#one of them is a conducting major so i see him in orchestra every week

[supercantaloupe]

i hardly know who's in our cast cause i barely rub shoulders with vocal majors most of the time and i can't see the stage at all from the pit...i think i know like three people in the cast total by name and face, one of the romildas and both serses. but i do think it's sweet that anytime i run into one of the serses around campus they will always smile and wave hello at me

[asmasheikh]

How an event agency works: search for formats, distribution of orders, seasonality

In the first year of work, the entrepreneur observed the work of decorators, studied banquet management, and participated as a volunteer in major events. 6 years have passed since then, and during this time the agency has formed its own business algorithm.    

Market adaptation

The Islamabad brand was inherited by the entrepreneur from a videographer friend who launched the agency in 2014 and quickly lost interest in it. Alia was interested in the unusual name, and she decided to develop the company herself.

Six years ago, the work of an event agency was structured a little differently than it is now: event organizers were equated with agents who simply assemble a team and coordinate its work. The work did not require creative skills and directorial vision. In this mode, Alia and her partner worked for a year.

The entrepreneurs wanted to change the style of the agency’s work and, in search of an alternative, they went to Karachi, which at that time was a fashionable and popular direction that everyone was going to develop, as well as to Khaiber and Islamabad to gain experience.

Alia went to study banquet management in order to properly arrange the work of waiters, took a short course in directing, went with decorators to cuts at night to understand how the scenery is built. The team went to volunteer at large events in other cities at their own expense to understand how they are organized.

Gradually, the market in the city changed, and other agencies also expanded their functionality: the work of the organizer became more complicated, now it was necessary not only to manage the processes at the event, but also to offer the client creative solutions.

In private parties – anniversaries and weddings – and corporate events are organized in this vein. Children’s parties are not at all involved. “In the corporate direction, the client expects one hundred percent return from you, so that you come up with everything for him,” explains Alia. – As part of a private event, we work in a team: clients talk about guests, we come up with interactives all together. With those who ask them to surprise, we most likely will not work. “

Work tasks

“Clients come to me for a certain wedding. Just like people come to a restaurant to order a certain dish, says Alia. – People who already know something about me turn to me. Any wedding that my team and I do reflects my character. This is how all organizers work”.

The main task of the organizer at the wedding is to show the guests that they were expected. From the point of view of the banquet manager, you need to monitor whether the serving of the dishes takes into account the tastes of the guests, and make sure that all guests at the wedding are paid attention.

“Usually 5% of weddings take place with surprises,” says Alia. – Therefore, you should always have a first aid kit with you. At one of the weddings, the bride suddenly developed an allergy to shrimp, we called an ambulance, gave antihistamines, and the doctors gave her an injection. “

It is more difficult to work outside the city, where there is no infrastructure. At one of these weddings, Alia’s team brought lighting and sound equipment, which needed additional electricity. As a result, some of the equipment shorted out, the lighting director was injured, and the lights in the country club were turned off. And on top of that, the presenter had an accident.

“The bride called and said that she was preparing for an exit ceremony,” the entrepreneur recalls. “We found the reason for the closure, returned our presenter, and no one found out anything.”

The wedding organizer manages a team of different specialists, like a conductor – an orchestra. In there is a well-developed team: several hosts, photographers, make-up artists, videographers, florists, decorators. New professionals with good potential are always invited to work together.

“We are a small town, so there are not so many highly qualified specialists and they are in great demand,” says Alia. “But if you plan everything in advance, you can involve any professional in the project.”  

The agency often has difficulties with the supply of flowers – they all go through the capital. Suppliers can easily bring bright pink peonies instead of light pink ones, and then the organizer needs to explain the situation to the customer. It can be difficult to obtain technical or decorative equipment. Bringing props from Moscow before the event is a standard part of the job.

From Lahore to Karachi – 1200 km, this distance can be covered in a few hours and for 987 Rupees, so the agency often invites Islamabad specialists – videographers, photographers, presenters, and this only slightly increases costs.

When choosing a wedding agency, clients pay attention to the budget, organizer’s ideas, name and style.

Private events are conducted by two managers: 70% of the meetings Alia conducts herself, she also takes on more complex orders. Now the entrepreneur leads 24 weddings and 6 corporate events at the same time.

After the conclusion of the contract, a team is selected in accordance with the customer’s budget and temperament – for more active, cheerful and calmer customers. In the first two to three weeks, sites are selected.

After that, with the help of briefs, the concept and content of the wedding are developed. “The client comes to the organizer to save time,” explains Alia. “In our team, we work out technical and creative timing and prescribe all technical tasks.”

In 85% of cases, the agency selects everything – from the site to the stylist, even chooses a dress with the bride.

Wedding budget

Last season, organized a wedding for 439,000 Rupees. Pakistan for 85 guests. This cost included the services of a presenter, photographer, makeup artist and a wedding cake. “This is the minimum for which you can make a wedding. It was possible to cut the budget with the help of a cover band – the bride and groom sang songs for each other.

After the conclusion of the contract, clients make an advance payment of 20% to confirm the reservation of the date, a manager is selected. The rest of the payment is made 15 days before the event, all contractors receive payments on the wedding day. The fixed cost of the agency’s work is 17% of the final estimate of the wedding, for example, 240,000 Rupees. At a wedding cost of 230,000 Rupees.

Transparent budgeting in Google Docs helps you adjust your budget when recruiting. “If the guys offer me to hire a photographer for 75,000 Rupees, I immediately add it to the estimate and show it to them,” says Alia. “Often in this case, they see how the amount changes and agree to the services of a photographer I have proposed for 50,000 Rupees.”

The ideal time to start preparing for the wedding is six months to negotiate with all the necessary contractors. Nine days is the minimum time for a wedding to be prepared at the Islamabad, and the event was held at the peak of demand – in August. The wedding included 50 guests, a cover band, equipment and presenter training.

New formats

On the private customers, Islamabad positions itself as a wedding agency, corporate customers more often pay attention to the site. The ratio of private and corporate orders in the agency is 60 to 25, fewer corporate events and more weddings are held in summer, and vice versa from December to March.

The main sources of promotion – social networks fb and Instagram, website, online catalogs of wedding agencies – Bride. Info and Gorko – are less effective.

More than 150 official event organizers are registered with a population of 1.2 million people, more than 150 private organizers on Avito.

“Weddings are popular again, but their format is changing,” Alia says. – Now they are more often held in the format of a buffet table, gala dinner or set presentation. These formats provide more options for table decoration. ”  

No wedding is complete without multimedia: such tools are needed for conducting interactive surveys, demonstrating video content, which is often filmed before the wedding.

Modern decor involves a mixture of styles and colors: black and white with fuchsia, classic with boho or retro styles. The filling and decoration of the wedding should take into account the nature of the guests and the couple based on the briefs. “We arranged a karaoke battle with the favorite songs of the parents of the bride and groom, and it was very well received by the guests,” says Alia.

Distribution of orders

At the start, Islamabad had no orders or investments. The first wedding of friends was organized at home in the kitchen in June 2014. Since that wedding, four more couples have come to the agency – until March 2015, all events were organized from home.

The first customers with a large budget could afford to hire an organizer – then they were not yet popular, but they were becoming fashionable. The experience of organizing events in a previous company helped to get the order.

To find corporate customers, Alia and her partner made 50 cold calls every day. After two thousand calls – then reporting was conducted not in Bitrix, but in Excel – the agency was able to find several corporate customers and rent an office.

Freelancers often suffer from a lack of orders in the winter. To solve this problem, it is enough to correctly distribute the budget. What the agency earns in December on corporate orders is enough for January, February and March. After that, the wedding season begins.

The main expenses of the company: office rent, payments to two employees and an accountant who is responsible for document circulation and filing returns, employee taxes – insurance and medical contributions. To maintain partnership relations with clients and partners, 5,000 – 10,000 Rupees. Alia spends on corporate gifts with the company logo and bouquets of flowers for brides on their birthday. I spend about 700,000 Rupees to maintain my business in year.

Tips for event organizers

Get specialized education

It is better that people with professional skills and education come to this business. In Russia, it is impossible to get a higher education as an event manager. At the same time, there is an option to unlearn the director of large city events. It is not enough to have your own wedding to be a good organizer.

Don’t be afraid of free work

In the first year, we volunteered a lot at major events, and we weren’t paid for that. But we got a chance to thoroughly learn all the subtleties of business and look from the inside at the cooperation of professionals from different fields.  

