summer gigs and stuff

So long since my last post - seems kinda silly to post when I'm just doing the same thing! But Annie is finally over and it was mostly fun - the pit was great (IMHO). I was worried that I wouldn't have anything to do after the show, but I was asked to sub for a chamber group while the usual oboe player recovers from heart surgery (she's doing great). They rehearse once a week and the most interesting piece to me is the Bloch 4 settings for Chamber orchestra, really fun and not too challenging but not boring. I've never heard it before, and it has been fun to play with some new people in town.

Then I got a call from the HSO, a group about 5 hours away. They need a principle oboe for their Fireworks concert, an outdoor "Spanish Nights" theme. We will do lots of Carmen excertps, Espana, Bolero and Caprricio Espanol. I'm kind of nervous since I won't be able to go to any rehearsals until the Thursday before Sat concert, but I've played most of this stuff and there seem to be excellent rehearsal notes. Seems that many people are imported to play, so I won't be the only one.

Then our local Fireworks Concert is the next week, which is the oboe (and bassoon) extravaganza - 20 (or more) oboes, 4 EH, 16 bassoons, 8 horns, 8 picc tpts and percussion. This is the instrumentation of Handel's Fireworks Music (the real version!) and we've done it every year for 31 years - really fun to see all my oboe playing friends every year. Besides the Fireworks Music, we play arrangements of various pieces. It's a free concert, and of course the highlight is the coordinated fireworks during the Handel. We play on this floating stage on the river, and the audience is all over the lawn of the big park on the bank. Fun.

After a family vacation, the little orchestra is doing a pops concert, labor day and then season opener (Mahler 1!). I haven't been playing the clarinet since Annie, but I'd like to keep those doubles going - and the jazz band is patiently waiting for me to come back with my tenor sax on Tuesdays...What happened to slow boring summers?