It has been over a year since my last performance of this great work, and there could not be a more perfect setting than my friends’ home. This past year of semi-isolation and reflection has been a gift for my violin playing, with regular focussed practice without interruption producing a refined harmony between Music and my spirit, body and instrument. A change in the position in which I hold the violin, and a practiced integration with allowing bones and tendons to do the work of playing  (as opposed to muscles), has facilitated the articulation of the three – occasionally four – voices that are at the heart of Bach’s writing for the solo violin.  This is what I have been striving for since the beginning of the project.

In musical terms I found myself once again exploring the freedom of pulse in the Sarabande and the Chaconne…meaning I allow a phrase to have it’s own speed and character according to the musical inspiration of the moment – linking the flow of the inner pulse to the relationship between the tones of the bass line. 

I cannot say how gratifying it is and how happy I am to play for my friends – live and in-person!

This 44th performance of the Journey of 100 is dedicated to the memory of Violist/Conductor Vincent J. Lionti, who passed away last April from COVID19 related illness.

Free Zoom Webcast featuring Vocalist David J Kennet, Sound Healer Serena Buschi, and Qigong Practitioner Phillip J. Coyle

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Hi everyone – I collaborated in the creation of this new and exciting ballet that reveals some of the “secret messages” long attributed to Shostakovich’s music.

Scene: A Place out of Time – Alison Cook Beatty Dance Co.  photo © Paul B. Goode

Messages In Time

Saturday November 9, 2019 8pm Capezio Theater at Peridance, 126 East 13th Street, just off Union Square.

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Photos, the music, and the creative process

Shem Alison Cook Beatty, Artistic Director ACB Dance photo © Russell Haydn

This performance, arranged at the last minute, was somewhat raw from my point of view, yet (seemingly) extraordinarily powerful for the artists and their companions who were attending.

In our training as violinists, polished performance is a professional essential.  However I am reminded by this evening that the spiritual and emotional power of Music transcends all the notions of “polished performance” we are trained to set as standards and goals.  In fact, without it we accomplish little for others, and diminish the return for ourselves.

I feel privileged to have been invited by retreat leaders Tim Hawkesworth and Lala Zeitlin, and for being so well received by the artists with whom they are working.  My thanks to you all.