Creative ideas will bring many orders

Clients appreciate the individual approach and originality of thinking. This is a guarantee that the wedding will be remembered and enjoyed by the guests.

Get ready for force majeure

Only 5% of weddings are perfect. The other 95% of the time, you should be prepared to solve any problem.

Courtesy: Event Planner & Organizer in Lahore

[showbizchicago]

Enrique Mazzola To Succeed Sir Andrew Davis As Lyric Opera Music Director

Photo Credit: Sarah Gabriele As general director, president & CEO Anthony Freud announced today, big changes are underway at Lyric Opera of Chicago. Acclaimed and beloved music director Sir Andrew Davis plans to conclude his two-decade-long tenure at the end of the 2020/21 season. Eminent Italian conductor Enrique Mazzola has been named as Lyric’s music director designate, effective immediately, and will become Lyric’s music director beginning with the 2021/22 season. As Davis continues his substantial responsibilities while overseeing the transition, Mazzola looks forward to his role in leading Lyric through the next, dynamic chapter of the iconic company’s journey. Mazzola and Davis joined Freud onstage for the announcement at the Lyric Opera House. Meanwhile, Davis is preparing to conduct Rossini’s The Barber of Seville to open Lyric’s 65th season on Sept. 28, and Mazzola will begin rehearsals next week for Verdi’s early masterpiece, Luisa Miller, which opens Oct. 12.  “I am thrilled that Enrique Mazzola has accepted Lyric’s invitation to become our next music director,” Freud says. “He has accrued a wealth of international experience in his career to date, and he is tremendously well liked and respected by the Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus. I am confident that our audiences and the people of Chicago will be captivated by his artistry, his charm and personality, as has certainly been the case during his initial engagements here in the past few years. I look forward with great excitement to working very closely with Enrique. Our artistic partnership has already started and is proving both very fruitful and extremely enjoyable.” As Sir Andrew Davis enters his 20th season as Lyric’s music director and principal conductor, Freud notes, “Sir Andrew is on the podium for an astonishing six operas: The Barber of Seville, Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades, and the four operas of our new Ring cycle. Since I came to Lyric in 2011, we have collaborated on an incredible two-dozen operas, nearly half of them new productions including one world premiere, not to mention several outstanding concerts.  Andrew’s contribution to opera in Chicago, and internationally, is immeasurable, and we all have much to anticipate over the next two years. I look forward to continuing our collaboration in the future.”  Says Davis, “I had actually intended to leave after the Ring cycles next spring, until Anthony persuaded me to stay for one more season! It will be hard to leave, but the timing is right for me and I am confident that Enrique will be a splendid music director for Lyric. I am greatly looking forward to working closely with him over the next two years. He’s a fine musician and someone who will continue the tradition of the Lyric Opera family. It’s fantastic to have two years together for our transition.”   “Lyric has been my artistic and personal home for more than two decades, and I couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunities that I have enjoyed here, professionally and personally. It continues to be a joy to work with our magnificent orchestra and chorus on such a wide range of repertoire, and to join forces with so many brilliant singers and directors in bringing great opera to the Lyric stage.”  Just prior to returning to Chicago in late August, Davis led a triumphant performance of Götterdämmerung at the Edinburgh Festival (with the stars of Lyric’s upcoming new production, Christine Goerke and Burkhard Fritz, in the leading roles). Over the course of more than three decades, to date Davis has conducted 674 opera performances at Lyric, plus nine special concerts at the opera house, and the majority of Lyric’s free concerts in Millennium Park. The vast repertoire that he has led at Lyric encompasses operas by Berg, Berlioz, Bizet, Britten, Dvořák, Gilbert & Sullivan, Gounod, Janáček, Lehár, López, Massenet, Mozart, Mussorgsky, Poulenc, Puccini, Rossini, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Wagner, and Weinberg. Chief conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and conductor laureate of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (he was previously that ensemble's principal conductor), Davis is also conductor laureate of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conductor emeritus of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and former music director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera. He has led performances at many of the world's most important opera houses, among them the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Covent Garden, the Bayreuth Festival, and the major companies of Munich, Paris, San Francisco, and Santa Fe. In addition to those ensembles previously mentioned, he has appeared with virtually every other internationally prominent orchestra including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, and all the major British orchestras. Recent engagements include the Last Night of the BBC Proms at London’s Royal Albert Hall and concerts with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. A vast discography documents Sir Andrew’s artistry, with recent releases including programs of Berlioz and Ives, as well as his orchestration of Messiah. In 1992 Davis was created a Commander of the British Empire, and in 1999 he was made a Knight Bachelor in the New Year Honours List. He has been awarded an honorary doctorate by Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. Widely recognized as one of today’s foremost interpreters and champions of bel canto opera and a leading specialist in French repertoire and early Verdi, Enrique Mazzola is in high demand worldwide as both an operatic and symphonic conductor. He is principal guest conductor at Deutsche Oper Berlin, and until recently served as artistic and music director of the Orchestre National d’Île-de-France (ONDIF) in Paris. In recognition of his significant contribution to musical life in France, Mazzola was made a Chevalier de l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in October 2018.  His arrival in Chicago follows his recent return to New York’s Metropolitan Opera for a spring production of La fille du régiment and his back-to-back summer engagements in Austria. He led a “phenomenal, monumental” Rigoletto (Opern magazine, Germany) at the Bregenz Festival and made his Salzburg Festival debut in August, conducting the Vienna Philharmonic in a new staging of Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld that marked his first collaboration with director Barrie Kosky. Following the performances of Luisa Miller at Lyric Oct. 12-31, Mazzola’s 2019/20 season includes his return to the Zurich Opera House (Don Pasquale, new production), Vienna Symphony Orchestra for concerts at the Musikverein and Bregenz Festival, Deusche Oper Berlin (Meyerbeer’s Le prophète and Dinorah), Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, Glyndebourne Festival Opera (L’elisir d’amore), Taiwan Philharmonic, and symphonic concerts in Germany. Future plans include his return to London Philharmonic, both in London and on tour in Europe.  In addition to his extensive conducting roster, Mazzola is the first international brand ambassador of Tuscany’s Consorzio del Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, promoting the culture of Vino Nobile and the surrounding Montepulciano wine region in Italy and abroad. It’s an area he knows well, having served as artistic director of Cantiere Internazionale d’Arte in Montepulciano from 1999 to 2003. As Mazzola told Chicago Wine Journal in 2016, “The life of an ambassador is never being at home. That’s basically true of a conductor, as well.��� Mazzola has promoted Vino Nobile whenever the opportunity arises, offering insights into the region, its history, and its wine production. Lyric audiences first experienced Mazzola’s artistry when he conducted Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor here in 2016/17. The Chicago Tribune praised “the gifted young Italian conductor Enrique Mazzola, a first-rate bel canto opera stylist making an impressive company debut… Mazzola was ever at the ready to support the vocal lines with shapely, refined orchestral playing that soared along with the singers, but also delivered firm dramatic urgency and tension when so required. This conductor is a discovery indeed.” Mazzola’s return to Lyric for Bellini’s I Puritani inspired similarly heartfelt praise in 2017/18. “I am so looking forward to working closely with Anthony in my new role as music director at Lyric starting in 2021, and to working with both Anthony and Sir Andrew as music director designate during the transition period,” says Mazzola.  “Anthony has made me feel very much like part of the Lyric Opera family from the beginning, and our working relationship is always an excellent collaboration.” Mazzola says he felt “love at first sight for Chicago – amore a prima vista, as we say in Italian,” and has enjoyed exploring the city’s neighborhoods, restaurants, and cultural attractions. “I got to know everything you can discover by walking through the Loop, the Gold Coast, Chinatown, what remains of Little Italy,” he recalls. “I did what every tourist should do -- the architectural tour, the Art Institute, the Chicago Symphony, and some rooftop bars after some shows.”  “I’ve also had some important experiences which made me a little closer to the city,” Mazzola notes. “The first of course was my invitation to Lyric,” which provided the opportunity “to get to know a lot of people” and to get a sense for the audience here. Also, “when I come to Chicago, I rent an apartment, so for that month and a half I become a Chicago citizen and live a real Chicago life. The days between performances are perfect for me to walk and to feel and to see and to enjoy the city in a different way.” He finds Chicagoans “ready to listen, ready to explain, ready to show, ready to accompany you.” He describes Lyric as “an opera house where all the artists are warmly welcomed, where there is enough time to rehearse and to express personal and artistic ideas. I found in Chicago a very attentive and prepared audience, fantastic orchestra and chorus, and a wonderful organization.” Mazzola intends to make Chicago his principal residence. About Lyric Opera Lyric Opera of Chicago is committed to redefining what it means to experience great opera. The company is driven to deliver consistently excellent artistry through innovative, relevant, celebratory programming that engages and energizes new and traditional audiences.   Under the leadership of general director, president & CEO Anthony Freud, music director Sir Andrew Davis, and creative consultant Renée Fleming, Lyric is dedicated to reflecting and drawing strength from the diversity of Chicago. Lyric offers, through innovation, collaboration, and evolving learning opportunities, ever more exciting, accessible, and thought-provoking audience and community experiences. We also stand committed to training the artists of the future, through The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center and to becoming increasingly diverse across our audiences, staff, programming, and artists -- magnifying the welcoming pull of our art form, our company, and our city. Through the timeless power of voice, the splendor of a great orchestra and chorus, theater, dance, design, and truly magnificent stagecraft, Lyric is devoted to immersing audiences in worlds both familiar and unexpected, creating shared experiences that resonate long after the curtain comes down. Join us @LyricOpera on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. #Lyric1920 #LongLivePassion.  Read the full article

