I'm back!

My dear readers, I am so sorry for the long delay. You can be assured that the lack of blog posts has been due to the fact that I've been real busy-and having a great time!! Here is a photo-blog of the past few weeks:


July 16, 2010
Chamber Orchestra Concert with Julia Fischer, violin
Khachaturian Violin Concerto
Brahms 4



July 17, 2010
Komen 5k Race for the Cure



July 17, 2010
Music on the Mountain
Trombone Octet & Quartet Concert



July 20, 2010
American Lake


The next few photos are from our hike to Electric Pass on July 22. Russ and I started hiking at 6am. We summitted around 9am, but not before we ran into cold wind and rain, severe enough to make us both consider turning around early. But we persevered and made it to the top of the pass. I was so happy we did!








At the top!


Russ and I


And then Bill arrived! Even though he was acclimating, he let me take him hiking every day that he was here!

On Sunday July 25 we went to the Grottos Day Use Area, which had a bunch of trails, rock formations, and a creek throughout. Also, ice caves!



The water was a little cold for feet-dipping, but we did it anyway

On Monday we visited the Maroon Bells, a very popular spot for a nice day hike. We ran into a lot of people there!


On Tuesday we explored Hunter Creek/Smuggler Mountain area. This hike a was more flat than the others and we got to soak in the nice meadows and quiet forest, as it wasn't nearly as heavily-traveled by tourists.


And on his last day here, Bill decided he was up to climbing Mount Aspen! I had already done this one, so I knew what he was in for. It is an ascent of about 3,000 ft in a relatively short trail. He wanted to know what we were all talking about when we mentioned the Ute trail, so we started there:


Bill on top of the Ute


And then we continued all the way to the top! We maintained a steady and practical pace, took water breaks, and wore sunscreen. It was really rewarding to get to the top with Bill. Plus we avoided spending the $48 to ride the gondola up!

From the Top of Aspen Mountain, July 28

Then we rode the gondola down, ate at NY Pizza AND Paradise Bakery, and went home to take a nap! Later that night I played on an Eric Nathan piece at the beginning of an orchestra concert. We went to Little Annie's for dinner with a few low brass kids, and came back to Harris Hall to hear the American Brass Quintet give a concert. I was really glad that we got to hear that concert because it was fantastic!!! Bill really enjoyed it too.

Yesterday we drove to Denver to catch Bill's flight. Since we knew it was going to be a long driving day, we planned a few fun stops in Denver: the Tattered Cover Book Store and the REI flagship store! We both had our respective fun at each place. I LOVED the REI store. I wanted to buy one of everything!

I said goodbye to Bill :( and got back to Aspen around 10:30 last night. Now I have 3 more weeks to climb, play, practice, and run! I'm really excited for Chris Dudley (principal trombone with Baltimore) to get here so I can study with him and play in orchestra with him on the Respighi concert!

Aspen Mountain

I went on a really great early hike this morning! I was limited since I had to work in the office at 11am, and luckily I found a few friends who didn't mind getting up early! I woke up at 6, left Marolt at 6:30 and we were hiking by 6:55. Ironically, we took the route that starts with the Ute Trail, so it was a hard climb from the beginning! I was carrying about 5 bottles of water since Russ's backpack broke, so I felt slower than normal. We got up the Ute in about 40 minutes, took a breather and then continued up the trail.

Top of the Ute


We saw a lot of skiing signs, trail and lifts. It's clearly a mountain made for skiing!

We were climbing altitude fast, and soon we could see a large part of the surrounding mountains, including Independence Pass.


It always looked like we were *almost* there since you couldn't see the top of the Gondola until you got to the top. Oh, the Gondola is a fancy ski lift that people have to pay to ride up the mountain.
BUT if you hike up the mountain, you don't have to pay to go down! This quickly became our plan as we got more tired ascending the mountain...and as the time crept closer to 9:30.

We got a full hour to soak in the sights at the top of the mountain, which became a full 360-degree view of the surrounding mountains. It was GLORIOUS!



Since tourists and other wealthy people ride to the top all the time, there was a really nice restaurant and cash bar up there, complete with nice restrooms and water fountains--a rare thing to have at the top of a mountain:) We rode the Gondola down (which is really strange-to put in 2 hours of solid hiking and then get back into town in only 15 minutes!), walked to our car, got a breakfast burrito from Johnny Macguire's, and got back to Marolt by 10:50. I took a REAL quick shower and got to the office just in time for my shift. And here I am now, in the office!

The Gondola Ride:


This week I am playing Brahms 4 with the Chamber Symphony. I'm really looking forward to it because it's a really good group! Also I have performed Brahms 1-3, and this will complete my cycle.

I'm running a Komen 5k Race for the Cure on Saturday morning in Aspen! If you'd like to sponsor me (literally a few bucks would be great!), go to my fundraising page!

http://events.komenaspen.org/site/TR/Race/General?px=1006208&pg=personal&fr_id=1030

I have a modest goal of $30. Chip in if you can! It's for a great cause!

Update: Since I have such generous friends and family, I have raised my goal twice: first to $50 and now to $100. Thank you for all of your support!

