Welcome to my inaugural blog! Fun fact, I actually attended an inaugural ball in 2001 when I was a freshman in high school. It was a wild time. Here’s a picture of me singing a totally ability inappropriate song (On My Own from Les Mis) in front of like 500 people because I can’t turn down the chance to use a microphone. Stay tuned, that fact will be relevant later.

More along the lines of things I can actually do well, I was honored to participate in the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival again this year. I’ve been participating since 2018 and associate those weeks with some of the most fulfilling musical weeks of the year, especially recently. As you probably know I am primarily a soloist but always enjoy my moments in an orchestra. With SVBF I play piccolo and the range of orchestral music including piccolo has been impressive in these past few years: Leonard Bernstein, Franz Joseph Haydn, Florence Price, and Wynton Marsalis. SVBF is very intentional about diversity both in their programing and their musicians and is the flourishing, vibrant festival they are because of it.

I participated in the virtual Noon Chamber Concerts in 2021 and was eager to join with some of the excellent musicians this year. Firstly, a favorite of mine, the Mozart Flute Quartet in D Major. While it might sound like a group of four flutes, it is in fact a traditional string quartet (two violins, viola, cello) with the first violin replaced by the flute. It is a joyous good time of a piece and we had a blast. I was joined by the gentle, kind, wise Mark Taylor on violin; the superstar violist Celia Daggy, and the steady, grounded cellist Kelley Mikkelsen. We had such fun rehearsing, joking, and treacherously piling all of us and our instruments into my Prius to drive from rehearsal to performance. Particularly memorable about our performance was that there were some stand mishaps both before and after the first movement. Our piece runs a bit long for the suggested amount of time for the program, so I opted not to speak before the performance as I normally would at one of my own events. However when we needed a moment again between the first and second movement I couldn’t help it and stood up to address the audience. Firstly, this was a gorgeous and enthusiastic audience, eager for every moment of performance and generously listening and laughing as I filled the space. During my own events, of course, I’m happy to charm the audience with my shenanigans but was delighted to have the chance while hosted by SVBF. The full Asbury UMC church laughed as I joked about being grateful for a violinist who doesn’t mind sharing the spotlight with a flute player and about how Mozart may have hated the flute but knew flutists love a spotlight. Not only was it fun to have the chance to speak about a piece I love so much BUT the stage manager was absolutely on the spot handing me a microphone even though they were also dealing with the stands and this whole thing was improvised. What a moment! Audience members after the performance said it was “heaven” and shared how much they enjoyed the whole thing. What a joy!

The following day I went from Viennese School master Mozart to mid-Century British composer Madeleine Dring for her Trio for flute, oboe, and piano. What a total blast and honor to be joined by Stephen Key on oboe and Lise Keiter on piano. Together we explored the film-inspired music, bringing out the elegant melodic lines, juicy harmonies, and even the cartoonish moments of delight. Such a blast to perform!

Screenshot from a video so not the best quality but paints a great picture of the performance space!

That night, the orchestra played the Wynton Marsalis Violin Concerto with soloist Brenden Elliott - he’s an artist to watch, let me tell you. When I first saw the music I was unsure of how it would come together with just a few short rehearsals. Two things made me confident our performance would be worthy of this momentous piece: 1. the notes by the composer himself and 2. working with conductor Daniel Myssyk. Marsalis’s notes make it clear that he combined his genius-level knowledge of classical music and modern notation with this innate sense and feel for music as shown in his genre-altering position in the jazz world. His concerto paints the picture of a single night and yet, the entire history of Black people on this continent. Stomping feet represent marching ancestors, a gospel choir erupts complete with a jumping and stomping soloist, the blues smoothly slide over the audience, and finally everything ends with a Hootenanny. What a joy to learn and perform. But the joy to rehearse is thanks to Maestro Daniel Myssyk. My biggest fear as an orchestral musician, especially the never subtle piccolo, is that I will conspicuously miss an entrance and this piece was fraught with opportunities. But at the first moment of rehearsal, Maestro Myssyk proved that his knowledge of and comfort with the piece combined with insightful, supportive notes for the orchestra would create the perfect environment for all of the pieces to come together harmoniously (in every sense). Rehearsals were productive, joyful, and wisely spent which was reflected in the electric performance.

Cari on… the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival 2023