It is that time of year again. Summer is screaming to a close and I find myself back at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music for more challenging and inspiring music and music making. For me, this festival is always a welcome end to my summer because it provides a much needed recharge of the artistic batteries that can tend to fade in sweltering Miami summers, especially when the rest of life creeps in and demand your attention. In fact, this summer I went into a bit of a self-imposed online exile (if you follow me on Twitter or Facebook you may have noticed), but now I am back in Santa Cruz, the weather is cool, rehearsals are underway, and I find myself back at one of my favorite Santa Cruz spots — Lulu Carpenter’s — enjoying a fabulous latte; I’m already feeling more energized.

Rehearsals for the festival are underway, with the first full orchestra rehearsal last night. This festival is Marin Alsop’s 20th anniversary as music director here and the festival promises to be extraordinary. Last night we began rehearsing pieces for the performance on Saturday night (Aug. 6). The bulk of the rehearsal was taken up with a piece that Marin discovered while conducting in Japan. The piece is by Shuko Mizuno — a composer that was unknown to me prior to this festival (here is a page with some info on Mizuno — and is fittingly titled “Summer”. It is a fascinating piece that captivates with an aggressive Neo-Romanticism: moments of great beauty are followed by passages of clamorous intensity. This piece is probably the most physical piece of the whole festival for me, which means that the tradition of starting this festival with a chop busting first rehearsal is alive and well.

This afternoon we tackle music from Friday night’s performance, which features music by Christopher Rouse, Mason Bates, James MacMillan, and Margaret Brouwer. It promises to be another demanding rehearsal, but I am really looking forward to hearing the music. As for now, it’s time to finish this latte and go warm up, I have a feeling my face will appreciate that.

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If you happen to have been following me on twitter lately, then you already know that I have been immersed in the world of new music via the portal that is the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music. CabFest 2010 was an extraordinary affair: 12 visiting composers including John Adams, Philip Glass, Kevin Puts, Jennifer Higdon, and Mark Anthony Turnage. Not bad company for a new music festival! It was a privilege and a treat to collaborate with the composers, and it was extraordinary to have so many of them in attendance. The biggest treat of this festival, however, was, as always, getting to play with this great orchestra under the expert guidance of Marin Alsop; it is a very rare thing to find an orchestra that matches up to what you always hoped playing in an orchestra would be like.

The festival lasts just two weeks, but reflecting on it now (as I “767-it” back to Miami) it seems that it runs for much longer; it’s like a Cabrillo time warp that makes the beginning of the festival seem even more distant than the days and weeks leading up to the festival. It’s a strange sensation. It definitely seems like long ago that Jennifer Higdon and Mark Anthony Turnage first turned up at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium for the first rehearsals of their pieces.

Given that distance in time (and the fact that a long-winded prose about the festival would read like the equivalent to “My Summer Vacation” and would be just as gripping now as it was when you were in 2nd grade) I have decided to go classic-blog-style and make a series of lists outlining the various peaks and valleys of our “Festival in the Fog”. Here goes:

Since this website is centered around trumpet, why not have the first lists feature things relevant to Gabriel’s instrument. If you are not a trumpet player then… well… Sorry.

Top Chop-Burner Pieces of CabFest 2010

1. Drowned Out by Mark Anthony Turnage
2. Symphony No. 3 by Michael Hersch
3. Concerto for Cello and Orchestra by Philip Glass

Summary: Starting with the trumpet-pig-head-list, this list shows the pieces that make you rub your cheeks, blow raspberries, and doubt the very reason you ever picked up this blasted mess of tubes (not to mention cursing under your breath at the composer). Turnage’s Drowned Out was one of the most physically intimidating pieces I’ve ever seen. I think I spent a whole concert’s worth of chops on one small section of the 1st movement alone. Proceed with care (i.e. run like hell) If you see this piece show up on your stand. Actually, that isn’t quite true. I really did enjoy this playing this piece when all was said and done. It was a bit daunting in the practice room however.

I’m not sure if the Michael Hersch was harder on the face, or more demanding technically. Either way, it was the hands down hardest trumpet part of the festival. Bravo to Micah Wilkinson for a fantastic job on the 2nd trumpet part. As for the Philip Glass: it’s like the Caruso 6 notes, only much longer, higher, and more interesting rhythmically. This piece will want to make you pack along a face-masseuse if you take it on tour; and to make matters worse, the rest of the orchestra will stare at you in confusion if you tell them it is physically demanding.