[drimmari]

Stranger

These days, he lost track of time more often than he cared admit.

Glaring an accusation at the cloudless sunset, Drimmari Dra’zar cursed-- three weeks he’d been more or less forced to miss dinner with Zylidrin. A combination of pressing matters consumed his time; one week he was dealing with Inquisitors on Mourne’s behalf, the next addressing Lindrayeda’s treachery.

Kor’a would have to wait-- three long weeks since he’d seen his son, whose selfless reassurances that he understood his father was a busy man were nothing short of distressing. In fact, Drimmari couldn’t recall the last time he received a letter brimming with updates about his son’s progress through Magistry training.

“General.” An Eran’shar loyalist named Vix intercepted Drimmari en route to the stable. “Kha’zix is nowhere to--”

“No,” Drimmari cut him off. “Urgent business calls me to Dalaran. Sunforge can foot questions in my stead.”

Drimmari’s plated footfalls swept him from the indignant arcanist. He coaxed a dozing Belorai from her stall.

~~~

He was damn near swallowed whole by a flock of Sunreavers in Dalaran, conspiratorial whispers floating from their tightly bound ranks. At the last moment they parted around Drimmari, casting baleful looks over narrow shoulders.

Drimmari knew he was unpopular anywhere mages gathered; he also knew some of his distrust for the Magistry was borderline ignorant, seated in superstitious prejudice and skewed interactions. Still, some sort of stigma set him on edge-- those skilled in illusion wouldn’t hesitate to invoke it, and the long-lived elves were not so beholden to the changing of seasons.

Familiar faces half-hidden in crowds. The bustling of marketplace bargains; the hollow-eyed, empty recognition of the recently widowed. As with any major city, Dalaran smelled of sewage and sweat, its myriad of sounds recalling a poorly conducted orchestra. Magic was a scent, a presence sure as the air, the thrumming of a wasp’s nest under the floorboards. 

He hastened for the portal to Silvermoon, feet carrying him through of their own accord. Sparing only a nod to guards who swept into low bows, brow knit as a ward against the treacherous nature of his thoughts, he departed the Spire.

Perhaps he’d stay the night, would lose himself in Zylidrin’s youthful vivacity. He’d swap stories with the lad who looked so much like his mother-- not Cyrande, who’d been nothing short of a blessing, but… he wouldn’t think her name.

Sinna’s home was modest. A carefully kept townhouse, steps paved with runes harbinging the Sunwell’s might. Tonight heavy curtains were drawn tight across the paned windows, and Drimmari realized with a start that the moon hung high in the chilly night sky. Just how long had he tarried in Dalaran? He’d spared Knight-Master Sunpride only a moment or two…

His knocks were cannonfire in the Exchange’s lazy calm. Drimmari smelled Sinna before he saw her, a pungent aura of nutmeg and morning dew. She cracked the door, and Drimmari could discern a brilliant green orb framed by tresses of raven-colored hair. Her voice was a raspy whisper-- years of thistle weren’t kind to her lungs, and no amount of perfume could rid her of its odor. “He’s asleep.”  

His heart sank. “I would like to see him, then.” Only by way of anger did his voice lack desperation. Always anger.

“I think not,” she said sharply, still in that conspirator’s whisper he hated so much. “And if you force your way in, the Magistry will--”

“Will what?” He’d grown to loathe the challenging tone that clung to his voice. He knew her threats were hot air, knew her family’s secrets would ruin her if he chose to expose them. They both knew.

Her mouth opened, but another voice came: “Father?”

Disdain in her eyes, Sinna stepped aside. The door swung into a dimly lit foyer.

Zylidrin was a gangly boy of fourteen, beginning to come into his father’s height; squared jaw and severe features starkly contrasted the look of uncertainty on his tired face. Unruly black hair was banded into a foxtail, and curled locks fell unchecked across his eyes. He wore a simple orange robe, and a leather-bound tome was clutched to his chest.

Sinna retreated to a wall, blended like a shadow in a crowded city. Hesitating for a moment, Drimmari finally cleared his throat. “Good eve, Zylidrin.”

“Hello.” Zylidrin looked away as he spoke; his aunt made a pointed ‘hmph’ sort of sound.

“Shall we go for dinner, then? I’m not sure if--”

“Is Mother joining us?” The boy didn’t mean to be rude, of course, but vaguely Drimmari recalled backhanding an Initiate for interrupting him in such a fashion.

“No.” It sounded small, naked against the chill that hung suspended between them.

“Oh.” Zylidrin paused, shoved his hands into his robe. “Well, I have an important test tomorrow--”

“Of course,” Drimmari said quickly. “I merely came to assess your progress, as your updates have been scarce of late.”

Father and son regarded each other. “Sorry.” Zylidrin couldn’t keep the timidity from his voice, the anticipation of some sort of reprimand.

Drimmari slammed the door shut behind him. Every lantern he passed on the way back to the spire winked out, embers spinning and falling like autumn leaves to the cold pavement.

[thomastravels]

Alicante and “Carmina Burana” with La Fura dels Baus

Read my post about joining the Orfeó Valencià here and about my other performances with them here!

Last weekend, I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel to Alicante with my choir here in Spain, the Orfeó Valencià, for three performances of Carmina Burana with La Fura dels Baus! La Fura is a famous Spanish theater troupe that performs hundreds of sold-out shows each year in various cities all over the world. To give you an idea of how cool they are, here is a picture of them opening the Barcelona Olympics back in ‘92.

Even after having performed with the Fura, I’m still at a loss for words to explain their unique style, so like virtually all other college students, I’ll let Wikipedia help me out on this one: “(La Fura dels Baus) is known for their urban theatre, use of unusual settings and blurring of the boundaries between audience and actor… creating a kind of adult adventure playground of fun, danger, slapstick and fantasy.” Sounds cool and kinda crazy right? You have no idea. I don’t think I could have possibly gotten a more unique and distinctly Spanish artistic and cultural experience.

Here is a trailer for the show!

I had been excited for this performance ever since I heard about it way back in December, and it started shaping up to be something really incredible even before the shows! The week leading up to the performances, we had something different going on every evening. Monday, we had costume fittings, Tuesday, the artistic director from the Fura came to Valencia to work with us on acting and staging, and on Wednesday, the mestre from the Fura (Josep Vicent) visited for a full musical run-through. For the Fura’s version of Carmina, we had to get used to performing while using “kits” (pictured below). Essentially a skinny wooden box painted black, the kits held our scores, had two lights (one for our scores and one for our faces) and a lighter that we used to imitate a candle for the grand finale. The women also had bottles of perfume attached to their kits to spray during one of the numbers.

And the kits were just the tip of the iceberg. For this performance, I swapped my usual choir tuxedo out for a long hooded robe and white facepaint! The costume and makeup definitely made quite a statement (if you will), but at least the choir was almost 80 people large, so I didn’t have to look so ridiculous alone. And besides, it was fun and helped us get in the mood for the show.

On Thursday night, we had a full dress rehearsal at the ADDA (Auditorio de la Diputación de Alicante), a solid two hour drive south of Valencia. Being on a bus with a choir brought back some found memories of my time immediately before study abroad spent with my choir back home, the UVA USingers – although this time, no one was speaking English!

Friday night, we had our final dress rehearsal… or so I thought. Seeing as the tickets for all three shows sold out months in advance (and remember, this auditorium seats 1,250 people), the Fura decided to make the last rehearsal open to the public for free, so anyone who couldn’t get tickets could still see the show. I think this was very considerate and generous of the them… except I had no idea that there would be anyone watching until I walked in and saw the auditorium almost completely packed! Doing our first-ever complete run-through of the show with a full audience watching really put on the pressure – but in the end, the performance (quasi-rehearsal?) went great!

In addition to the musical side of the trip, I also loved my time in Alicante because it allowed me plenty of time to socialize with the other singers! Between the down-time we had in between rehearsals and especially during our meals (which by the way, were all complimentary, as was our hotel – thank you Fura!), I had the chance to meet the majority of the singers. They were all super friendly and open, and I loved getting to know everyone better and chit-chat. We also had some free time to stroll around Alicante to admire the beach and see the city during Carnaval (Spanish Mardi Gras), so I made new friends during that time as well. Not to mention, it was also a wonderful opportunity to practice my Spanish with native speakers!

