Getting the gang back together
When Charles, Jake, and I parted ways after two years in Sweden we waved goodbye and said "see you later!" (and I may have cried a little...) The future of Ensemble Evolution was unclear, but a few things were apparent - two years living in the middle-of-nowhere Sweden produces a lot of inside jokes, and the musical connection we formed could not go untouched for too long.
Thank goodness for Skype!
Over the past year and a half we have all kept in touch as we root ourselves in separate parts of the world. Charles is working on his PhD in Australia (and also married Chrissy!), Jake now has about 100 students in Dallas (and two adorable dogs), and I'm doing my thing here in Boston. When we received the invitation to play and present at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) this year, I literally jumped out of my seat (well, I actually jumped/stumbled off of my yoga ball....so much better than a desk chair!) This opportunity meant two things - 1) our artistic endeavors were being recognized by other percussionists and 2) this was the PERFECT excuse to get the entire gang back together!
Since I'm the "type A" member of the group (ha!), and since Boston is closer to Indianapolis than Canberra or Dallas, I took the lead for creating our pre-PASIC endeavors. It's been a journey in itself working out the logistics, but every second has been worth it!
The schedule:
10/19 & 10/20 - Angela comes up to Boston to rehearse! Adding her clarinet melodies was the best decision we made for our "Sounds from the Treetops" set!
11/4 - Jake and Charles arrive in Boston! Time to gather the gear (shout out to the Boston Percussion Group dudes for helping us out!) We'll actually be rehearsing IN MY HOUSE. yup - I live in a huge apartment in Jamaica Plain and my neighbors don't mind the "noise"!
11/7 - House concert through the awesome organization Groupmuse. How awesome will that be?! Sign up, bring a beer!
11/8 - First day of our residency at the Arnold Arboretum. We'll be rehearsing and work-shopping a new piece inspired by the landscape of the space. During the performance, the piece will be accompanied by photos by the talented Adam DeTour.
11/9 - "Sounds from the Treetops" performance at the Arnold Arboretum - accompanied by videos from the Treehotel! Come one, come all! It'll be a great night of music in JP! (Purchase tickets here)
11/10 - Family workshop at the Arboretum. We'll teach some kiddies to make music, led by Angela Shankar. (Purchase tickets here)
11/14 - Performance at the convention! Noon, Sagamore Ballroom! WOO!!! Hope to see all of my percussionist friends in the audience! Thanks to Yamaha, Zildjian, and Grover for sponsoring the event!
11/15 - My presentation entitled "Entrepreneurial Skills for the 21st Century Percussionist" at 11am!
Simply chatting with Charles, Jake, and Angela in prep for this tour has reminded me how lucky we are to do what we do, with such great friends, colleagues, and humans. Gears are already turning to create the next project...
Poster by Eva Heinstein // Photo by Adam DeTour
