The Kansas In Him

It's snowing hard here in Brooklyn.  I like that.

I spent the last week in Miami Beach, playing with the New World Symphony, America's Orchestral Academy.  It was sunny and 80 degrees just about every day, and I even went to the beach (more than once!). Also in Miami last week was the Super Bowl.  Hard to say which had a greater impact on the economy of Miami Beach: me, eating out 3 meals a day, or the Super Bowl, hosting thousands of obnoxious Saints fans screaming "WHO DAT?!?!" every five minutes.  I don't know who "dat" is, but I guess they didn't find out either, since they never stopped yelling.

The NWS program was Berlioz Op. 3 Overture to "les Franc-juges," John Adams Violin Concerto, and Stravinsky's ballet Petroushka. Conducting was Ludovic Morlot, a young little frenchman who reveled in the overt frenchiness of the program: bustling Petrouchka, and an entirely forgettable Berlioz Overture.  Oh yeah, and that violin concerto.

The overture was at least fun to play; what it lacks in melodic content and his later feats of clever instrumentation it makes up for in it's honesty.  Even though it's bad Berlioz, it's still Berlioz.  Energetic, bouncy and full of life.  One week was enough of that piece.  Glad i'm not part of the unfortunate Opera Company who will undoubtedly uncover the manuscript and decide to stage the opera, realizing after the fact that some things are best left unsaid.
I'm not always a fan of John Adams' music, i'll freely admit.  But the Violin Concerto wasn't so bad, and  Jennifer Koh played the hell out of this piece.  I enjoy Adams' forays into sliding harmonies and chromaticism much more than his rhythmic variation on one chord, and the concerto featured more of the former, much to my delight.  It was nothing less than virtuosic, and I was very impressed with the orchestra's technical command and assurance (reduced strings gave me the luxury of listening, not playing, and spending a bit more time on the beach).

Petrouchka is one of my favorite pieces, and during rehearsals, it was hard not to draw parallels with Stravinsky's St. Petersburg and Miami Beach during super bowl week.  Every morning when I left the hotel I thought I was stepping out into the shrovetide fair...Miami had everything.  The charlatan, the coachmen, the gypsies and rake vendor, a ballerina, the moor, and my favorite, the peasant with bear.  You can read it first here: my debut as a director will be to assemble characters straight from Miami Beach and stage an updated version of Petrouchka, with Kim Kardashian as the Ballerina, Reggie Bush as Petrouchka, and a special guest appearance of Sean Combs/Puff Daddy/P-Diddy/Diddy as the Moor.

Peter Gelb, if you're reading this, i'm available.

I had a great time visiting some old friends and making some new ones.  It's no secret that NWS is so successful, and I was grateful to get a little taste of that.  I don't think I could stomach an entire year down there with the endless summer, but it's great for a week.  And it'll be even better with a new hall, courtesy of Frank Gehry and, to a lesser degree, my big brother, acoustical consultant of the STAR(chitect)s.

Here's a few highlights from my week down there.



 I looked long and hard for Chris Berman, but all I found was Scott VanPelt and Warren Sapp. Oh well.


The beach is nice and all, but I much prefer NYC with 8 inches of snow, thank you very much.