Beyond my Spanish skills, this trip (and singing with the Orfeó Valencià in general) has also given me plenty of opportunities to practice my virtually non-existent Catalán/Valenciano! In Cataluña, Spain (the region around Barcelona where the Fura dels Baus is from) one of the languages spoken is Catalán. In the Comunidad Valenciana, they call it Valenciano, and the two are basically the same language (but God help you if try to tell someone from Cataluña or Valencia that). For any given normal rehearsal back in Valencia, practices are conducted in about 50/50 Spanish/Valenciano. However, once we got to Alicante, the mestre of the Fura spoke to us almost exclusively in Catalán. Seeing as the instructions he gave us were pretty high-stakes, and I had no desire to mess things up (turn my flashing light on at the wrong time, miss a musical cue, etc) this gave me the opportunity to expand my knowledge of the language in a sink-or-swim environment! (I try to look at things on the bright side). This might sound kind of tough, but honestly, I can understand more than I give myself credit for, and if I don’t catch something, I can always ask the person next to me for a quick translation. Sometimes I have to do just that, but often the two languages are similar enough I can get the jist of what was said.

Beyond the fact that we rehearsed in Catalán, performing Carmina with the Fura presented a few other unique obstacles for me as a musician that I had never encountered before. Having my face completely covered in white makeup, I had to resist any temptation to scratch my face or nose at all times. However, I suppose this was a blessing and a curse, because you shouldn’t itch while performing anyways. The hood complicated things a bit more because it partially obscured my vision, and holding the kit got tiring quickly as it weighed much more than the normal scores I am accustomed to. This is all not to mention the various times throughout the show where we had to adjust our lights, set down the kits, raise/lower our hoods, etc.

However, the most challenging part by far was watching the conductor. The way the auditorium was set up for Carmina, the center stage was left open to be accessible by the actors. The Fura uses a large oval shaped screen, or the “cylinder,” which has a dual purpose: it hides the orchestra from view, and it serves as a screen that the Fura can project various images and visuals onto throughout the show. The choir is placed in two rectangles on either side of the cylinder up towards the front of the stage (see photo below).

All this means that the conductor, who is inside the cylinder facing backwards towards the orchestra, cannot be seen by the choir, which is facing forward towards the audience. The Fura’s solution to this problem was a tiny TV (Did I mention it was tiny? And I mean tiiiny) mounted on a pole to live stream the conductor from inside the cylinder. Seeing as many movements of Carmina are fast-paced and have complicated lyrics in Latin, these performances gave my neck and arms a bit of a workout. Looking up and down very speedily to check in with the conductor (or rather, the live stream of the conductor), and then looking back down at notes and lyrics while sustaining the unwieldy kit in a cramped space proved quite the mini balancing-act, but looking back on it, it was actually pretty fun, and unforgettable to say the least. There is also something to be said for the discipline necessary to concentrate on a tiny TV screen when right next to you, someone is flying around in a metal cage, hanging from the ceiling in chains, etc. But somehow, we did it, and it was an absolute blast.

I’ll never forget one movement in particular, number 11 “Estuans interius.” Theoretically, this movement shouldn’t have been especially important to me, seeing as it only involves the orchestra and one male soloist. However, in the Fura’s version of Carmina, the soloist is pushed out in a tank of “wine” (dyed water), and the men of the choir stagger around him pretending to be drunk. With cups passed out quickly in the darkness right before the number, we would go up to the tank, fill our cups, and drink merrily, all while the tenor bellows his solo from inside the tank and splashes “wine” all over the audience. No, I promise I’m not making this up. The hardest part wasn’t even pretending to be drunk, it was trying not to laugh at the screams of the unsuspecting people in the front of the audience, who had no doubt paid a pretty penny for prime seats only to end up leaving the performance soaked.

As I’m sure you can guess, the performances were absolutely incredible, indescribable really. The Fura has imagined such a vivid and unique show that it’s very difficult for me to put such a spectacular musical and visual experience into words. When I sang Carmina Burana five or so years ago in the Pennsylvania all-state chorus, I never would have imagined I would be singing the same songs again re-imagined so differently. I have to confess, I’m not always a fan of “far-out” artistic interpretations, but the Fura did such an amazing job of creating a beautiful, breathtaking show while maintaining the integrity of the piece that I couldn’t help but love it. In Spanish, the word for performance is “espectáculo,” or literally, “spectacle” – and I can’t think of a better word to describe the Fura’s performance. Here are a few pictures I found online of the same performance in different cities around Spain to help you get an idea of what that show is like.

This is the part where the women go up and spray the audience with perfume I mentioned earlier.

When I got back from Alicante late Sunday evening, I got right to work studying for my Spanish Literature and Cinema midterm. I had brought all my materials to study with me on the trip, but as it turned out we were so busy I never really had the time to get much work done. Starting to study for an exam 12 hours before you take it is never ideal, but I got the exam back today and I actually did great! Even so, lesson learned – start studying more in advance next time!

I’m lucky enough to have so many awesome experiences coming up that I’m behind on my blog posts! Last night, I got back from a weekend in Barcelona with my cousin, and this weekend I’m traveling to Paris, France with some friends from school (see post here). With any luck I’ll have a post on Barcelona up soon. In any case, I had better stop procrastinating for my exam Wednesday now – maybe I didn’t learn my lesson after all ;) That’s all for now – look out for another post in the next week or so!

Unlike some of the pictures above, these next few pictures are all from the performance I was a part of!

Here is a video I found online that someone posted to YouTube of the encore performance of “O Fortuna.”

Read my post about joining the Orfeó Valencià here and about my other performances with them here!

[ti-infires30x]

Symphonic Dysfunction

Chapter 1

The cavernous walls of the hallway seemed stifling and cramped this morning. Namjoon usually found solace in the sound of his shoes click clacking across the tile, reverberating and filling the empty hall as if the acoustics were built for him. A far cry  from the Performing Arts Center that his father had conducted at, with its slatted panels that shifted and directed the sound offstage as if the world was his music box for just a few minutes. Still, he was grateful for what he had here at the YONSEI. Even if the Auditorium practically rattled,  he would make the best of it. Even if ‘the best of it�� included having his kids play their concert in the hallway outside so they could understand how it feels to hear and be heard. The first hour or so that Namjoon was at school were hardly his favorite of the day but they were definitely moments of silence that he cherished. As an interim conductor of 3 string Orchestras, a full symphony, and his part-time student status as he grapples to juggle his final semester toward his Masters degree in Conducting, he has little time to himself.

Running a hand over his face, he wipes his eyes and lets out a yawn as he finally rounds the bend to the fine arts hall. Why they stuck my parking space all the way over by the gym with the coaches, I will never know. Namjoon made it a point to avoid the coaches at all cost after their altercation over funding in the fall. How many soccer jerseys can one team need that we don’t even have room in the budget for a proper score library? Coach Wonho, a rookie soccer coach who everyone took a shining to because of  his reputation as a former starter for the South Korean Olympic team, assumed upon meeting Namjoon that he was a fellow coach. An easy misconception to adopt largely because of Namjoon’s towering height, youth, and physical fitness, however Mr.Kim was quick to correct his colleague. Ever since Namjoon told Wonho exactly where he could go to find his precious special edition cleats for his team, the two had not necessarily been on good terms.

Regardless, Mr.Kim continued to plow on and was already being thrust into his 2nd semester as Orchestra director for the YONSEI University symphony program. Mrs. Eun Joo had been very pregnant at the beginning of last year’s fall semester and had left on her 3 month maternity leave.  3 months turned into 6 months which turned into her resignation as word spread of the paternity of her child. Wonho walked around like he was the most virile man in South Korea for months afterward. The Dean, of course, caught wind and every member of faculty was greeted at the beginning of the term with a flowery email filled with sheepish wording that said in no uncertain terms: don’t fuck your coworkers. Especially the married ones.

