Personal Violinistic Things

Upcoming Performances

Support your community performing organizations -- come to concerts! I'm a first violinist in the Redwood Symphony, and sometimes in the pit orchestra for the Lyric Theatre. I also do the occasional bit of freelancing.

2003
* Sunday, February 23rd, 3 pm (Notre Dame Theatre): Redwood Symphony
  • Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto No. 1 (Clint Cancio, piano)
  • Sibelius: Symphony No. 5
  • Tchaikovsky: Serenade for Strings

* Sunday, April 13th, 3 pm (Canada College): Redwood Symphony
  • Grondahl: Trombone Concerto (Garo Gagliano, trombone)
  • Kernis: New Era Dance
  • Respighi: The Pines of Rome
  • Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending (Danny Coward, violin)

* Sunday, May 4th, 3 pm (Canada College): Redwood Symphony
  • Family concert: based on a "Dance Mania!" theme

* "A Night at the Operas": Redwood Symphony with Schola Cantorum
  • All performances at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts.
  • Saturday, May 17th, 8 pm.
  • Sunday, May 18th, 2 pm.

* Sunday, June 1st, 3 pm (Notre Dame Theatre): members of Redwood Symphony
  • Chamber concert featuring members of the orchestra
  • Brahms: Clarinet Quintet
  • Weill: Berlin Requiem
  • ... and more.

* Saturday, June 14th, 8 pm (Canada College): Redwood Symphony with Pensinsula Cantare
  • Gilbert and Sullivan: The Mikado in concert

* Saturday, July 19th, 8 pm (Canada College): Redwood Symphony
  • Bach/Stokowski: Toccato and Fugue in D minor
  • Beethoven: Triple Concerto (Bloom Trio)
  • Bernstein: Overture to Candide
  • Tchaikovsky: Capriccio Italien

Hear Me Play

Over time, I'll be adding to a collection of sound clips from my playing, which you can check out on my NoWhere Radio page.

At the moment, I've made available a thirty-second clip, as well as an entire movement, from the Brahms Clarinet Quintet. I'm playing first violin; the remainder of the group are fellow players in the Redwood Symphony.

About Me

I began violin with the Suzuki method at the age of five, and studied with a variety of teachers. From the age of ten through high school, my teacher was Lee Joiner of the Wheaton College Conservatory; my teacher in college was Arnold Grossi, a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra. I stopped practicing at the age of seventeen, and did not resume playing the instrument until the beginning of 2000. I presently study with Claudia Bloom. My training has followed the Galamian and Auer traditions -- Lee Joiner was a pupil of Dorothy DeLay, and Grossi and Bloom were both pupils of Raphael Bronstein -- though I think the latter, "Old Russian" style has ultimately had more influence on the way I play.

I also studied piano for a few years as a child, and for a year in college, but my competency at the keyboard is minimal at best -- just sufficient to pass the proficiency exam for my minor in music history. I have a deep interest in classical music recordings (as well as film music and musical theatre), and in historical violin performance in particular, and I'm an avid collector of CDs.

I joined the Redwood Symphony, a community orchestra in Redwood City, in April 2000. I also sometimes play in the pit orchestra for the Lyric Theatre, a community light opera theatre. I also hope to get the chance to do some pit orchestra work for traditional Broadway-style musical theatre, in the future.

My past ensemble experience includes pit concertmaster for a variety of musical theatre shows at my high school and at my alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, as well as, in my childhood, principal second violin of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra when it was conducted by Michael Morgan, and, before then, principal second violin and concertmistress of the DuPage Youth Symphony. Alumni are encouraged to email me!

My repertoire includes the concertos of Barber, Bruch (No. 1), Khachaturian, Lalo (Symphonie Espagnole), Mendelssohn, Mozart (No. 3 and 4), Prokofiev (No. 1), Saint-Saens (No. 3) and Tchaikovsky. I've run the gamut of technique torture, suffering through everything up to the Paganini Caprices, and I'm still devoted to practicing daily Sevcik. I've left some uncompleted works "on the table" in recent years -- Paganini No. 1 and the Saint-Saens Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso -- which I intend to get back to sometime.

I spent a good bit of 2001 preparing for a solo concerto performance -- Prokofiev No. 1, with the Redwood Symphony (as winner of the season's concerto competition). After the technical brutality of the Prokofiev, I decided I'd like to prepare a recital program, so spent a goodly number of months working on that, learning a dozen-plus new works out of the lollipop repertoire. Then, I got asked to be the rehearsal soloist for El Camino Youth Symphony's upcoming performance of the Prokofiev No. 1, which put on hold any other performance plans. I spent a bit of time beginning the Brahms concerto before having to put that on hold to prepare the Prokofiev again.

