KAIA

Entry #2:  5.14.13

Howdy from Utah! For those of you who are familiar with our Quartet’s travels, this is the second time we are here in Utah since last year! (just passing through this time)   The sky is blue, the cattle roam free, mountains are green with lush trees, rock is red with iron and our windshield is speckled with an array of brightly colored bug life. Sigh… nature’s artwork at its best.

Currently, we are about 97 miles away from reaching Las Vegas.  It’s too bad that we are on a tight time schedule, no stopping for the casinos. I was hoping that if we had some spare time, we could set up the quartet on the streets of Vegas and play for some spare change!  We could probably use it, honestly…

We left Grand Junction, CO at 4:00am and expect to arrive in Carlsbad (San Diego) CA around 4:30pm California time. We plan to rehearse once we get there and then probably crash!  Our first concert of the trip is tomorrow noon at the Encinitas Library Concert Series.  We will be playing Haydn quartet Op. 76 No. 1, Orbón quartet no. 1 and the Debussy quartet.  Our second concert of the trip will be tomorrow night!  Yup, two concerts in one day!  We will be playing a soirée concert for our hosts in Carlsbad.  Special shout out to Valerie and Alex Rubins for making our pre-Mexico tour possible!  Beautiful people indeed. 

About 6 more hours on the road…  Enjoy the pictures!  

Cheers,

Naomi

Entry #1:  5.13.13

Hola from Colorado! The weather and scenery are just gorgeous out here: snow capped mountains, singing hills, glistening lakes and billy goats!  We had a pleasant stop over just outside of Denver in the little town of Golden, CO where we partook of the country’s greatest sandwich shop, according to Ryan.  It was pretty delicious.  My brother, Daniel, met up with us for a short but delightful rendezvous.  On the way here through Iowa, we came across the “World’s largest truck stop” which, um,  I imagine runs along the same convincing lines as the “World’s greatest cup of coffee”…

We are on our way now to Grand Junction, CO to spend the night with Ryan’s sister, Stacy.  For those of you who don’t know this yet, Ryan is our 5th wheel on the trip, a good 5th wheel!  We are super grateful to have him with us! He is along to document our entire trip with still pictures and film- the good times as well as the bad.  It should make an interesting souvenir to return with!  Hopefully we can make short clips of our teaching/ performing/ sight seeing extravaganzas to share with you along the way.  Stay tuned!  

Besos,

Naomi

I though I posted that last entry after composing it, when indeed I forgot to hit publish. So sorry about that!  

Here are more random photos from this past week.  Some photos from the trip to Bridal Veil Falls, Sundance, the farewell pool party and around town.  If you click on a photo you can scroll through them to read brief captions.  The photos are too random to organize efficiently. Enjoy!

More to come…  I will make up for my skimpiness. I promise.

Quick update:

Yesterday afternoon was our final performance.  For the shortest amount of time we have EVER been given to prepare full repertoire, it was a success!  Warm crowd, feeling high energy, standing ovation.  Our performance of Andrés Martínez de Velasco’s piece was a world premier.  Closing with Shostakovich’s Quartet No. 9 was a good choice.  The Muir Quartet was in the audience and seemed quite proud to congratulate us after the concert.  It was definitely an inspiring moment for us to propel forward into these next coming years together.  

The after (pool) party was a blast!  I will have more pictures from that event to post soon.  Hopefully.  We were able to conjure up a delicious chilled rice, lentil and black bean salad from all the leftovers we could find around our condo.  It was a hit!  Well, at least, people ate it.  Mario cooked a pesto pasta dish complete with garlicky garlic bread while the rest of us sloths drank some wine, beer and champagne and snacked on olives and avocado salad.  Some time after dinner we all congregated on the pool patio, (some of us actually went into the pool) to break as many pool rules as we could including running along side the pool, being intoxicated while occupying the hot tub and drinking from glass wear on pool grounds… No worries. Joan Tower was chaperoning. 

