Sunday — Did the first “Generations” concert in Kitchener-Waterloo. It’s basically a family concert in the Bernstein tradition. Serious music, serious explanations, made fun. It was a blast to go through the fugato in the last movmement of Mozart 41 with the audience. I’ve recently taken to explaining counterpoint to non-musician audiences as Sudoku puzzles of Sound. At the end of the performance it was satisfying to feel that the audience was not only applauding the tunes and the performance, but also some really good counterpoint.

Monday — in Chicago for one day to conduct the CSO in a benefit concert with Joshua Bell. First time I’ve worked with him. He played a beautiful Bruch concerto. He really has a lot to say with that piece. It was a wonderful, spacious journey. Also some Bizet, Rimsky-Korsakov and Mendelssohn Hebrides. The orchestra told me they hadn’t played that in many years. Too bad — I think it is as close to perfect as music gets, so I programmed it again for our next concert together. At 6:30 (before the concert) I ran over to Harris Theater to hear a run-thru of Nico Muhly’s new piece “Step Team.” But I was a half hour too late! Instead, I got to hear some snippets of a Septet by 19-year-old Mark Simpson, who is from the UK. Enjoyed what I heard — colorful, swirling texture — looking forward to hearing more.

Tuesday — Back to KW to rehearse for our next Intersections concert. It’s all Latin American stuff with Golijov (Last Round) and Ginastera (Variaciones Concertantes). Gabriela Lena Frank is our guest composer/solist for her piece “Compadrazgo.” And she’ll explain her composing process with slides, and musical examples from her piece “Leyendas.” She travels around Latin America seeking out music in the most remote places, and integrating it into her elegant, deftly orchestrated, and fetching music. She’s also a great Musical Spirit. Love her.

Wednesday — Meetings, tech rehearsals, Orchestra Business, interview, rehearsal, blog entry, 30 Rock on DVD, sleep.

Earlier this week I got to drop the puck at a Kitchener Rangers hockey game. It was actually the first live game I’ve ever seen. I liked it. And yes, there were a few fights.

They won, of course, and I had a wonderful conversation about the Berg Violin Concerto in the luxury box ( I didn’t bring it up!). It was a sold out game of 6000 people.

This weekend about 4000 people will come to hear the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony perform Mozart, Rossini, and a new symphony by Canadian composer Gary Kulesha. I’ll be conducting and our brilliant concertmaster Steve Sitarski will be soloist in Mozart’s 5th violin concerto.  I understand he’s brought along some tambourines.

We’re launching our new Intersections series in Kitchener-Waterloo this coming Thursday, October 18. I created this series because I’ve met so many interesting artists in the last few years who really deserved their own shows. I want to give them 90 minutes to be who they are — to play, talk, and share images and video. The thing all of these artists have in common is that they’re not “straight classical.” Their art intersects with classical music but doesn’t live exclusively there.

Take Wallace Halladay, our guest on Thursday …

He’ll bring us through the entire history of the saxophone, from early salon music to Charlie Parker to early concert pieces by Schmitt and Ibert. We’ll end two pieces by living composers, Muldowney and Kancheli.

Kancheli’s “Night Prayers” is a 20-minute piece which is more or less a musical haunted house (all of his music is, really …), we’re going to turn down the lights and project some images to go along with it.

After Wallace, we’ll feature composer Gabriela Lena Frank, and mad violinist Gilles Apap.

I hope you get the idea of what this series is about. I don’t know another orchestra that does it … I’ll let you know if it works!

Here are a few choice images from Kitchener-Waterloo’s Oktoberfest Parade.

Happy Thanksgiving Canada!

Here’s my carriage and cool outfit.

with the President of Oktoberfest and Miss Oktoberfest.
With the Presidents of the various German clubs in KW and their “misses!”

– Got my Lederhosen (pictures to follow)

– Had my first shot of Jägermeister in many, many, years

– Discovered that I have formidable crossbow skills (see photo below)

– Drank beer and ate sausage

News Flash! I’m the Grand Marshal of the Kitchener-Waterloo OKTOBERFEST! The parade will be seen by 135,000 people live and 1.2 million on national television. It’s the biggest Oktoberfest outside of Munich. I’m currently considering what my wave is going to look like, and feeling fortunate that I really like beer.

Wacky photos to follow, I’m sure.

This is the video we produced and ran opening night at the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony. It caused a huge reaction on Friday night, as the audience cheered during the video at all the right times. I think it is a good reflection of the vibe we want to create in the hall. It was produced by JUMP Creative in Toronto. Notice how the used the colored lines of my own website in their video — very cool!