Not too long ago, I acquired a "modern" (late 19th century) Italian violin and early 20th century French bow; I haven't yet decided what to do with the contemporary American violin and bow (both made in Chicago) that I was using before. For a backup bow, I favor carbon-fiber for its unbreakable qualities; I recently traded my special Arcus Sonata for a Coda Colours I'm not one of those folks who thinks shoulder-rests are evil; I switched from a Kun to a Viva La Musica, and, very recently, from that to a Mach One.

String Combinations

One of my favorite ongoing experiments is mucking with the combination of strings on my violin.

Throughout my childhood, except for a brief flirtation with Eudoxas, I was a user of the de facto synthetic strings -- Dominants. Eventually I tossed the Dominant E string, like practically everyone does, in favor of a Gold Label E. When I resumed playing recently, though, new, high-tech strings were starting to flood the market. A few hours of experimentation at a violin store, and some changing of E strings later, and my American violin came out strung with Pirastro Obligatos (with silver D), except for the E, which is a Thomastik Infeld Blue.

When I got my Italian violin, it came strung with the usual combination of Dominants plus Gold Label E. I swapped those almost immediately, and the instrument has practically not been strung twice the same way since. Usually, I keep the G, D, and A strings the same brand, but use a different E string. This is what I've tried thus far, in chronological order:

Obligatos (with silver D) plus Gold Label E: Quite a nice sound. Smooth, resonant, complex, louder than Dominants. My violin seems to do best with more complex-sounding strings.

Obligatos (with silver D) plus heavy-gauge Olive E: I love gold E strings for their resonance and the way they make the entire instrument ring, but as the sound on the violin opened up, the E string gradually became stronger and stronger, and the Olive eventually overwhelmed the rest of the strings with its brilliance.

Obligatos (with silver D) plus Jarger E: The Jarger E string has a nice dark yet resonant sound that gives me most of the ring I was getting with the Olive, without the overwhelming brilliance or the tendency that gold E strings have to squeak (the Jarger is plain steel). It balances everything very well.

Evah Pirazzis (with silver D) plus Jarger E: This is a really great-sounding combination, with excellent power, and good resonance, but a loss of complexity (though within tolerable range). One serious problem exists: the A is so pure and clear that in the upper positions it is, on record, indistinguishable from the E string; this is really an overall problem with the lesser amount of color of these strings.

Olives (with silver D) plus Jarger E: This combination was fabulous -- an amazing amount of power, resonance, complexity, high overtones and projection -- until a couple of weeks passed and the strings broke in. Basically, they stopped sounding terrific when they started staying in tune. The end result was still complex and warm and wonderful, but it didn't have the same power and resonance. Nothing compares with gut, though.

Larsens (with silver D) plus Jarger E: This combination is pretty good. It has a lot of gritty power and nuances at high dynamic levels. This is a very soloistic sound, with good power and resonance and a bit of a metal edge and steely complexity. This was my concerto-performance combination.

Obligato G and silver D, Larsen A, Jarger E: This combination is excellent; it mixes warmth and complexity with a reasonable amount of power, and the Larsen A blends well (I have felt, on both of my violins, that the Obligato A is weak compared to the bottom two strings). This is my current string set-up.

I've also gone through Pirastro Violinos, and Thomastik's Infeld Reds and Infeld Blues. None of them sound good on my current violin -- a dire lack of complexity in the sound.

At present, I've decided to throw in the towel and go back to Obligatos. The Larsens sound terrific in the concert hall, but I'm not so keen on their sound under my ear -- I like to hear a sweeter sound, and now that I'm not worried about projecting over an orchestra, I'm perfectly happier to sacrifice power for sweetness and complexity. Also, the Larsen G and D strings only last about four weeks or so, and I'm not really keen to change strings that often. I kept the more durable Larsen A, though, after hearing how well it complemented Obligatos on the lower two strings.

Favorite Violinists

The violinist whom I most admire is Nathan Milstein, a student of Stolyarsky and Auer, and a contemporary of Jascha Heifetz, who concertized actively through most of the 20th century. Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to see him perform live, but I own as many of his recordings as I've been able to get my hands on.

One cannot talk about giants of the violin without mentioning the twin poles of Jascha Heifetz and Fritz Kreisler, perhaps the two most influential players of the 20th century. But I also treasure a recording I have of Josef Hassid, the prodigy who ended his life in a mental hospital -- but who combined the virtuosity of Heifetz with the heartfelt emotion and charm of Kreisler.