Inadvertent as his employment was, he loved it nonetheless. The chief reason that you could tell that Mr. Kim Namjoon loved nothing more in his life than his job was the smile that could be seen on his face whenever he saw one of his kids. The visible change as his chest swelled with pride, his eyes brightened, and his legendary dimples appeared was infectious.  Each student carried that energy and confidence with them throughout their day because when that pride is directed at you, there can be no doubt in your mind that it is genuine and deserved. Of course, he can only call them his ‘kids’ in his head since in reality, there are quite a few members who are considerably older than he is.

Checking his watch, Namjoon winces at the time. 7:45am. Right on time for sectionals. With a concert date looming, Namjoon decided to buckle down and have the kids lead student taught sectionals for his struggling club students. Led by the Chamber top group, of course, the advanced students would instruct the non-major students who were merely in the Camerata Orchestra for something to be involved in, with drills and practice techniques to level up in their musicianship. As lovely as an idea that Namjoon remains convinced that it was, since its inception about 2 weeks ago, it has gone less than smoothly. The first Monday sectional featured the section leader of the violas abandoning their Little’s altogether upon hearing them screech out the opening chord of their Telemann. That Wednesday, the 1st violin first stand knocked over what had to have been the tiniest freshman girl on campus  in their attempt to rock paper scissor who gets to play the tuning note. Oh, and the poor dear that told Hobi he should ‘lighten up’. I honestly don’t know if she’s going to pick up a bass ever again.

It was now the following Friday and it was time for none other than the cello sectionals. The previous week they had gone fairly well under the guidance of Park Jimin, and Namjoon saw considerable improvement of the Camerata group’s G major 3 octave scales in rehearsal. They were working hard and there was no doubt that the reason for the improvement was Jimin’s skill paired with Taehyung’s sheer magnetic approachability. And his smile, of course his smile. As talented a cellist as Jimin is, Kim Taehyung could make the devil feel comfortable in a church. Of course it helps that many of the freshman girls were absolutely infatuated with him. And with good reason, it must be said.

Fumbling with his belongings  at the big double doors of the Orchestra hall, Namjoon goes red in the face as he drops his keys. Again. He’s had a set of keys for the Orchestra Hall since his sophomore year as a student. He was in the room more than the instructors so Eun Joo-nim finally caved and printed her annoying little try-hard a copy.

His father had told him that he should never do something he enjoyed as a job because it would soon become a chore, however, he was never happier than he was now. The job came with its difficulties of course, he got very little respect from the rest of the staff. Namjoon tried to remain patient with those who condescended to him, he really did. He fully understands how ludicrous and humiliating it must be to have a department head who has only been able to drink alcohol legally for 3 years. At 22, he was the youngest faculty member by a long shot, but that didn’t bug him at all. Having graduated high school at 16, 3 years ahead of his peers, he was comfortable with being the youngest in the room. What made Namjoon uncomfortable was the assumption that he was inherently less than qualified just because of his age. If I’m a shitty conductor, then I’m a shitty conductor but don’t you dare pin that on my age.

“Good morning Mr.Kim!”, the proud bearer of a boxy, bouncy smile swoops down and picks up Namjoon’s keys for him. Namjoon can’t help but melt a little as Taehyung grins at him as if he’s never been happier to see someone in his entire life. Taehyung is blissfully unaware of his slightly dishevelled state, touting sweatpants with one leg rolled halfway up his shin, a massive hoodie that he stole from his older brother, ashen hair that stuck straight up the back of his head, and a sleep-puffed face.

“Good morning Taehyungie,”, Namjoon indulges, as he swings the door wide for Taehyung to accommodate his cello. “And don’t call me Mr. Kim.”

“Yah, Tae! Hold the door!” From down the hall, an undeniably beautiful man cartoonishly speedwalks to the door, laden with a stack of papers that makes the broad man look tiny.

“Good morning, Jin!” Tae chimes once again.

Chest heaving, Jin storms into the office door that sits adjacent to the front entrance of the Orchestra Hall and sets the papers down with a huff.

“Yah! You call this maknae ‘Mr.Kim’ but all I get is “Good morning, Jin”? You should be ashamed, how can you treat your hyung like that? Worse still, your concertmaster? I bust my ass making sure we have scores and assignments and all I get is-” Jin’s half-hearted, bemused tirade is cut off as abruptly as it begins as another boy enters the room, the door yawning shut behind him.

“Kim Namjoon. Kim Seokjin. Kim Taehyung.” His soft voice renders any harsher tone obsolete and the boys stare at the smaller boy blinkingly as he takes up the remaining space in the office. As if answering their unspoken question he stifles a yawn and mumbles, “You’re all “Mr.Kim”.’

The tirade quieted, Jimin rolls his case to his section and begins unpacking his cello. A stark difference from his stand partner, Jimin is the picture of elegance. Or as elegant as a 21 year old man can get. His honey colored hair perfectly in place, dressed simply in a loose collared shirt and ripped dark jeans, Taehyung continuously found himself captivated with the effortless way that Jimin presented himself. I wish I could be that cool. Looking down at his own clothes, he mentally kicks himself for not putting in more effort on a day to day basis. That’s just not where my energy goes,he reconciles with himself, I’m concerned with other things.

Taehyung crosses the hall to the cello locker room, fetches his cello case, and returns to take his place next to Jimin as second chair. Jimin frets over his cello, rosining his bow, tuning and re-tuning, ensuring his music is in the right order. Glancing over at Tae, who is busying himself with plucking out chords in an attempt to play a double stop that he hasn’t yet heard, Jimin grows envious of Tae’s care-free nature. I wish I could just fly into things like Tae does, without a plan. It would save me so much trouble.

All too aware of the silence that has settled in the hall since he stopped his plucking, Tae clears his throat to cut the awkward tension. The most unsettling thing is silence in a place that is supposed to be filled with noise.

“So what are we going over in sectionals with the Little’s today?”

“Tae, you can’t call them Little’s, Jeong Jae-Sun is a year older than us.”

“But. But. He’s so… Little!” Tae pouts. “Have you seen his bow hold? He might be able to knock me out in one punch and outdrink… well, you; but he has the bow hold of a 6th grade girl.”

“Yeah I know Tae, I was tempted to bring thumbtacks to fix our Yoo Soo Jin’s collapsing wrist. If they keep playing like this, they’re going to hurt themselves.”

Jimin falls silent and rubs his wrist, empathetic pain from his own tendonitis flaring at the memory of their poor posturing. I got hurt, and I was playing correctly. Jimin had played violin since he was 3 and while he was training for his audition for Julliard his sophomore year, he worked so tirelessly that he developed carpal tunnel syndrome and couldn’t play for months. The beginning of the end of his promising violin career.

    Namjoon takes long strides out of his office to his place on the podium before chuckling, “First of all, no one could ever out drink our Jiminnie. Second of all, I’m glad you’re showing so much concern for the well being and progress of our kids because we’re having an emergency rehearsal Saturday and I need you there if you can make it.”

    Tae heaves a great dramatic sigh and throws his head back, sinking down into his chair until the neck of his cello is resting on the back of his chair. “And if I can’t make it?”

    Namjoon sobers a bit and faces Tae, “Then I completely understand, but I do hope you can make it. You make the kids more comfortable. They love you.”

    Jimin bends to set his end pin up and then hoists his cello up onto his shoulder, “Besides, what do you have planned? You practically live here.”

    “That’s pretty rich coming from the one that I found sleeping in a practice room at 4am last week.” Tae shoots back in mock defense.

    “Yeah, and what were you doing by the practice rooms at 4am last week?” Jimin wheedles.

    Tae’s face falls when he sees that he’s been beat. ”...Practicing.”

    Jimin’s face brightens into a smug shit eating grin and his posture screams an explicit, check mate.

    Tae, already embarrassed at being outed hangs his head over his cello and absently picks at the rosin build up under his bridge. Face reddening at the anticipation of the ribbing to come, Tae mumbles, “I have a date on Saturday.”

    Jin materializes from thin air next to the podium and begins shouting about how “this girl better not break your heart” and “make sure you stay safe, use protection, you don’t know what these hoes got” and “oh lord, he’s just a kid. Don’t you think you should wait a while to date again?”

    Namjoon raises a hand to silence Jin and melts further at the visibly mortified maknae in front of him. Leaning down to where they meet eye to eye, he smiles affectionately at Tae. “Well, who is it?”

    Tae, grateful for the reprieve in shouting, allows his smile to fall open once more and his cheeks redden in a very different tone as he recalls the object of his infatuation. I can’t believe I got this lucky. Years of pining and I finally got her to say yes to  a date. A real date.