Favorite Trumpet Solos/Moments of CabFest 2010

1. City Noir by John Adams (solo)
2. Having Mark Inouye down from the San Francisco Symphony to play second trumpet on City Noir.
3. Chicago Remains by Mark Anthony Turnage (off-stage solo)
4. On A Wire by Jennifer Higdon (trumpet “trios”)
5. Symphony No.3 by Michael Hersch (impossible trumpet writing)

Summary: John Adams has now, IMHO, written the top two trumpet solos in the entire literature. My favorite remains the stunningly beautiful and moving solo in Doctor Atomic, but the City Noir solo is a close second. Now all that remains is to get him to write us a trumpet concerto. I mentioned this to him after the concert last Saturday and he seemed to have his interest piqued a bit. Hopefully there will be some way to get this great composer to write a piece for our instrument. The trumpet deserves it, it really does.

Having Mark Inouye (Principal Trumpet in the San Francisco Symphony) down to play second trumpet on City Noir was a real treat. It was like old home week for us, playing in a section together again. I think we managed to rock the house pretty well, if I do say so myself.

The solo in the Turnage Chicago Remains is truly haunting and is surprisingly written in the 3rd trumpet part. This solo is not really a solo per se, as it is played in a unison trio with soprano sax and clarinet. Whether you call it a trio or a solo, it’s still very demanding, with wide leaps in all directions and soaring up to a high D (concert) at the end. But it really is a beautiful line and it is a joy to play in spite of its difficulty. The only other entry on the list that needs explaining is the Hersch. I included it here because it is simply very rewarding to pull off something that you were pretty sure was impossible when you were learning it. Also, in spite of its fast and rangy flourishes that are nearly impossible to play (much less sing) excerpts from this part kept spinning around in my head, making me look like a total idiot walking around Santa Cruz trying to hum them.

Okay, hopefully making lists about the top trumpet moments of the festival will pacify my inner geek for the moment. I will keep assimilating ideas for further lists that aren’t focused on the trumpet, so there is more to come. If you were at the festival and want to suggest a list, or entries on a list, please send me an email or simply comment below.

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As I sit here waiting for the radio feature to play on KALW, (in case you haven’t heard, there will be an hour long interview/special on me and my music on KALW San Francisco public radio tonight at 8pm PDT. To hear it, visit this page and select “Listen Live”) I am struck by what an eventful day it has been. I coached the brass section out at the New World Symphony for the first time this year, received 4 perusal scores in the mail for some amazing (yet devastatingly hard) modern trumpet concertos, and then have the radio interview coming later tonight. Throw in a few good hours of practice and you have a pretty damn good day!

The New World coaching was an intense 2 hour immersion into audition preparation and philosophy. Those guys hung in there and asked some fantastic questions over the course of the long lecture/discussion. Hopefully it helped them de-mystify the audition process somewhat. The afternoon was followed with a couple of great lessons with more excellent questions. All in all, my time on the beach was draining, but very rewarding.

And when I got home, I had the four perusal scores waiting invitingly on the front porch (I can’t help but laugh at the thought of someone stealing the package, ripping it open, and looking with wonder and disgust at what they had collected as “loot”). The pieces are:

• Turnage – From the Wreckage
• Gruber – Aerial
• Gruber – Busking
• MacMillan – Epiclesis

These are intense pieces and even just looking at the score is daunting. Like always, though, a little time to reflect and process can make even the most complex and difficult things possible. It’s a remarkable process, really. The piece by Gruber titled Busking is a new and fascinating piece. It is written for solo trumpet, banjo, accordion and strings! I haven’t really had a chance to dig into this one yet, but my first impression is a good one. Look for more thoughts about this piece in the future. There’s lots more to share (and posts will be more regular if it kills me), but for now I will add writing for my blog to the list of rewarding activities today. No complaints. Now, hopefully I didn’t make a fool of myself in this interview…

Here I am — once again blogging from the airplane, thumbing my way across my tiny virtual keyboard, able now to reflect on what was an unpredictable, edgy, adventurous, and successful music festival, a festival that defies conventional classical music world logic, that challenges its audience and orchestra in unimaginable ways, and in so doing, rewards them in an equally fascinating and unpredictable manner. Cabrillo. Marin Alsop. Santa Cruz. This is where it’s at if you want to know what is actually happening in art music today (or the so-called and woefully named “classical music” if you prefer). For two short weeks in Santa Cruz, some of the best musicians in the world convene for a musical exploration that is unparalleled and truly out of this world, and the 2009 edition certainly did not disappoint.

You may wonder about the basis on which I stake these grandiose claims. If so, pull up a google window and check these names out.