Later, farewells were reluctantly exchanged.  Unfortunately, Mike was the only Muir Quartet member that could not make the party. We said our goodbyes earlier on.  Joan and Vicky were discussing our interest in playing one of her quartets!  Roni had a couple guests come in from Colorado to visit and took them out on the Main street town.  Late night packing was fun as usual…

For a brief current update:  Vicky is excited to see her car, her dog, her boyfriend and the Starbucks walking distance from her apartment.  Oana gets to see her two baby boys today after three weeks.  Roni is excited about organizing her life at home back in Chicago. Tyler and I are on our way out to Portland, OR for more hiking and a nice camping trip.  

Stay tuned for more photos!! 

It seems I have dropped the ball on updating Tumblr. I apologize!! To make up for this, here is a nice long collage of photos from the past few days.  Many of them are of the epic Mt. Timpanogos climb last Sunday.  About 20 miles, 11,780 ft. above sea level at the summit, 9 hour hike. Majestic scenery, mountain goats, meadows of wild flowers, waterfalls, a glacier fed lake at 10,000 ft…  And then, there was a snowpack of death, loose rock beds, thousand foot cliff drops, and a “tight rope” walk across the ridge line to the summit.  It was quite the adventure.  Still can’t believe it happened.

Mike Reynolds, Steve Ansell, Hanna, my boyfriend Tyler as well as myself went on this hike.  Special shout out to Steve’s parents who made it to the 2nd waterfall- his Mother is 83 yrs old and Father is 90 yrs old!  Hikers for life. Incredible. 

The rest of the gang went with Peter Zazofsky on a fun water rafting adventure and then took a nice trip to Sundance.  I have no pictures from that yet, but I will post them once I do.

So much has happened this past week.  Lots of rehearsing, rehearsing and then more rehearsing.  It is crazy that the trip is almost over.  We had our last condo rehearsal a couple hours ago.  The run through was not perfect, which only means we will rock in tomorrow’s concert!  right?  We are more excited than anything.  The concert is being recorded, thankfully, and we will be receiving a copy to share with friends and family, if anyone is interested…

We will miss it here, but excited to return to our normal lives, back to reality.  We miss our homes, our family, friends, coffee shops down the street, walking distances…  I think we all miss our cars the most!  Grocery shopping has been such a pain in the butt!  In any case, it will be nice to come back to reality in lovely Chicago.  School is just around the corner!  We begin our graduate residency at Norther Illinois University at the end of this month.  I think we are going to be in great shape after this festival.  Already we have grown so much within these past three weeks, it is unimaginable how much we will grow in these next two years!  Looking forward to it! :)

Big concert of the festival tomorrow afternoon.  St. Lukes, Park City, UT, 1:00. Be there if you can!  ;)

Good night!

Naomi

p.s more pictures, other than mountains and myself, to come!

DAY 8

Night out on the town!

Intense day of rehearsal and coaching with Lucy Lin, second violinist of the Muir quartet.  Lucy was fabulous.  She was very involved in the coaching, instrument in hand, score in lap, willing to assist us in trying new things.  She claimed to really like our quartet sound and left us feeling very inspired and motivated.  Tomorrow is going to be a good day for “post-coaching-reflection”. I just made that phrase up, but it is as it says.  Lucy evoked many ideas that we are excited to explore and run with.  I am looking forward to it!

Hours of intellectual musical stimulation can fry one’s brains, as it did ours.  A night “on the town”, better simply known as Main Street, was much needed. We headed out as soon as Vicky finished baking her delicious home made spinach pie for dinner. For some time, we thought we might not be able to leave the house at all because of a rain storm that quickly swept in.  Thankfully it left as quickly as it came.  The girls found some beautiful jewelry- rings and earings of turquoise and other precious stones.  I found a nice pair of comfy leather sandals.  Cute, comfortable, leather, not “dirty hippy” and reasonably priced.  We are all very happy.

To top that all off, we headed further up Main Street for a little ice cream before we headed home.  Just caught the bus and then a nice Filipino man who picked us up from the bus stop to take us the rest of the way.  Nice little town full of nice little people.  