    “Chung So-Young.” Jimin could tell from the lilting way Tae hung onto every vowel in her name as if he were afraid to let go of them, that he was head over heels for her.  

    “Oh, the saxophone player from Jazz Band? I thought she was with Hobi?” Jin pops Tae’s love sick bubble without remorse.

    Visibly pouting, Tae snaps back, “Look, if I swore off being interested in any girls that Hobi-hyung has been with then I would never date anyone. I don’t have many options as it is since Kang Mo-Yeon turned the entire Yonsei English Society against me. And I really like this girl.”

    Jin returns to the office, fuming. Shutting the door firmly behind him, he lasts a good 3 seconds before whipping it back open and marching back to the cello stand. Tae might have been intimidated by the massive man barreling towards him with rage in his eyes had it not been for the knowledge of his intent. Jin comes to a halt and in a deluge of profanity begins cursing anything that has to do with Kang Mo-Yeon and the YES club. “How dare she cheat on you and then convince half of the campus that you’re the jackass?! Tae-Tae?! You couldn’t hurt a fly! You’re a jackass but you’re OUR jackass and if she publishes one more vaguely accusatory article in the English Paper I will single handedly drag her ass-”

    “Jin-hyung.” the honorific coming from Namjoon is enough to give Jin reason to pause. Namjoon jerks his head to the door and the herd of cellists that are gathering around it, waiting for the sectional to begin. “There’s a time and a place. They don’t all need to know his business.” Turning to Tae, he places his hand on top of Tae’s mop of hair and  smiles down at him. “Have fun on your date. Just know that there will be a legion of cellist noonas absolutely heartbroken that their handsome oppa isn’t there to show them thumb position for the upteenth time.” Laughing at the sheepish flush that graces the boys cheeks once again, Namjoon adds, “Oh, and stop giving May Sun private lessons, I overheard her working in the practice room the other day and she knows how to do everything you’re teaching her. She’s been playing dumb to get more time with you.”

    Struck dumb by that information and deaf by the resounding cackle from his stand partner, Tae sits mouth agape like a fish as the floodgates of the door break and none other than May Sun is the first to breach the Orchestra room.

    “Good Morning Taehyung oppa!” a bright girl who is far too well done up for 8am, in a cute outfit, heels, and full makeup, plants herself firmly in front of Taehyung and presents a muffin to him. “I brought you breakfast, oppa! I wanted to say thank you for all of the time you’ve spent with me on lessons this week. Kamsahamnida- oppa!”

    Jimin does his best to choke down his laughter but Taehyung just straight up chokes. Stuttering like his bow in the Dvorak piece, he numbly takes the muffin and, in an attempt to avoid further conversation, stuffs the whole thing in his mouth.

    Namjoon prompts the confused looking girl to unpack her instrument so they can start sectionals, and she scatters to do as she’s told. Jimin leads sectionals in his signature matter of fact style, fixing bow holds now and again. Although he receives less attention borne of infatuation from his pupils, he receives the most respect and attentiveness. Jimin has studied at Julliard and has a reputation as being hands down,  the best cellist in the school, and the most stern. Conscious of his intimidating demeanor in rehearsal settings, Jimin is glad to have Taehyung present to lighten the mood. Jimin is glad for the company but frustrated that this is the one facet of the musical process that he doesn’t excel at. Taehyungie is training to become an Orchestra teacher, it only makes sense that he is a natural teacher. People are drawn to his personality, people are drawn to my music. There’s a reason I’m applying for my Master’s in Cello Performance and not Music Education. Despite his regular pep talk regarding the fact that it is ok to not excel at teaching, Jimin still envies the easy way that Tae corrects the kids with kindness and patience shining in his eyes.

    8:40am comes and goes and students enrolled in the 9am Symphony block class begin to show up. A small boy with shining white hair stalks in without a word and settles into the back row of the 2nd violin section as if he was made for that chair. Somehow willing himself invisible even in the morning light, he fades into the background of the classroom. Tae waves at him from his adjacent place in the Orchestra, furiously mouthing “Morning, Yoongi-ssi!”

    Next to make an appearance was a man with the complete opposite and equal energy as Yoongi. A tall figure entered that exuded so much attitude that he actually sauntered into the room through the side door. Dressed to the nines in an effortlessly cool look of dark jeans, a dangerously low-buttoned collared shirt, and the latest Yeezy’s that color coordinated perfectly with his round tinted glasses and bandana. Every head in the Hall turned to follow his gait to the bass locker as if transfixed by his energy. He appeared aware of but completely unbothered by the attention he was receiving, even smirking slightly as he met eyes with several of the cellists, making them blush furiously.

    Namjoon takes advantage of the pause in productivity to address him from the podium. “Nice to have you back Hoseok-hyung. I trust the Jazz Studies field trip went well and you are returning to us as a more enlightened and sensitive musician.”

To which Hobi grins, scratching the back of his head and stammers something along the lines of ‘Uh… yeah it was, great.”

    Seokjin peeks his head out from the office and shouts, “He went to New Orleans and he studied… jazz? Yeah right, Namjoon. He is returning to us with a higher alcohol tolerance and at least 3 STD’s.”

    “SEOKJIN. NOT the time.” Namjoon pulls out his Director-nim voice that he hides away for special occasions such as these.

    The entirety of the participants of the now long dismissed sectional remain standing in the back, watching the verbal volley with bated breath. Eyes bouncing from Jin to Hobi to Namjoon as if if the contents of the conversation were going to be on their final exam.

    “Don’t you guys have classes to go to? Go on, scatter.” Jimin speaks up, shooing the group away with no regard to his social reputation with them.

    The remainder of the relatively small 20 piece orchestra files in, class begins and they go straight into the Holst Planets movements that they had been agonizing over for months. After Hu Yoon-Ji and Seokjin’s savage ‘discussion’ about whether the Andante Maestoso should start on an upbow or downbow, the final missing seat is filled. Another boy barrels in and as soon as he comes into view he gives the impression that he has grown very quickly in a very short period of time. Not exactly towering in height, but large and muscular, he looks as if he should be on his way to lacrosse practice, not Orchestra. He chucks his bag near across the room and rushes to unpack his violin. Crashing through the rest of the Orchestra, nearly knocking Baek Chi-Young’s stand over in the process, he finally takes his seat next to Jin, a huge smile plastered across his face.

    “Nice of you to join us Jungkook.” Namjoon, says, with only minor sarcasm.

    “Joesonghamnida, Sunbae-” Jungkook attempts a full 90 degree bow from his chair but ends up hitting his head on his stand and knocking his instrument out of tune. Rubbing his head, he looks up at Namjoon apologetically. Namjoon could tell that he had prepared a well thought out apology and excuse to present on behalf of his tardiness but the lump on his head and the humiliated look on his face was all the penance he needed.

    “That’s okay Jungkook. Just tell Coach Wonho that you need to leave soccer practice early next week and I’m sure we can get you here on time.”

    “Yes, sunbae.”

    “And stop calling me Sunbae, Kookie.”

    “Yes, sun-... Namjoon-hyung.”

After running their 30 minute show, once, twice, and spot checking trouble areas, Namjoon finally released the class.

    “Good work today, guys!” Namjoon bellows to the fleeing kids.

    “Get home safe, hyung!” Echoes back from the retreating crowd and Namjoon is sure that it’s Hu Yoon-Ji.

    “With Jin driving? Not likely!”

    “Yah, drive yourself then!” Jin snips back from his position in the office.

Although Namjoon was technically Jin’s sunbae by occupation, Jin is more than happy to point out the 2 year age difference between the two roomates. Jin casts his thoughts back to his freshman orientation. He had waited on pins and needles for his roommate assignment and was shocked when a gangly boy with a jet black bowl haircut rolled in with a suitcase that was wider than himself. Tagging behind were an older couple that he assumed were his parents.

“Kim Namjoon?” Jin questioned, as the boy took in the room with oddly wise eyes.

“Pleased to meet you. You must be Kim Seokjin. You’re a violin performance major, aren’t you?” Dumbfounded by this child’s confidence, Jin merely nodded. Namjoon’s parents rushed in with a distinct air of protectiveness.

“So you’re Namjoon’s roomate? Please take care of him. He won’t be here long so just, while he’s here, can you please make sure he doesn't cause too much trouble for himself?” Jin agreed as noncommittally as possible and then beat a hasty retreat to the hall on the pretense of saying goodbye to his parents. His parents had left hours ago, but he needed distance from the smothering tension in that tiny brick prison. Catching his breath just outside the door he catches snippets of a conversation. Chills ran down his spine as they always do when you know that you’re overhearing something that was never intended for your ears.

