He asked me how I was doing at the festival and we talked about that for a while and then I realized I had been talking for awhile so I asked him about a concert he had done earlier in the day. It turns out he went to *listen to* a concert, which is kinda crazy, pre-bomb he never had time to do that kind of thing. It turns out he is doing lots of bluegrass music and is doing a solo concert next monday in new york of bluegrass and bach and maybe some bob dylan!!
We looked for a restaurant and I let him pick which one (huge 180) and he chose an indonesian place. We were there for maybe an hour and half, and then left when it closed at 10.
So... I can't remember everything, so I"ll just share some nuggets of what happened during dinner...
We talked a lot about all the bluegrass stuff he is learning and I was very excited and validational. I told him that it's like he is going through a portal to a different musical language, but on his own instrument. I didn't say this, but I think it's really interesting that he is exploring folk music and carving out an identity for himself that has nothing to do with his string quartet. I like that!!!
He described his summer plans, which included getting ready to do this solo bluegrass concert next week, and then going to california in august to see his family and maybe do some bluegrass performances out there. It sounded like he didn't have any big plans so I asked him if he was going to be in NYC for most of the summer and he said wed after next he was leaving for 6 weeks to be a camp counselor at this music camp he was at last summer with *2* members of his string quartet. I asked, Is your group still together? And then he said, "Wow, I didn't tell you"?
The first violinist left in january and they are searching for a replacement. It looks like the violinist S left b's group in order to join another quartet (which looks really bad, professionally) but b thinks it is actually for different reasons. He hinted, like maybe he wanted to elaborate, but I wasn't sure if I should pry, so I just kept letting him talk. Because S left, B's group couldn't go to aspen's quartet program which is a huge deal. *BUT* S came back just to do the Juilliard String Quartet workshop a couple weeks ago, and the Juilliard guys strongly encouraged B's group to apply for a really prestigious 2 year residency with stipends and rehearsal space adn coaching from Juilliard. They thought they found a replacement violinist who was so perfect, but when she heard about the juilliard residency she told them she couldnt' deal with the commitment, so they are still searching for a replacement and not sure what will happen. (I am not surprised that there were shakeups in B's professional life not and not just his R with me, but I'm sad that violinist S left b/c he was my favorite member other than B.) It is nice to hear they are thinking about trying to stay in new york instead of going to some godforsaken place, and that they are being offered, even informally, such great opportunities! I am not sure I was sufficiently sympathetic about them losing their first violinist. Honestly I feel like B deserves better AND I feel so threatened by the group I wish that they would dissolve and he would find better opportunities elsewhere. I almost feel like the group is the OW or something.
Also, B's 2-3 remaining friends in Boston are either leaving or planning to leave, so he is not sure if he'll still play in the orchestra in Maine if he doesn't have a place to crash halfway there.
He asked me about my summer plans and I told him I was going to be in NYC for a little bit after lyricafest and his face lit up and he said, 'really, when?" and I was super vague, like, "I duno, maybe a couple days or a week or something" (this was before he told me his more specific plans). and then I told him I was going back to VA to spend time with my family, and how things were going much better with them. And then back to ATL for a month, and then up the east coast again for a cello boot camp, back to ATL, out to Iowa for a friend's wedding, and back in ATL. He was confused why I was going to Iowa for the wedding and I explaiend that's where said friend is from and told him I'd probalby just play some solo bach suites and he said, "What? No Dylan??" Which was sweet... a couple years ago I played at a friend's wedding & she requested that I play Dylan and I did a little arrangement with my cello & a harmonica. He told me he might be playing "don't look twice" at his concert next week and I joked about him trying to play the harmonica and the violin at the same time, how it probably wouldn't work with a harmonica holder but maybe he could get some special more Orthodic headgear-like harmonica holder and he laughed really hard.
He asked me about school, I told him (smiling) that it was crazy and I would be glad when it was over, and then explained how I'm still interested in going back to Boston to get another degree, but I'm pretty sure that Boston is not the place for me to fulfill my ultimate potential and I'm not sure where my "spot" is. We talked about how boston is a good place to learn, but not a good place to build, esp b/c there are so many music schools that the market is totally saturated and it is almost impossible to break into the "scene". B told me that he felt that NYC actually was easier to break into than Boston and it made me think (I didn't say this) that maybe I could live in NYC. (I've always thought it would be way too ruthless for me). I discussed the pros &cons of my plan to go to Longy School in boston for my degree, that I wasn't sure I would get a really good network from that school, and he agreed with me he wasn't sure either. I think I did a good job of being open about my concerns still in a confident way. And we talked about how I don't want to get a doctorate in performance, I just want to focus on raising my level... He congratulated me on having my fall recital already scheduled
