International Woodwind Festival in Boston!

Currently, I am sitting in the library at Boston Conservatory, enjoying the air conditioning and catching up on e-mails. I am taking a break from rehearsing and practicing -- lots of that to do around here! We are the 2007 ensemble-in-residence at the International Woodwind Festival, which is held at the Boston Conservatory. We are collaborating with other members of the faculty in wonderful works, including Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time, Bartok's Contrasts and Brahms' Trio for clarinet, cello and piano. Also, we will work with some students in masterclasses! In addition, we will also perform a concert featuring just the trio next week at 8pm on Wednesday, June 6. Whew! They're keeping us busy here!

I am expecting more detailed information about these upcoming concerts to be available on our website schedule page soon but in the meantime, let me share with you the details of our first performance at the Festival:

Friday, June 1, 2007 at 8pm in Seully Hall at the Boston Conservatory
8 The Fenway, Boston, MA

Clarinetist Jonathan Cohler and Claremont Trio

Trio in A minor, Op. 114 Brahms

Quatuor pour la fin du Temps ("Quartet for the End of Time") Messiaen


These are wonderful and amazing works! We hope to see you soon! There is more information available at http://iwwf.org

:-) :-) :-)

So I have not been writing much lately because I have been insanely busy. I'm getting married on July 8 to the man of my dreams: Chad Yarbrough.


And we are in the process of trying to buy an apartment in Manhattan. Haha. No, I'm serious. In an ideal world we would close June 15. We will probably close July 7 and then run off to the rehearsal dinner. Yeah. Knock on wood or something...

So I'm running around like a crazy bridezilla feeling like the luckiest person in the world, but without much time to blog.

Luckily, I have the most amazing friends to help me out. Julie and Donna watched me try on approximately 7 million bridal gowns in 73 different salons in 3 states. (No joke. We visited 4 in Corpus Christi, TX because we had not yet found THE DRESS and we had to go on tour. Incidentally, we found some nice things there.)

They have also helped me in countless other ways: Julie noticed that, though the invitations were in under the wire, the RSVP cards needed "forever" stamps. She's found me readings and a calligrapher and countless venue possibilities, and she tracked down half the addresses on my list. Donna is my every-ready online researcher extraodinaire. Whether it's hair and make-up artists, crepe paper wedding bells, deals to Tahiti (nope, not going, but Donna had a great deal), wedding website platforms, bachelorette party spots, bridal hairpieces, or the wedding dress with the skirt I like and the neckline I like and the drapy things I like and the material I like and the color that's best with the bead things in the right place but without the waist thing that makes my hips look big and the flowery nonsense and the poofy bit in the back and the ruffle in the wrong place and the.... Donna finds it and more. They have both loaned me cell phone minutes (mine ran out early on...), unlimited time, and even less limited patience with all of my questions and worries.

They also just worked with my lovely future mother-in-law, Joan Meister, to plan me the most beautiful surprise shower ever. And an absolutely amazing bachelorette party after that. I can't ever thank them - and all of my other wonderful family and friends - enough.

And in and around all of that I think we're playing a few concerts this summer, right girls??