“You’re only 16, are you sure you don’t want to take a gap year or two? We can still get a spot in the Engineering camp that offered you a scholarship.”

“Min-ya, it’s not worth it. He won’t listen to us. You’ve been telling him for years to abandon this music foolishness.”

What surprised Jin the most wasn’t the sentiment from Namjoon’s parents, it was more common than not in the fine arts department for students to not have the blessing of their parents. What took Jin aback was the stony silence coming from Namjoon’s side of the conversation, as if he had nothing to say so nothing should be said. That level of maturity from a sixteen year old kid was something unheard of. Even Jin, who had a supportive, if absentee family, snapped at his mother occasionally with his 19 years of experience.

He decided at that point that he would do exactly as Ms.Kim requested of him. He would protect little Namjoon and hopefully learn as much as he can from him. Not that he would ever tell him that.

“Jin-hyung, what time is your Music Theory class today?” Namjoon interrupts.

“I only teach Tuesday and Friday. We can go home for lunch and come back at 2pm for Philharmonia.”

“Excellent!” Namjoon, practically bounces out of his chair, rocking on the balls of his feet. Slipping into his jacket he qualifies, “Do you want to go to Goreul-saem first, I don’t feel like cooking tonight.”

“Namjoon, you haven’t cooked in 6 years.”

“Yah, I cook sometimes! I made ramyeon for you last week.”

“Jinja, fine. We’ll go out. But I know it’s just because of that cute noona that works the register.”

“No, I-” Namjoon panics as he goes to lock the door of the Orchestra room behind him.

“Yah, yah, yah, They serve the same menu at Booreul- saem but you’ve insisted on Goreul the past three weeks. Booreul is closer! I don’t care if you like her, just fucking ask her out already so I can stop wasting my time on it!”

Namjoon scratches the back of his head and stares at the floor. “I guess. Yeah, that’s true.”

“I know! When I have ever been wrong?” Jin slings his arm across the shoulders of his dongsaeng and they marched back down the hallway together.

[tommyoboe]

YEAR 3 - WEEK 3.

A definite week of contrasts this week has been!

This began with a long and busy Monday including my usual things plus my first lesson of the year with my primary teacher, Emmet. It started well with him giving me some useful tips when it came to basic exercises but as soon as we got on to our favourite subject of reeds (I mean, did you even need to guess…), things went eeeeeever so slightly downhill. Despite some pretty hard (well, by my standards anyway) work on reed making over the summer, a reaffirmation of this not being up to the same standard as my playing left me feeling frustrated as I headed over to the station to make my way to Solihull for a second lesson with my first student. However, unlike times before when I have come out a lesson feeling this way, I almost instantly got myself together and vowed to do more to get it up. Well, until I phoned Howarths and found they were out of stock on cane. Yeah, reed making’s definitely on its way up…

Tuesday saw me up early for what I thought was going to be a first and final appointment at the dermatology clinic following a series of trips to the doctor’s regarding some skin issues, with me rushing to get into the centre after a journey where my Uber driver chuckled to me whilst hopping through the traffic in his stride whilst I politely smiled but spent most of the time thinking shit, shit, shit, don’t make me miss this appointment.

Turns out that despite looking at my confirmation email loads throughout the week, it never processed that the Tuesday it mentioned was not that particular one, so me being a complete and utter idiot was just sat there for a good fifteen minutes waiting to be seen, beginning to get annoyed for waiting this long before I was seen anyway and realised to my embarrassment my major error. However, I was grateful they fitted me in, despite me not feeling completely satisfied with the appointment itself. But that’s a different story…

Luckily I was soon back at college (of course, after a quick croissant from Caffe Néro - posh twat), reunited with my friends and my lecturer, who was telling us to ‘switch it up’ in keyboard skills, accentuating every single letter as he does.

And that was before pedagogy where Harriet and I were the only giddy volunteers to do a spot of conducting in front of our peers (after I loudly volunteered Harriet to begin with - bants), and I was pretty poor. Looks like conducting last year didn’t really pay off…

On Wednesday it was back to quintetting with a short test concert for one of the new conservatoire’s performance spaces. Turns out that the acoustic was dry (shit) as fuck, affecting reeds, mouthpieces, flute equivalent(?), and leaving us feeling timid as our exposed sound made for a performance that just wasn’t our best. After the drill (weirdly calm tannoy announcement) our audience severely diminished in numbers; it became a bit tragic but we persevered and it still wasn’t our worst! As with Monday, it left me and hopefully the others more motivated for our bigger and better things to come. Excited talking about it now!

This week saw me take part in three job interview/trial shifts for various positions, all leaving me feeling very different. The first of these on Thursday followed a bassoon masterclass in college, which was surprisingly OK (considering it’s the bloody bassoon), with the tutor opening up his comments to the wider audience of us non-bassoonists (and even some direct oboist links, who would have thought). Me being me (again), I spent most of the duration of the workshop praying we’d finish on time (oh, anxiety, you beautiful thing). We did to my relief and I rushed over to the cocktail bar for the trial shift, arriving in good time. The shift, however, was just hellish, with me spending the majority of the time circling the bar attempting to find things to do and not look completely awkward (I definitely did as I cleaned the same table for about the one thousandth time whilst my colleague who I think had a crush on me danced badly with a random guest). But it happened and I still said at the end I was interested in the position. Haven’t heard anything yet…

The other two ran much more smoothly, with one on Friday for a job as a steward for conservatoire events which went beautifully quick compared to Thursday’s four tedious hours and John Lewis yesterday, which despite being grouped with a girl who had already worked at the store and another girl who gave us a sad story about how she had been homeless and had started a business from nothing (well, my story didn’t really live up to that, let’s be honest), went fine. So now as the week ends, I’m very glad to have got through the slog of interviews! I’m doubtful about the results of each of them but at this stage I’m very content to have had the experiences.

As I discovered on Wednesday night, I find it very hard to chill out when I don’t have reams of work to do, as it weirdly sends me into a massive guilt trip of going through every last thing I may or may not have to do in my mind. It’s not great. Good thing I sorted that out by staying up till 5am with Cameron laughing at Margaret Thatcher (emphasis on the ‘at’), oh, and Gavin and Stacey, of course.

Other leisure time this week has involved laughing at (I mean, respectfully watching) the alternative orchestra concert in the conservatoire’s new Concert Hall on Friday, where my sax friends blew into their crooks at the front of the stage and there was some ‘serious’ hip action from the percussionists in another of the pieces (you ‘seriously’ had to be there). This was before a trip to a new and cute pub with the saxes (well, it had been almost a week since my last drink) where many laughs were had as usual, and not as many spillages! (Sorry Cameron…)

The week has ended with a spot of practice this morning and a well deserved break this afternoon as Cameron and I tucked into some brunch, bought myself a clothes horse (pushing the boat out there) and looked at some of the more peaceful parts of Birmingham with a canal-side walk. Niiiiice.

Now that this week of stress and fun is over, I’m looking forward to getting back into some serious music making next week (well, hopefully I’ll have some fun too).

See you next week!

T

[njawaidofficial]

'Game of Thrones' Composer Charts Journey From Westeros to 'Westworld'

http://styleveryday.com/2017/07/17/game-of-thrones-composer-charts-journey-from-westeros-to-westworld/

'Game of Thrones' Composer Charts Journey From Westeros to 'Westworld'

[Warning: this story contains spoilers for the season seven premiere of HBO’s Game of Thrones, “Dragonstone.”]

On July 11, Ramin Djawadi stepped into the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Downtown Los Angeles to conduct and perform his own music from the Game of Thrones score, in honor of the new season premiere. The next morning, he woke up to the news that his score for HBO’s Westworld was one of the show’s 22 nominees at the 2017 Emmys. Needless to say, it was an eventful twelve hours.

“I can definitely say it was quite a week,” the accomplished composer tells The Hollywood Reporter about his two recent major Thrones and Westworld moments. “Number one, I did not expect a nomination for Westworld, so I was super flattered about that. Very excited. And I had never performed at Disney Hall, so to be able to do that and to do it at the actual premiere it was absolutely amazing.”

