Farewell Summer!

 It has been a fantastic summer! One of the highlights has been teaching at Clearly Clarinet Camp where I returned to give masterclasses on orchestral excerpts and coach ensembles as the head of the Advanced Clearly Clarinet Academy. Our special guest for this year was Greg Raden with the Dallas Symphony and our students had such a wonderful time and learned so much. We ended up having about 50 students at the camp and 10 of them were selected to participate in the advanced division by audition. For our final recital, we played arrangements of orchestra excerpts from The Rite of Spring (I arranged this one!), Rhapsody in Blue, Beethoven Symphony No. 6, and Brahms Symphony No. 3. I can't wait to do this again for next year! 

Before that, I of course made my usual round of Patriotic Concerts for the 4th of July holiday. These are always fun and the outdoor events are a little hot here in Texas but worth it for the enthusiastic crowds! The patriotic accessories and flair made an appearance as usual because it is all part of the fun! 

I also made a trip to Italy for a few weeks this summer where we visited Venice, Florence, and Rome. The Opera House in Venice was absolutely gorgeous and I enjoyed looking at their Maria Callas memorabilia while I was there, her voice and beautiful phrasing inspire my playing so much. We also got to see Vivaldi's church, the Rome Opera House, and I found an adorable glass clarinet player figurine in Murano for my collection. Once I returned to the United States, I went directly to teach some All-State masterclasses which was a lot of fun despite the fact that I lost my voice a little during this trip! Speaking of which, I will be posting some All-State videos soon for both clarinet and bass clarinet. I am giving myself a little time to rest and fully regain my voice because taking care of yourself is always important! I also have some exciting masterclass appearances to announce soon so stay tuned!