News May 15, 2009

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Big changes: I’m located in New England these days.

Building violins with Jonathan Cooper in Portland, Maine. Teaching, touring, playing more music.

Settling in for a completely different summer from any I've experienced in many years.

What just happened?

3 months of constant touring and travelling all over the US.

Strings For Industry has a new CD! And a California tour.

the big ASTA convention in Atlanta,
with the new lineup of The Republic Of Strings,

concert dates with Yonder Mountain,

A beautiful fiddle canp event in Big Sur,

and an amazing, historic Duo tour with the legendary Swedish band Vasen of the east and west and midwes.!

Waltzed across Kansas and Oklahoma with Eugene Friesen and Phil Aaberg, a recording release as well. Big sky, big water tanks.

Oregon shows with the incredible Scott Law and the Bee Eaters, a residency and concert at Princeton College, an epic student recital in Maine, and a sojourn in West Virginia’s public school string program have been the highlights so far.

I’ve been playing an incredible new 5-string violin by the creative and incredibly talented builder Nathaniel Rowan… the Blue Snipper!
This is one of the most amazing-looking and sounding instruments I’ve ever used.

Big Wonderful gestures by good friends close and distant make a year of huge changes more bearable. A heartfelt thank-you to all you wonderful people and deepest apologies to those folks who know who they are.

Check out those CDs from the catalog!
Crosstime A new release! Darol with the amazing pianist Philip Aaberg. Darol & Phil worked together in Newgrange, and were labelmates at Windham Hill. This one features some radical reconstruction of some classical classics by Gershwin and Ravel,, and some of Darol’s most evocative compositions. And for those cozy winter evenings, don’t forget the Heritage recording…

Played with the Anonymous 4 in Berea, Kentucky; Reading, PA; and Notre Dame… and at an E-Town show in Portland on the 24, with Nick and Helen Forster, the incredible Darrell Scott, and Sarah McLaughlin…good singer. I hung in there! Didn’t play anything that hard, but I made music. December featured long trips away from home, bad weather on both coasts, an amazing show with the Monster String Quartet with the Yonder Mountain Dudes in a pre-NYE show in Denver with Yonder Mt. and holiday shows in both Portlands.

The recording is out, of the amazing young band The Bee Eaters! beeeaters.com!
You should buy it.

Also did some really fun string arrangements for the terrific Canadian vocalist Marc-Andre Fortin, adapting disco and country rock tunes to String Qt… it’s my thing, Rosie.

As time rolls on, the list of Wristathon thank-yous grows… what a year! Special thank yous to Jon Cooper, Ron & Wendy Cody, the Yonder Bowling League, Peter Milliken and 317 Main St, Harald Azmann, Kalev Freeman, the Hargreaves family, Jon Levene, Robert Kogut (I play his fiddles — he’s also a physical therapist!) some amazing people at www.explorethejourney.org, Richard Zirinsky, and Amber & Paul Vachon for help beyond all expectation. So time lurches on. More special thank yous to Harald Azmann, Kalev Freeman, the Hargreaves family, Jon Levene, Robert Kogut (I play his fiddles; he’s also a physical therapist!) some amazing people at www.explorethejourney.org, Richard Zirinsky, and wonderful folks all over.

I did get to do another terrific teaching residency in Boston, for the High school, middle school, and 6th grade orchestras in Belmont there. The kids were amazing and played my orchestra charts incredibly well, and we had a nice Republic Of Strings set folded into that concert too. Some of the ROS members came with me earlier in the week to help me demonstrate some of the techniques used in the music, and I wound up conducting the orchestras; a brand new experience for me! Slightly harrowing, because I don’t really know how to conduct yet. But I finally wound up enjoying the experience after much initial embarrassment. Thanks to Margot Reavey of the Belmont City School District and the members of the ROS for their wonderful support and faith in me.

Played a cool show in Boulder with Adam and Ben and Dave of Yonder fame… nice picture here. Photo: Tim Benko

I have some pristine vinyl of earlier projects dating back to 1980 or so, especially my Windham Hill recordings. Email me if you're interested.