February has turned out to be a really busy month. First, I spent a few days in Toronto with violinist Parmela Attariwala, to rehearse for our upcoming concerts of the Attar Project.
On Friday, February 4, we performed at Somewhere There, one of Toronto's renowned improv venues. We performed as part of the Leftover Daylight series, curated by talented trumpetist, improviser, and composer Nicole Rampersaud. We opened with Nicole's composition, The Road Ahead, which is also the title track of our CD. Next on the program was Paul Frehner's Oracle, followed by a 30-minute tabla solo in Teentaal. It was an improv venue after-all. :) We concluded the evening with a very different rendition of Nicole's The Road Ahead.
On Sunday, February 6, we closed the Hamilton Philharmonic's What Next? festival of new music at the Pearl Factory in Hamilton, Ontario. Parmela opened with Frank, which is one of her compositions with dance choreography.
I then followed with a short unaccompanied solo in Teentaal, while Parmela did a quick costume change!
The remainer of the program consisted of Nicole Rampersaud's The Road Ahead, Meiro Stamm's The Melody of Rhythm, Paul Frehner's Oracle, Robert Rosen's LA, and Christien Ledroit's Never the Twain Shall Meet.
The following week, I flew to Windsor, Ontario, where I was in residence for the Windsor Canadian Music Festival. On February 9, I participated in a round-table discussion with composer Brent Lee, percussionist/composer Nicholas Papador, conductor/composer Brian Current, and pianist/composer Lee Pui Ming. The discussion began with the music of Claude Vivier and spectral music, followed by a discussion of cross-cultural music. Later that day, I gave a tabla workshop for students at the University of Windsor, hosted by Prof. Nick Papador. The workshop ended with an impromptu tabla solo, with Nick playing lahara on piano!
February 11, was the big day - performing Trade Winds, a concerto for tabla with string orchestra by composer Christien Ledroit. The Windsor Symphony Orchestra was directed by guest conductor Brian Current. The concert was recorded by CBC for future radio broadcast, as well as for my upcoming CD (projected release is for fall 2011). Unfortunately, I don't have any photos from during the performance - only from the bow at the end.
The following day, I performed Jim Hiscott's Shadow Play, for flute and tabla, with talented flautist Jamie Wagner as part of the University of Windsor's faculty concert. This concert was also recorded by CBC for future broadcast.
This was just the first two weeks of February. There is yet more to report, but I will save that for a future blog posting...
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