Beethoven Weekend

This weekend Chuck and I spent a lot of our time in Columbus for the CIP Beethoven 9 concert. We were there all day Saturday for the dress rehearsal and then the concert. Chuck was singing in the choir and had a great time. He was also the designated flower-bringer-outer at the end of the concert for the soprano soloist. I was playing piccolo. The thing about Beethoven 9 is that the piccolo only plays in the very last movement, and not until pretty late in the movement. So the entire orchestra has been playing together for maybe 40 minutes, while the piccolo player sits there, counting and waiting for the little solo in the Turkish march. It's difficult to stay "warmed up" that long and to come in quietly enough and in tune. So I felt good to have a successful performance of that under my belt. It was my first time performing any part of the symphony, so it was a great experience.

Most of my Sunday was spent trying to get a clean apartment back. Our friend Peter (Indiana Peter, not Columbus Peter) is staying with us Thursday night, and the apartment was looking pretty bad. Also, on Sunday, May 6, we are celebrating Chuck's graduation and 28th birthday with a BBQ! Please come join us! (This is a change from our original party date of May 5th, because Chuck has ANOTHER interview - this one local - so we had to move things around.)

I haven't been running all weekend due to all of this, but Lenny and I are going today after work.

TODAY IS THE LAST DAY OF CLASSES! HALLELUJIAH!

Chuck's castle

So this is the Schloss Arenberg, where Chuck will be living this summer while he is in Salzburg for five weeks.

Meanwhile, I will be busy working at new student orientation! I'm thrilled.

Chuck did get a job interview, and if he got the job, it would save me from the onslaught of 300 new students - because we would have to move away from Bloomington. His audition is next week. We don't want to get our hopes up too high, but please keep your fingers crossed for him.

June reminded me that I had not given any running updates lately. Nothing to brag about - last Friday I tried to go running with the dog at our usual trail at Griffy Lake. He was so tired and stubborn that I almost started crying out of frustration. (We had been to the dog park the day before and he wore himself out.) He just wouldn't really run and wanted to stop and pee on EVERYTHING! He's very good at digging his heels in while you're pulling on his leash at the other end. So we only went about one mile, walking and running. On Sunday I went running without him because I was still mad. The trail was really crowded so that made it difficult, and again I only did the one-mile lap. I'm full of excuses this week!

Tonight my friend Gaye is coming with Lenny and me to the trail and we are going to walk. It's gotten really warm again - spring is back!

Student Conductors Concert

Charles had his final concert at IU on Sunday night. The student conductors conducted the University Orchestra, and Chuck conducted the Prometheus Overture by Beethoven.


This is Chuck with his friend and colleague Lawrence. Lawrence is one of my favorite people in Chuck's studio.


This is Chuck with Tom, the coordinator for all of the orchestras at IU. He has been very supportive of Chuck throughout his three years here.


This is Chuck with Andy, one of the doctoral students. He conducted the doctoral dissertation piece, which is usually what Chuck gets assigned. (Chuck was glad to have Beethoven, though the dissertation piece was pretty cool.)


This is Chuck and the wonderful Mr. Baldner. He is one of Chuck's teachers and has been wonderful to him from Day 1. And Day 1 began back when Chuck was a senior at Ohio State. He emailed some conducting professors to ask for advice on graduate school, and Mr. Baldner emailed his phone number to him. They chatted for an hour!


Our friends Gaye and Rob came to the concert to support Chuck, and we all had ice cream afterwards to celebrate.


Here is Chuck with his conducting buddies, Ben, Andy, and David. David went to BU for his undergrad, but it was after I was there.


And finally, Maestro Baldner with the young Maestros, including Chuck's good friend Thomas.

Exciting news

Chuck had kind of a tough day yesterday - he got two rejection letters from some summer possibilities he was looking into.

But today, he got some amazing news about his summer. He won the Karajan Fellowship for Young Conductors, and he will spend 5 weeks at the Salzburg Festival in Austria this summer. His travel expenses and room and board are paid for by the fellowship.
This is very prestigious - only 2 young conductors from around the world are selected each year. If you look at previous fellows, you will see two of Chuck's colleagues - Phil and Dongmin. According to Phil, it is the principal players of the Vienna Philharmonic that watch the videos of the applicant conductors, and select the best. This is the best conducting achievement he's had in a very long time, if not the best ever!! He's turning in to a big shot. :)

Also, an update on his pops concert this summer - it will not be in June. It will now be in Bloomington on July 1. Everyone is invited!

It was a year ago today that we lost our five students in the plane crash. It's hard to believe it's been that long already, but it's especially hard to see all of the Virginia Tech coverage and know that they are going through a similar event, losing so many of their students, faculty, and staff. I can't imagine what a tremendous burden that must be, but we share in their heartache.

