Soooo… a week and a half ago we performed at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston with Sarah Mead! What a treat! It was a cram packed few days as we picked up Sarah from the airport with her beautiful instrument and then rehearsed and rehearsed… ate something… rehearsed and on and and on and… wine time! (priorities, am I right?!) …. and rehearsed some more. It was really a fantastic selection of pieces and a real experience to play with such a lovely, sensitive player. My particular favorite was the last one on the program – Jenkins Ecco Courante and The 5 Bells which was a musical depiction of change ringing, something which was a new phenomenon at the time of the piece. For the audience, it was a special occasion because many of these works are not recorded, so that may be the only opportunity some people will ever get to hear some of the things that were played!
Getting ready for performance at MFAH with Sarah Mead on the Lyra Viol
On another note we are SUPER DUPER excited to let you know that efforts at raising the funds we need to go to the competition in England are coming along! We just found out we recieved $1,100 of the travel grant we applied for from the Viola da Gamba Society of America (VdGSA) . That is amazing! Stephanie will also be using her airmiles to purchase part of her flights so that saves on some of the expenses. We have updated our fundraiser campaign to reflect this. Now we only have $3,920 to go!!!
We are asking for your help urgently though. In order to get the best deals, we need to purchase flights as soon as possible and right now…. we got to be honest… we can’t afford the rest of the funds necessary to do that…. so we are asking you to help us to raise $500.00 by May 2! So soon… I know, but that is when the flights we have reserved will be let go and there is a limited amount of seats available for air mile purchase.
Visit our fundraiser below by clicking on the picture below!
And now…. last but not least… we have one more concert left in the season and we have a two wonderful guests joining us for this one! James Brown – an all around killin gamba player AND Ben Geier – with vocals that sound like oil on your heart….
We hope that you will be able to join us and look forward to visiting with you there!
lestouchesconsort 