries! It was great to see it on the big screen. I love Gunnar & Ingrid. They were also in Winter Light, which I enjoyed, but not as much as Wild Strawberries or Through a Glass Darkly, which is my favorite so far. Still have to see The Silence. And as for current releases, I really want to see The Wind that Shakes the Barley, Pan's Labyrinth, and The Lives of Others. Any takers?

I read an interesting article in the New York Times; it does seem that women now have to prove they can have babies. Peggy Orenstein writes that "motherhood has been emphatically re-embraced, recast not only as an essential feminine right but also as a feminist one — to be claimed whether you are single or married, gay or straight, 25 or 59. Having children when we want them has become a symbol of our autonomy, more central to our concept of self than ever." Very true, I think. And the article provides incentive to eat more ice cream, which I did tonight with two Jonathans from debut :) It was delicious.

Meanwhile, I have to get ready for La Mer with Debut, a recital on May 1 (at the lovely Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Santa Monica), and another audition. I have no real summer plans, since the best thing I got was alternate for Sarasota. I might do an English horn seminar in July, but I need to find a job for the summer. Any ideas? It would be great if I could buy a gouger in fall. And I need to work on reeds so much, but I also need cane, eek! The hardest thing about playing English horn and oboe both a lot is having to make reeds for them. And I need GOOD reeds for both. My recital consists of the Bach little g minor sonata, the Honegger Concerto da Camera for flute and English horn with Kelly, Tomasi Evocations, and the Nielsen quintet. Wish me luck. And a good pianist/harpsichordist.

Well, I'm getting tired, but next entry I'd like to put in my two cents about diversity in orchestras, a topic that has surfaced in several music blogs lately and about which I have something to say.

PS Does anyone know a teacher of Vietnamese zither who lives near Santa Monica? The young woman who was helping me at the church asked me to inquire at SC for her, but I don't think we have anyone. I think it's way cool that she plays, though!