September 21 - Post-Apocalyptic Fantasies

First rehearsal, at Chamber Arts, of John Bilata's Quantum Mechanic, plus revival of Antigone (above from the 2001 production, with Mark Alburger, Laetitia C. Page, and David Saslav) and we have excellent casts for both, graced by Alex Katsman's amazing nine-finger-piano work,


and such stars as Adam Broner and Eliza O'Malley (who will share the latter title role this time around with Tisha), all under the direction of Harriet March Page.



Dinner with Harriet at local bistro, then she's off to a Modesto hotel for a job early tomorrow and I am left to my own devices, finishing orchestration of Abraham and Isaac: XI. The Sacrifice, a total of 72 pages.

June 30 - Absence Makes the Heart On Target

Harriet is off to Seattle for a month to visit Tisha, Clare, Joe, Marek, et. al (above is from the 19th Avenue post-Tisha concert this past May -- H, T, and Douglas Mandell).



On the local front, it's south -- approaching the fog hanging over the Sulfur Springs Mountains,



threatening Long Barn and the Chinese Wall,



Eden,



and Horse Farm -- beyond to



Mt. Diablo looking suspiciously hazy (another fire?),



to a very sleepy classroom (session doesn't start for another 15 minutes, one trusts there will be more [and more alert] students by that point).....



Loop home past the Hercules Oil Field Open Space -- just how many pages of Mice and Men Act V Scene 2 C can there be? 8 prepared for publication, and counting...

May 25 - St Gregory of Nigh Extravaganza

Nice turnout for the Tisha-Pagliacci show at St. Gregory of Nyssa, San Francisco, but first



church at same, with Sanford Dole conducting, and we decide to join his excellent choir. Sanford mentions thereafter, in passing, an upcoming concert of compositions by members on texts of the saints (the expanded SGN take) on the walls,



including William Blake, so am happy to provide a choral arrangement of Op 108 Blake House: I. To the Muses, which I will do by this Thursday evening's rehearsal.



After an interval, we gear up for the Tisha-et-al performance with Harriet March Page and Rachel Deatheridge,



Rachel's family,



and the Project Opera folks assembling --




for Johann Strauss, Jr., Die Fledermaus and Puccini La Boheme excerpts, including Rachel in the former's "Adele's Laughing Song," and



Letitia Page in the latter's La Boheme (Mimi's Act I aria),



plus Harriet in the Leonard Bernstein Candide "Old Lady's Tango" (assisted by a certain certainly uncertain caballero),



and a first-part conclusion back to Fleder "Champagne," tra-la!



Intermission with Harriet overseeing all,



including Lisa Prosek,



Sharon Walters, Kat Cornelius, and Suzanna Mizell.



The ensuing Leoncavallo Pagliacci is taken in by Suzanna and Tisha



as Eliza O'Malley frolics



and Mark Narins closes in.



After-concert party at 19th and Pennsylvania,




with fine views of the City,




280 and the new tower,



Bay Bridge,



and East Bay Hills environs...




graced by Harriet holding forth -- entertaining and



entertained.




This investigative one-eyed jack reporter can testify that



the house is well-apportioned within (right down to the amazingly mirrors)



with folliage well-proportioned without.



We make our way home, past the golden season of the North Lagoon Mountains (note those three oaks at extreme right crest -- they have a lot of character),



and make a bit of time for score publication preparation of page 8 Mice and Men, Act V, Scene 2.

May 23 - Of Women and Pagliacci

Page 7 Mice and Men: Act V, Scene 2 (The Pond) prepared for publication, then off to school to meet with students for last-minute work, followed by over the bridge and rehearsal at St. Gregory's



(500 De Haro Street) in San Francisco



with Eliza and friend and Harriet,



Rachel and




Robert, and



Tisha (with her partner in time for Puccini La Boheme excerpt), including



Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, where Mark Narrins gives us the Attack of the Clown



(with Eliza down),



ranting and



touching.

May 22 - Concert and Rehearsal

Great last session with the Theory folks, with all their talented offerings for our final session of last-minute corrections and concert-presentations, including a group sing-shout of Fresno from San Fernando Hub.



Eventually off to Chamber Arts for the first rehearsal of the Tisha recital / Pagliacci program, with Harriet March Page and Robert Ashens,



with Tisha



and Harriet fully engaged.



Then the Pagliacci folks tear up the scenery in the dark night of the soulful,



for Mark Narrin's boffo "No More Rice Krispies" (that's the way it goes, thinks EM sitting on the sofa)



and Eliza O'Malley down for the count (almost a psuedo-Stravinskian sung-to-death deal!)



Finish up Noah, Noah FX (rather a lot, really) instrumental PV recording in the lab prior to this.