But it was far from the first time Djawadi brought music from the Seven Kingdoms to a live audience. Earlier this year, he embarked on a live concert tour which showcased the Game of Thrones score, touring cities across the country. During this time, as he was revisiting Westeros’ past, he was also bracing for its future: work on composing new music for season seven was at hand, and remains at hand, as Djawadi is still working on the score for the final few episodes. 

Here’s what Djawadi told THR about the winds and sounds of winter set to hit the air in the season ahead, beginning with his score for Dany’s dialogue-free Dragonstone homecoming. He also weighed in on how he first became involved with Thrones, how the live concert experiences fuel his creativity, his thoughts on the Westworld nomination and the series at large as it approaches season two, and the newest project on his docket, a film called The Mountain Between Us, which has tragically little to do with Gregor Clegane.

At the premiere last week, in introducing you to the stage, David Benioff and Dan Weiss told their story about how you came to work on Game of Thrones. What’s your side of the story?

It’s pretty much exactly what they said: I saw the episodes, I was blown away by it, I met with them, and I was really busy at the time already. I realized that the scope of the show was so big and I didn’t know if I had enough time to make it happen. A few phone calls later, they said, “Come on, Ramin. We love you so much. We have to make this work.” And I loved them so much and the show so much that I said to myself, “Okay, you’re not going to sleep for three months.” We just dove into it, and here we are: season seven. 

How glad are you that you created the time to work on Game of Thrones, then? You’re more than Thrones, but there’s no question that this show is a central part of your life.

I’m so happy. I’m so happy I trusted my gut. Again, I loved David and Dan so much and we just clicked on that first meeting. I told myself I had to make it work and figure it out. And I did. The sleep had to give in, but looking back, it was the best experience I’ve ever had. We agreed on things right away. It’s so special. I think you can hear that in the music, that we understood what the language of this needed to be. I’m very happy to be a part of it.

Even before the premiere this past week, you had taken the show on the road before, in the form of the Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience. For those who weren’t able to attend, what would they have experienced?

It would have been the perfect preparation for season seven, because it’s really a large recap of all six seasons. We sort of stayed in chronological order and played through the most iconic pieces of scenes from the show. We did it in a way that it was a very immersive experience. It wasn’t “just the music,” we had the visuals and we took it even further. We had pyro and fire for the dragons, and we created snow, and we had Weirwood trees… it was very visual. We wanted the audience to relive the whole experience and feel like they were in Westeros. It was so much fun. We had such a blast. And the audience really loved it. It was so great to be on that stage and really feel that response from the audience.

Did the experience of taking your music out on the road, and getting that live feedback, fuel the work you’ve come up with for this season?

Definitely. I’m a fan, too. I was just as excited as everybody else to see what season seven will bring us. I only get to see it a little bit earlier than everyone. On the tour, I didn’t know what season seven would bring us. I was just as excited as all of the fans in the audience about playing the current music we had and looking at the current scenes, and then every night saying, “Okay, everyone get ready for season seven.” That included myself. I was just as pumped about it. Writing season seven, I was very inspired of now seeing where it’s going and pushing further with the melodies and new themes.

Once you started settling into season seven, what were your thoughts on what this year of Thrones needed to sound like? For instance, winter is here. In the premiere, we’re seeing snowscapes in places that were lush and green before…

What I really love is that every season, it kicks things up another level. Whenever I think that isn’t possible, then I see the material. The dragons are huge now. Everything is really expanding. So the music has to do the same. There’s a lot of really great and emotional scenes coming up. Just Dany arriving at Dragonstone, that was a five minute scene with no dialogue at all — just her touching the sand. It was a big music moment. I’m really expanding on that and using a lot more orchestral elements now, because there’s such a size to it. Normally we would go bigger with the orchestra toward the end of the season, but this year we were able to bring it into the very first episode.

Daenerys’ arrival is historic both for the show and within its universe. This is her first time in Westeros since her birth. Did the music have to have a royal quality to it?

Absolutely. I took her theme and the dragon theme and rearranged it in a way we hadn’t heard it before. Royal is actually a good word, because there’s a use of the French horns in that scene that would normally not take such a leading role in her music, other than action music. There was something very royal about her walking the halls and into the throne room. That’s why I changed the instrumentation and the arrangement quite a bit.

There are also quieter moments: Dany touches her hand on the beach for the first time, and we take a break from the feeling of a march to war. Was that important as well, capturing the personal nature of Dany coming to Dragonstone, and not just the mythical nature of it?

Exactly. It was a very internal thing for her. I wanted to make sure I captured her as an individual and her internal feelings as well. Being born there and now actually walking back there. When she rips down Stannis’ banner, I even put a little bit of the Stannis theme there. It was carefully planted.

What is the name of the piece? Is it called “Dragonstone”?

To be honest, I would actually have to look it up! (Laughs.) When I do the soundtrack, I can only do a selection of the pieces from the season, and then I summarize and pick some of the names. Since I’m still working on the show, I haven’t even had time to name the pieces. It’s probably safe to say that that’s what this piece should be called.

Season six concluded with “Light of the Seven.” Entering this season, did you feel any pressure to top it? 

I put pressure on myself every season, even before season six, that I want to push forward with new themes. I just want to top myself on the season before. At the same time I’m trying not to think about it too much. I’m just trying to write good music and hone in on what’s right for the show, and that leads me to write what I write. 

“Light of the Seven” was notable in that it brought piano into Game of Thrones for the first time. Did you find yourself experimenting with new instruments again this season?

Definitely. We always try to have some new instrumentation, some more subtle than others. But there are some developments. The music though, just as with the rest of the show, I don’t want to say too much. We’ll have to see how things unfold over the next couple of episodes.

Turning away from Westeros, I wanted to ask you about Westworld. First of all, does the Emmy nomination still feel surreal, a few days since the announcement?

It’s so exciting. I’m very proud of the whole show. Twenty-two nominations is just incredible. Westworld is another show that’s very special to me. I’ve worked with Jonah Nolan on several projects. I really love collaborating with him. And the show itself is very special because I loved the original Westworld as a child. Now working on the remake? It’s just incredible.

Season one featured memorable covers of great rock songs. What went into the selection process? Was it mostly your choice, or was it done in consultation with Jonah and Lisa Joy?

It came from them. They would pick the songs. I was always happy because every song they picked, I liked it too, so that was great. The songs would always come from them: “How about we do a Radiohead song, or Paint it Black?” Then I would go in and do the arrangements.

What was it about Radiohead that made them such a muse?

I think it’s because Jonah, Lisa and myself were all big Radiohead fans. Some of the lyrics… just the vibe of that band seemed to fit really well and into the world of Westworld.

When is the Westworld Concert Experience happening?

Well, we’ll see. (Laughs.) I definitely already have ideas for it. Let’s see what season two brings us. There’s already plenty of material. Season two starts soon. Who knows? After that, I would love to do a Westworld tour. I have a ton of ideas. I cannot wait [for season two], now that Game of Thrones is kind of coming to an end. 

And what’s next until then? Still finishing work on season seven?

We’re pretty close to the finish line. And then I’m working on a feature film: The Mountain Between Us. The director is Hany Abu-Assad and it stars Idris Elba and Kate Winslet. It’s a great story and a fantastic director. I’m a big fan of both of the actors. Very excited to start working on that.

Learn more about the season’s music in the video below:

Follow THR.com/GameOfThrones all season long for news, interviews, theories and more.

Game of Thrones Westworld

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