Greetings from Lisbon! (Iowa that is!)

So it seems like this is the start of a pretty successful tour! My first day (Tuesday) was spent in Chicago, hanging out with my dear friend (and classmate from High School) Enrico Spada, who is now a director in the Chicago area! (Photos were not taken because we were having too much fun catching up and we simply forgot!)

This morning I drove to Iowa City early this morning. Leaving Chicago was pretty gloomy and cloudy, but once I crossed the Mississippi River, the sun came out, and it was a glorious day. I had the privilege of working with University of Iowa Professor Christine Rutledge’s viola students in a masterclass, hearing part of Erwin Schulhoff’s trio for piccolo, viola and bass (the Furiant movement), as well as works by Stamitz and Quincy Porter! It was great getting to learn more about these pieces, and helping the students fine tune their craft.

Tonight I had the privilege of performing at Heritage Hall at the Lisbon Public Library. I learned from their new Executive Director Elizabeth Hoover de Galvez that it was one of the oldest buildings on the block (dating back to 1865 or so), and they even had performers sign parts of the wall (with signatures going back as far as 1877 and the 1880s). I had the honor of signing the wall as well tonight. It was pretty awesome introducing members of the Lisbon community to the works of 5 new (to them) composers, Günter Raphael, Donna Doyle, Sakari Dixon Vanderveer, and Anthony R. Green, and juxtapose all of their works with one of Bach’s Suites (No. 2). I will get to perform the same recital tomorrow night at the University of Iowa in their new beautiful recital hall!

I’ll leave you with a few fun photos from Lisbon. More updates tomorrow after tomorrow night’s performance in Iowa City!