Composers in attendance in 2009: Osvaldo Golijov, Avner Dorman, Brett Dean, David Heath, Enrico Chapela, Joby Talbot, Kevin Puts, Ingram Marshall.

Other notable composers who had pieces featured in 2009: Aaron Jay Kernis, James MacMillan, Magnus Lindberg.

Throw in a fantastic orchestra, an incredibly efficient management team, and an out-of-this-world music director in Marin Alsop — one of the foremost champions of new music, a leader with artistic vision, musical integrity of the highest caliber, and a work ethic that would make Paul Bunyan weep — and the result is a sort of musical perfect storm: a two week Santa Cruzian Nirvana for music and musicians.

In case you can’t tell, I had a pretty good time at Cabrillo. I had intended to write regularly during the festival, but as it continued to unfold before me, it became more and more difficult to find time to even reflect on what was going on, much less write about it. On top of that, my second week of the festival featured a major concerto performance combined with an untimely and completely unexpected lip infection. Got your attention now? I thought maybe. No need to worry though, the concerto performance came off beautifully and received a rousing reception, all thanks to the miracle of antibiotics. Well, that and literally countless hours of preparation, but you probably guessed that part already.

As the festival approaches each year, and as I prepare the unrelenting music, I wonder how we will ever live through it this time. But each year as the festival closes, I am left wondering how we will live without it.

In the next few days I’ll recount some of my experiences from the last two weeks, the same experiences I had planned on communicating while they happened, but which sucked me in to such a degree that they left me unable to write about them as they unfolded.

Perhaps through these writings you will see why I think the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music is such an extraordinary event, and why I think it deserves even more attention than it already gets. But for right now, I’m going to raise my tray table, close my eyes, and rest — the sounds from yesterday’s concert in the Mission San Juan Bautista still soaring through my mind.

CabMuFest 09 has come and gone. I for one, am sad to see it go, but with the 2009 version disappearing in the rear-view mirror, I am already looking forward to the next one emerging on the horizon, curious about all the wonders it may have in store. Bring it on.

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If someone wanted to find me in Santa Cruz, they could do worse than to go to Lulu Carpenter’s and look behind any latte they see. Yes, I am back here again this morning after a fun, but grueling night of rehearsing, enjoying another beautiful latte, and doing research. Research, you may ask? Yes, research. And at the moment, the research isn’t going particularly well. You see, I am trying to describe the opening of last night’s rehearsal, lest you confuse the Cabrillo Festival with, well… with pretty much anything, really.

I arrived at the hall early to take another look at the music and to get set up. When I arrived they were doing a sound check for the first piece on the rehearsal, Moments of Bliss by Brett Dean. They were setting levels for the MIDI track, which includes a huge variety of sounds, including something akin to a jet engine blasting away with intermittent spoken phrases interspersed throughout. I look to my right and see that there is a large spinning wheel that looks a bit like a giant dartboard that fell out of a carnival arcade, complete with a big blue flashing light on top — this is apparently the “Wheel of Fortune”, but I’m not sure of the significance of that just yet. From there I look to the front of the stage and I see Concertmaster Yumi Hwang-Williams standing there holding a 5 string electric violin. Nice.

Once the piece starts, however, unique goes to bizarre. Towards the beginning of the piece is a nice harmon mute trumpet solo marked “smoky” (hmm… As Marin Alsop pointed out to me, perhaps “smokie” would have been a better choice). The solo is a pretty straightforward, jazz influenced, harmon mute solo, nothing too bizarre there. But in this solo, there are a couple of small breaks between solo statements (approx. a bar of rest each). Now, I had been envisioning a certain kind of music in these breaks, and the actual music that is in these breaks isn’t far from what I had imagined. What got my attention, though, was when members of the orchestra suddenly grabbed 3 foot long plastic hoses and began spinning them over their head! You know the ones, they are made of ridged plastic and make a pitched “whooo… whoooo… whooo” as you spin them. The faster you spin them, the higher the pitch. So there I am, trying to play a beautiful trumpet solo, and every time I stop playing my colleagues grab plastic hoses and spin them around over their heads. Somehow, I’m not sure that my musical expressivity is really coming across…

And this is where the research comes in. What are those plastic tubes called? I Googled everything I could think of and I even sent a text question to KGB (the text answer service), all to no avail. All I got from them was “everyday there are a few questions that we can’t answer and unfortunately yours was one of them.” Craig: 1 KGB:0. Great. I am winning a game I don’t even want to win!

So the Cabrillo Festival is underway again, my face already feels abused, and I am back at Lulu Carpenter’s ruminating over a latte.

It’s all good.

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