Tomorrow, Oana gets to meet Steve Ansell- violist of the Muir Quartet.  This could be either really great, or just horrific.  We will see and definitely keep you posted! ;)

Gute Nacht!

Naomi

DAY 7

Mike, Hannah, Roni and myself conquered White Pine Trail this morning at Little Cottonwood Canyon. 8.4 mile hike, 9,500 ft above sea level up to White Pine lake, 4.5 hrs.  Wildflowers everywhere!  California thistle, Indian paintbrush, corn flowers, prairie aster…  So picturesque. Every direction you turn looks like a perfect postcard photo.  Early in the hike we spotted a lady moose, not too far from the trail.  The picture posted above looks more like a sasquatchesque blob, but moose are indeed prevailing inhabitants of these mountains.  This is already the second moose we have spotted since we arrived.

Oana and Vicky went to explore the trail head near our condo, “Snow Top Trail”, that Roni and I hiked yesterday.  They seemed to have found a very different route up from what we walked.  It will be fun to explore again one of these mornings!

We had a cook out tonight at the Aiana quartet’s place.  Mario did all of the cooking at the grill.  Vicky made a delicious potato salad, Rosie made a delicious green salad, there was corn on the cob, steak, veggie dogs ;), colorful veggie skewers and milano cookies for dessert.  Quite the spread.  And of course, always great conversation.  Today’s main topic, initiated by Mike as usual, was “past life regression therapy”.  Interesting stuff. Really gets the gears turning in your head.

Rain and thunder storm outside right now, and yet I still hear the neighbors’ yard sprinklers… hm.  Currently experiencing quite the food baby from that amazing cook out.  Time to sleep it off.

Bon nuit!

Naomi

DAY 6-7

Our performance in the Masterclass yesterday went well.  It was wonderful to finally hear the Aiana Quartet in person.  They sound great, so unified and blended.  They were also very supportive of our quartet.  Not a common quality found in this undeniably competitive chamber music world of ours.  

The Masterclass was followed by a spaghetti and wine dinner at our condo with both Kaia and Aiana quartets, Mike Reynolds and Peter Zazofsky. Mike cooked!  Very good, very heavy, but very good. Lots of garlic!  Lots and lots and lots of wine…  It was a fun time of never ending joke telling around the dining table.  Mike is a library of jokes, the long story-telling kinds that keep you captivated for minutes until the punch line.  Vicky and Roni had a few impressive ones up their sleeve. My girls are funny.  Mario, violist of Aiana Quartet, was also a funny one.  Oh dear. So funny.  

Today, Roni and I found a trail head near our place.  We took the hike in the early afternoon.  At the top of the mountain, we could see clearly so far out over our village and the surrounding villages.  The lakes were still as glass and reflective of everything around them.  As we headed back down, it began to trinkle chilled droplets which felt amazing in the heat. We made it home just in time before it poured.  It rained for about 30-40 minutes, unfortunately.  They say it never, usually, rains here for more than an hour!  It is incredible how this land manages to stay so green with little rain and such  dryness in the air.  

Three dogs wandered on into our condo today.  Two of which ran ahead of their owners who eventually caught up to them.  We adopted the third dog, named Rufus, for a good hour of the day!  Super cute cocker spaniel.  Looked like a stuffed teddy with his fluffy paws and big brown eyes.  Rufus wandered in during the rain fall looking scared and lost.  We called the number on his collar only to find out his home was right across from ours!  His owner, a sweet lady named Gail, presumed that he escaped through a trap door while she was away.  Poor, cute-as-a-button, stinky, wet dog Rufus.  He came to our sliding door another 4 times this evening!  Sweet thing.

Bigger hike tomorrow morning. Alpine Trail!  It’s going to be a doozy.  Looking forward to it.  We needed to cancel our lady’s night out on the town in order to squeeze in some personal practice time and to allow for ample rest tonight.  It will be much needed.  

Arrivederci!

