Pictures!

Photos by Wen (small appearance made by Yo-Wei)

It’s such a beautifully written piece that will erase all darkness, lift spirits and bring hope to all.  There is just something about American music with its use of open strings, intervals, and harmonies that is attractive and uplifting to the ears and heart.  Some of my favorite American composers include Copland, Corgliano, and Ives; they each have their own American idiom and compositional language, but there are many traits they all have in common with each other as well.  As performers, it is our duty and desire to communicate the style of the composer, and in this piece, we shall continue to work towards achieving that sense of peace and calmness that is so tangible in performance especially for this piece.  Hopefully that will transcend itself to the audience and as we let the music unfold through meditation and prayer….

Remember, the summer is coming.  Do you need lovely and elegant duo music at your special event?  We’d be happy to provide music for any occasion.  Please contact us for details.

Here’s a close-up of our delicacies ~ vanilla bean cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory and a fruit tart from Whole Foods :]

It was a fun girls’ night eating good food and watching the Olympics… followed by a somewhat slow-ish rehearsal <– that’s me after having two glasses of wine.

Now, onto our next project: contemporary and under-performed, but beautiful duo, and possibly trio, music.  More to come!

Yes, (ESQ violist Lawrence Dutton) studied with Lillian Fuchs at one point, and (siblings Joseph and Lillian Fuchs) premiered the piece… A little side story: I remember when I was at Aspen, as a student when I was young, I was supposed to meet someone at the music tent, I think we were going to have a rehearsal. I didn’t see them, and I sort of walked around. As I was walking past one of the openings in the tent on the side, I heard this yelling going on inside. I thought, what’s going on? So I peeked in, and on the stage there were Joe and Lillian Fuchs – I think they were actually performing the “Madrigals” that night on a concert, and they were rehearsing. They were standing, facing each other, nose to nose, and both of them were screaming! (He laughs). They were both about five feet tall, they were like these two little snarly dogs, yelling at each other, it was very funny. I’d be willing to bet you that she ended up winning the argument, too! She was a tough lady.  I can tell you that the Madrigals are very difficult, but Larry and I actually never yelled at each other while we rehearsed.

Haha.  I can always say the same thing with Leewen and I.  We’re almost TOO nice to each other :)

Right now, Helen is away on vacation in Hawaii while Leewen is enjoying her time in Queens teaching and hanging out with friends. Hopefully your summer is off to a great start and we look forward to giving you more updates.