at julliard

today we finally finished filming chanda's audition video. a variation from don q needed to be added (kitri) and a pirouette on pointe exercise. she'll edit it now with her friend addie. 

it's been incredibly hot: in the upper 90's. lately, i've been avidly making one pan meals where i mix everything up, cover it, and then let it steam. this evening we had chicken and carrots with avocado on the side.

thursday doings

this sign made me laugh today, even though it set me off on a rant about the bozos in the white house.

 chanda had an audition video date with her private ballet teacher.


 we took the train uptown to meet her at julliard where she was able to get a studio for us. joe coffee is in the neighborhood so i happily ambled over for two mochas for us . .

 which we sipped while waiting for charla . .


 and texting morgana in paris where she was on a study break at her french language school.


she was having an iced tea or coffee at her favorite german cafe just around the corner from her classes.

or maybe it's an italian soda.

 back at julliard . .

 trying to get the best angle and the best steps . .

 time for pointe shoes . . but three hours had already gone by so we put off piourettes until next week.

 stopping for a few groceries at integral . . it was hot when the sun came out from behind the clouds.

 dinner tonight was a frittata with spinach, shallot and green pepper and a spinach salad with sea salt and lemon juice. having dinner in the light with the longer days is so enlivening.

a julliard recital

 our friend deychen had her senior recital today at julliard. she has been studying the viola there for the past four years in their pre-college division. today she played bach, cello suite no. 3 in c major; schumann, m ächenbilder (fairy tales), opus 113; offenbach, les larmes de jacqueline (jacqueline's tears); and bach's brandenberg concerto no. 6 in b flat major.

 as you can see, it was a very wet and snowy day we came out to after the concert!

she played beautifully . . and everyone was enchanted.

a solo concert and a chamber concert

yes!!! it's may 11th and time for deychen's solo concert!!! it was supposed to be for an hour, from noon to 1 pm, which i would have not minded since deychen plays so beautifully. however, chanda had a ballet rehearsal at 1 pm, and then a chamber concert at 3:30 pm. so, i was glad deychen's concert turned out to be only thirty minutes!!

i cannot tell you how she swept us all away . . she plays with such passion that you don't want her to stop. and of course she chooses the most intense and exciting songs! (she is sixteen, afterall, a time in one's life when one's skin is very fragile and life is very big).

deychen played:

j. s. bach, suite no. 1 in g major 

prelude (which morgana plays on the guitar, she was very excited about this)

allemande

courante

hindesmith, sonata for viola and piano, op. 25 no.4

bruch, romanze in f major, op. 85

 

good friends . .

and on to chanda's chamber concert . . i have a movie of this!! i'll have to upload it.

getting ready to say good-bye to daddy who couldn't wait to get to his cheap taco place on 13th street for a bite to eat before joining his friend to watch a knicks game in williamsburg!

west 10th street has houses with beautiful gardens.

i think . .  a japanese maple in spring.

i don't know!! please tell me if you do . . 

boxwood . . i've come to love boxwood . . so simple, sturdy and reliable.

more peonies! an entire forest of them!

sandy clean up, christmas decorations and a classical music concert

our neighborhood has been cleaning up slowly but steadily. today was the day westbeth cleaned out their basement which had been flooded. many residents' artwork was stored there, along with other personal objects. the walls and floors all had to be sanitized for mold.

our building was working on the same project. our ground floor neighbors have removed all their furniture, rugs and belongings and tomorrow walls and floors will be scrubbed down.

though so many people are living in limbo and feel out of step with the present day, time keeps marching on and christmas approaches. our neighborhood pharmacy put up their christmas display, which we always find enchanting.

we ended the evening at alice tully hall, at the julliard school for a pre-college orchestra concert featuring our friend deychen, who plays viola. they played mahler's symphony #4 in G major . . rather amazing! they also played with a wonderful pianist (sarina zhang) in a saint-saens piece (piano concerto #2 in G minor, opus 22). it was a beautiful evening.

playing the viola

last night we attended our friend's orchestra concert at julliard. she plays the viola with the saturday pre-college program. it's very intense, and we know how hard she has worked at her practicing and how diligent she has needed to be with her class attendance. it's a very competitive program . . . . 'nuf said. attending the concert last night is the carrot for all involved. the peter j. sharp theatre is a beautiful space to perform in, everyone was dressed elegantly for the occasion, and the students' playing was phenomenal . . breathtaking . . . the last piece they did was the overture-fantasy to romeo and juliet by tchaikovsky, and my friend marisa and i were moved to tears. truly amazing. they played a total of nine pieces. i think they only learned all of them in these past three months. (these student concerts at julliard are always free.)