Of the more contemporary players, I am fond of Itzhak Perlman -- one can hardly hear him play and not sense him radiate warmth and charm, after all. Of the youngest generation of soloists, I am most impressed and moved by Hilary Hahn, the player who seems most likely to inherit Milstein's mantle as the great classicist of our time.

The two other violinists whose recordings I consistently pick up are David Oistrakh and Gil Shaham. Beyond them, I have wide-ranging tastes that include the young Yehudi Menuhin, the tragically short-lived Julian Sitkovetsky, the sadly little-known Erica Morini, and another contemporary firebrand, Maxim Vengerov.

Recent Performances

2000
* Sunday, November 19th, 3 pm (Canada College): Redwood Symphony
  • Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 (Thomas Hansen, piano)
  • Debussy: Prelude to an Afternoon of a Faun
  • Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream

* Sunday, December 3rd, 3 pm (Canada College): Pensinsula Cantare
  • Haydn: Lord Nelson Mass
  • Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on Christmas Carols
  • JS Bach: "Erschallet ihr Lieder" (from Cantata #172)
  • Handel: "From the East unto the West" (from Solomon)
  • Hodges: The Angels' Song
  • Rutter: Nativity Carol

2001
* Sunday, February 11th, 3 pm (College of Notre Dame): Redwood Symphony
  • Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherezade
  • Saint-Saens: Piano Concerto No. 5, "Egyptian" (Clint Cancio, piano)
  • Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet

* Victor Herbert's "Mademoiselle Modiste": Lyric Theatre
  • All performances at the Montgomery Theater, in San Jose.
  • Saturday, March 24th, 8 pm
  • Sunday, March 25th, 2 pm
  • Thursday, March 29th, 7:30 pm
  • Friday, March 30th, 8 pm

* Sunday, April 1st, 3 pm (Canada College): Redwood Symphony
  • Barber: Violin Concerto (Claudia Bloom, violin)
  • Charbrier: Espana
  • Copland: El Salon Mexico
  • Schickele (PDQ Bach): Unbegun Symphony

* Sunday, June 10th, 3 pm (Canada College): Redwood Symphony
  • Holst: Second Suite for Band
  • Holst: The Planets
  • Walton: Viola Concerto (Doug Tomm, viola)

* Sunday, July 21st, 3 pm (Canada College): Redwood Symphony
  • Pops concert: based on a "Duke Ellington" theme
  • Ellington: Black, Brown, and Beige
  • Ellington: Night Creature
  • Ravel: Piano Concerto (Philip Kirchmann, piano)

* Sunday, September 23rd, 3 pm (Canada College): Redwood Symphony
  • Beethoven: Symphony No. 2
  • Del Aguila: Conga-Line In Hell
  • Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 1 (Lydia Leong, violin)
  • Ravel: Pavanne for a Dead Princess

* Monday, October 22nd, 7:30 pm (Mission Santa Clara): Laudamus Singers
  • Benefit for the American Red Cross.
  • Music by Tony Eiras, Don Schutte, and others.

* Sunday, November 18th, 3 pm (Canada College): Redwood Symphony
  • Mahler: Symphony No. 6

* Sunday, February 10th, 3 pm (College of Notre Dame): Redwood Symphony
  • Brahms: Variations on a Theme by Haydn
  • Copland: Orchestral Variations
  • Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 (Anna Gingis, piano)
  • Festinger: The View From Pont Marie (world premiere)

2002
* Sunday, April 21st, 3 pm (Canada College): Redwood Symphony
  • Saxe: Dance Suite world premiere (Karen Bentley, violin)
  • Stravinsky: Circus Polka
  • Strauss: Till Eulenspiegel
  • Warbeck: Suite from Shakespeare in Love

* Sunday, May 5th, 3 pm (Canada College): Redwood Symphony
  • Prokofiev/PDQ Bach: Sneaky Pete and the Wolf
  • Rodriguez: A Colorful Symphony (based on The Phantom Tollbooth)

* Sunday, June 16th, 3 pm (SMPAC): Redwood Symphony with Schola Cantorum
  • Verdi: Requiem

* Sunday, October 6th, 3 pm (Canada College): Redwood Symphony
  • Beethoven: Violin Concerto (Joseph Gold, violin)
  • Daugherty: Metropolis Symphony
  • Rossini: Overture to William Tell

* Sunday, November 24th, 3 pm (Canada College): Redwood Symphony
  • Bartok: Concerto for Two Pianos and Percussion (Daniel Glover and Thomas Hanson, pianos)
  • Bizet: Suite from Carmen
  • Brahms/Schoenberg: Piano Quartet in G minor

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Created 11.09.00 | Revised 07.02.03