What is also very sad to me is the fact that the Korean community here in Bloomington is very frightened about retaliation over the Virginia Tech massacre. My friend Hyun Jung, who I play flute duets with, said that events at his church and other places are being cancelled, and that he doesn't want to be out in public. (It doesn't help that the KKK is threatening to march in Bloomington tomorrow.) We were disappointed because we want to go out to dinner and celebrate with Hyun Jung - he improved his TOEFL (English exam) score by 20 points. He only needed three points higher to be accepted into the masters program, but he's been working very hard on his English and scored that much higher. (I had been helping him practice speaking and listening for the test, but that's the only category that actually went down! D'oh!) So congratulations to Hyun Jung - and we'll celebrate a little later.

Off to a running start

So Monday was the running of the Boston Marathon. As you may know, my dad has run the Boston Marathon course very recently, besides running a marathon when he was about my age, I believe. Last summer I began my quest to become a runner; or rather, someone who was capable of jogging more than 100 yards without stopping to walk. My goal was to run a 5K but I was unable to complete the one in October without stopping to walk once. So now that it is spring, I have started my quest again - and Monday's Boston Marathon was my symbolic, psychological start. I am going to be one of the people running, not the guy watching with the Dunkin' Donuts coffee!

My first goal will be to complete a 5K - NO WALKING. I've decided to update my progress on the blog so I am accountable to more than my tired legs - everyone can share in my training misery and successes. I have announced it to the world, so now I have to do it!

My boss (a tri-athlete and marathon runner) has been encouraging my running since last year, and giving Chuck tips with his running. He asked on Monday if I had heard that the half-marathon in Bloomington date had been announced (the half-marathon that Chuck ran last year), and I said I had - Sept. 8th. "Are you going to run it this year?" he asked.

"Oh, I think I'm going to try!" I said foolishly, thinking in my head that it would be a good achievable goal. If Chuck can do it, why can't I? "I've got new shoes and I've already started jogging with the dog!" I went jogging that evening and regretted my optimism. I'm going to start with the 5K and see what happens from there. :)

Tuesday evening I ran in the woods by Griffy Lake (our favorite trails) with Lenny. We ran about 2 miles, with several stops to walk. He is doing great - he runs behind me, but he doesn't put on the brakes randomly anymore, and I don't have to tug on his leash to get him to run rather than walk. That helps me a lot. I also have my cool Nike gear thanks to my mom, my iPod with cheesy workout music, and I'm tracking my progress on nikerunning.com. 5K here I come!

Lenny's Photo Shoot

Lenny actually sat still last night long enough for me to snap a few pictures on the cell phone. As you can see, he just had a hair cut.



AREN'T I CUTE?

KELLEY'S BOYS



SAY CHEESE! (See his teeth?)

TIM GUNN

"Designers, read an article all about me, in today's New York Times!"

Happy Easter

A long, long time ago, my mom lobbied for Seatbelts on Schoolbuses! Now we have Seatbelts on Terriers! I got Lenny a little car harness that buckles in to the seatbelt so he doesn't get jostled around by Chuck's driving when we go to the dog park. Yes, I know, some of you may think that's weird. But for those of you who have pets like Lenny that go nuts at a drive-thru window, you can get the harness at Target - it's about $9.

I can just picture Lenny's TV editorial..."Some people say we'd chew on the belts, but we don't. Some people say we'd wriggle out of the belts, but we don't. Some people say we won't jump around without seatbelts - (paw up to face for emphasis) - but we do! Tell your legislator that YOU (paw points to the camera) want seatbelts on your terriers." Any of those yellow t-shirts left, Mom? :)

Lenny had a lot of fun looking for Easter eggs yesterday. We hid some around the apartment with doggie T-Bonz treats in them. He figured out how to get the plastic eggs open to get the treat out, and he thought it was a really fun game. My dad sent the annual Easter treasure hunt puzzle via email. It was a good puzzle and took me about half an hour to solve. (And just a little bit of Googling.) Thanks Dad! :)

More good news

Congratulations to our friend Pete in Columbus, OH - he just got promoted to manager at his job!!

Congratulations also to Jamie Barton, a colleague of ours here at IU. She just won the Metropolitan Opera competition in New York City. She is an amazing singer and also is one of the nicest people in the entire world.

News

Here is a website for my sister's new hospital where she will be working. I hope we get a tour when we go out to NH in May!

Congratulations to my friend Mary Ann, who is expecting her second child!

And speaking of new babies, how cute is my new niece Elise? Her christening is in two weeks, but unfortunately, we won't be able to go. The Maestro is busy.

Chuck's two concerts (CIP and his youth orchestras) both went really well. He had a really successful weekend.


My friend Jason was featured in the NH Union Leader newspaper!

Chuck was interviewed this morning for his own profile in IU's student newspaper, the Indiana Daily Student. The story will be published later this week, so I will be sure to post a link.