Naomi

DAY 4-5

The early morning skies here are always filled with gorgeous hot air balloons with their vibrant colors and tantalizing prints.  Every morning I look up, I hear the theme song from “Up” play in my head.  It’s heart warming.

Last night, the administrative staff of Deer Valley’s festival took us out for a nice welcome dinner.  They seemed just as excited as we are to be here, probably more!  It was encouraging to meet the hands behind the whole operation and to hear from their own lips how much this whole program truly means to them.  The educational aspect as well as the performance aspect.  Dinner was delicious.  It was a nice moment for us Kaia girls to finally doll ourselves up for a night.  We have been looking pretty scruffy, or should I say, comfortable casual?  

After dinner, we attended a concert by the Utah Symphony with soloist Sean Lee.  The concert theme was “Mythic Romance”.  Nice concept. Program included works by Mozart, Wagner, De Falla, Schubert and a couple of my favorites: Dvorak’s Romance for violin and orchestra and Zigeunerweisen by Sarasate. I know. I am a violinist. 

Today we mustered up the courage to “hike” on over to Whole Foods.  It took about four hours of our day.  Pretty unbelievable, we some how managed to just miss every bus and transfer by minutes.  BUT, it was worth it. Dinner was a delicious home cooked meal (I cooked!) as we shall intend for the next long while.  I just recently introduced the girls to the delicious phenomenon that is tofurky sausage, they are hooked! 

Masterclass tomorrow!  We feel pretty prepared although we feel the need for much rehearsal first thing tomorrow morning to make up for the time stolen from us today.  Beethoven, Beethoven, Beethoven. We will let you know how it goes.

Bon soir!

Naomi

P.s. Just a note: Anything highlighted in bold print is a link!  Click and explore!

DAY 3

Today we conquered the mountain at Silver Lake!  It was a a good challenge to take on for our 3rd day here considering the HIGH altitude adjustments.  The air was thin but crisp and clean and the views were just gorgeous.  Looking down from the peak of the mountain, the lake in the valley glistens silver! What a sight.  The Aiana Quartet joined us for the hike.  We just met the entire quartet today.  Nice group!  Looking forward to hearing them perform in the master class on Friday.

Our morning hike was followed by a very informative lecture on “Quartet as a Business” by Mike Reynolds, accompanied by Peter Zazofsky.  We left feeling incredibly inspired and incredibly hungry…  Perhaps it was a bit of a scheduling error to have the lecture immediately follow a mountain hike?  In any case, the Muir Quartet shared freely their endless advice, pros, cons, successes and even the few failures.  We are so fortunate to have amazing mentors who have such faith in us.  After all, Mike Reynolds did say we have numerous marketable qualities! ;)

We survived two coachings later today from both Mike and Peter, several hours of rehearsal and personal practice time.  Another eventful day!  Now for a glass of wine, some nail polish and a good chick flick.  The girls are waiting for me!

Love, Naomi

DAY 2

Very satisfying day.  We got so much done in spite of a bit of altitude sickness…  This morning I went for a run and lost my voice from the thin air (I’m assuming that was the cause), Vicky woke up for an early practice session, Oana did some hip hop abs and Roni took care of some bills.  We rehearsed plenty throughout the day and are super excited about our first coaching tomorrow afternoon with Mike Reynolds, cellist of the Muir Quartet.  

This afternoon the girls did their pilates, while I ate some avocado toast. Roni did some kung fu out on the deck.  We are pretty disciplined for being so far away from the real world.  We will see how long this lasts.

Early evening we went out on the town.  Visited tons of beautiful little shops, almost got  trampled by a Softball Parade?, met a waitress who dissed everything on the menu at the restaurant she served and a waiter who once lived in Uruguay!  He came to Utah for the snowboarding and never left.  We then brought back a couple bottles of wine and enjoyed them while relaxing in the hot tub. Yea, life is really tough out here.  

Off to bed!  We have a hike first thing in the morning, a lecture on Quartet as a business and then a coaching!  

Till tomorrow,

Naomi

p.s. you can click on the pictures to enlarge them!