Plugging Along

This morning marked my fourth ascent up the Ute Trail! We're not racing up the mountain or anything, but our time was the quickest yet today: 35 minutes. It's a really good workout, mostly for my lungs apparently, because I'm not sore afterward. Running, on the other hand, has been really rough. I just cannot catch my breath, even for a 30 minute run. I guess I will have to work my way up to it. I'll try again tomorrow morning.

So far, I'd say I am on track with my goals for the summer. I'm practicing a lot every day, playing lots of different types of music with various groups, and getting better at the trombone! Plus I am biking, hiking, or running almost every day! The cool thing about being at Aspen is I don't have to make myself do any of those things. The program is designed so I have multiple musical outlets, and I am surrounded by great players and great teachers all the time. Plus when you look out the door and see Aspen Mountain, how could you resist climbing it? :)

Last night a combination of luck and persistence got me a free ticket to see Gil Shaham and Lynn Harrell play Brahms! It was a "special event" in Harris Hall, which means that since the hall is pretty small, they don't open it up to students. If I wanted to go, I would have to buy a ticket for $65 or wait in line before the concert and hope that the box office would give me a leftover ticket. My friends who worked box office hooked me up and gave me a ticket just before the show started. It was fantastic! Gil played the violin sonata no. 2 and Lynn played the cello sonata no. 2, then they played a piano trio together. All Brahms, all written in 1886. Here is a bit about Gil from www.pittsburghsymphony.org:

Violinist Gil Shaham is internationally recognized by audiences and critics alike as one of today’s most virtuosic and engaging classical artists. He is sought after throughout the world for concerto appearances with celebrated orchestras and conductors, as well as for recital and ensemble appearances on the great concert stages and at the most prestigious festivals.

Mr. Shaham’s 2006-07 season highlights include appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony, Houston Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, and U.S. tours with both the Chicago Symphony and Orpheus. In addition to recital tours in Europe and Japan he will appear abroad with the orchestras of Berlin, Copenhagen and Moscow, and with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra as part of their 70th Anniversary concerts.

Mr. Shaham was born in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, in 1971. He moved with his parents to Israel where at the age of 7 he began violin studies with Samuel Bernstein of the Rubin Academy of Music and granted annual scholarships by the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. In 1981, while studying with Haim Taub in Jerusalem, he made debuts with the Jerusalem Symphony and the Israel Philharmonic. That same year he began his studies with Dorothy DeLay and Jens Ellerman at Aspen. In 1982, after taking first prize in Israel’s Claremont Competition, he became a scholarship student at Juilliard, where he has worked with Ms. DeLay and Hyo Kang. He has also studied at Columbia University.

I actually omitted about 3 paragraphs from his bio since it's so long...there's much more online about him, especially on Youtube. There's a lot online about Lynn Harrell too. It was cool/weird to be part of the exclusive crowd that had subscription tickets to the concert. Everybody is so wealthy! It's an older, retired crowd with lots of money in their pockets. I'm not used to it! I'm accustomed to lots and lots of poor college students occupying every concert hall and restaurant that I'm in. If it weren't for the people of Aspen, this festival wouldn't be possible, so I'm really glad that they support the music as much as they do!

I've been working parking crew every few days, and I am looking forward to my first paycheck tomorrow! Once I cash the check, I'll be able to go out without feeling the guilt of using my credit card. Can't wait!

Lessons with Per are going really well. I'm learning a lot.

Week 1, complete

Wow, what a busy week! The Aspen Music Festival has a LOT of stuff going on all the time--it's amazing! There are concerts everyday, many of them with world class conductors and/or performers. I played in the 4th of July band this weekend. It's a free concert for the community, so the crowd was huge, and very excited to celebrate their country! They were literally cheering on their feet at least three times during the concert! (We played a bunch of marches and other patriotic tunes.) We only had two rehearsals, which was nice. This week I am playing in the Contemporary Ensemble. We are playing "Khorovod" by Julian Anderson, performance at 4:30 on Saturday. It's a tricky part.

I got placed in a brass trio with two great musicians; Xavier on horn and Rachel on trumpet. Our coach is Kevin Cobb and we have coachings every Saturday. I think it will be a fun group! We have trios picked out by Beethoven, Nelhybel, and Sanders. We will play a fanfare at intermission on one of the Festival Orchestra concerts, and perform on the "Brass Bash" later in July.

Also taking Warren Deck's section master class, which has already proven to be fantastic! He will coach us on low brass section excerpts from the orchestral repertoire every week. This week I am playing 1st on Bruckner 8.

Apparently Bill Clinton was at the Festival Orchestra Concert last night! I didn't see him, but there was a sighting.

Happy Birthday, Bill!
(Kloppenburg, not Clinton)

Recent hikes

We went on two great hikes this week. The first (Tuesday) was called "Difficult Trail" (although not that difficult). It followed Difficult Creek, and started on Difficult Lane (not making this up).





JJ, Bryan, Russ and Xavier, my hiking buddies!


Lots of pretty flowers on this trail...



This morning Bryan and I went up the Ute again--38 minutes! Next time will be even quicker. I'm glad I brought my camera, because we saw a rainbow at the top!



Downtown Aspen (above and below)




Can you see the rainbow?





Clearly, I wasn't the photographer here...just imagine my eyes open, and the picture is complete:) (I <3 Ithaca!)