Monday, June 20, 2011

The show must go on! (part 2)

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. Right after I found out Okemo won 1st place in the SAM competition, I was so sick that I slept right through the DePaul winners' recital! I was supposed to solo with DePaul's Oistrach Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Mina Zikri because I won one of the divisions. I was going to play Meditation from Thais. I love that piece! It's so beautiful with orchestra. I was disappointed that I didn't get to play with them. 

BUT, since I couldn't play with them, Maestro Stephen Blackwelder invited me to perform Meditation from Thais with the Waukegan Symphony Orchestra! Cooleeo! That was one of the performances in April.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

The show must go on!

Me sick...agghhhh!
Hey!
 
OK! So I've been super super busy and I know I have not been blogging. Sorry. 
 
Well things have kind of slowed down a little bit for me! Wooooo! I have been from Chicago,IL to Bermuda doing what I love most... performing! 
 
Starting this year (January 2011), I've played a lot in Chicago. So that's pretty normal for me. Then at the beginning of February I got REALLY sick. I'll name a couple of the things that I had: strep throat, flu, allergic reactions to medications, not being able to eat, breaking fevers every night, and some other stuff. I just knew I felt really bad. 
 
Okemo: Mira, Josiah, Me, Hansuh
So of course this is a couple of days right before I have a competition with my group, Okemo String Quartet, and I'm getting worse. I didn't want to let them down because we worked really hard for this. So I pulled every drop of energy for the actual competition performance. So we play.
 
When I got back home I flopped right on my bed and went to sleep. Right when I got in the bed my Baba calls me and he said that we WON! I was really excited but I couldn't really show it. If I moved around too much I would get dizzy. I was screaming with my soundless voice. 
 
I ran (or walked) across the hall to my cousin Mira's house (she's the violist in the group) and told her we won, and she started screaming. It was exciting! My Mom and my Aunt and Mira were calling everybody, including the other members of the group. Oh, I forgot to mention that this was the first competition we won. I was getting dizzy so I went to bed while they were still screaming and calling people at around 4:00pm and didn't wake-up the next day. I was even worst!
 
I was hoping that I would get better because I had a solo national competition in 2 days in Ann Arbor and Detroit. Mom asked me if I still wanted to go. It didn't even cross my mind that I wasn't going! I was getting worse and worse, but I still wanted to go. 
 
So the next day we went to the emergency room to get some meds that would work instantly so I could play. They took forever. They gave me penicillin. I didn't know I was extremely allergic to penicillin. It was really bad. But I still wanted to go, so we piled in the car right when the 17 inches of snow hit Chicago, and escaped to Ann Arbor and Detroit to compete in the Sphinx Competition for African-American and Latino musicians.
 
Oh, also my lymph nodes were swollen because of the penicillin so it really hurt to play my violin. I went to the emergency room again right after I played. I don't really know what happened on that visit. I was so out of it. When I got back to the place where I competed my name was not called as one of the finalists. But my friend Allie got in so that was good. She ended up winning! Woo! GO ALLIE!
 
That was an interesting experience. It was my first time being in the emergency room twice in two days. And having an allergic reaction. And having strep throat. It was a lot of firsts.
 
When I got back to Chicago I was feeling better. There was a lot of snow though! I love snow! 
 
SugarStrings: Mira, Me,
Ayanna
A couple weeks later I had a performance in Orlando, Florida! That was AMAZING!!! This performance was with my other group, SugarStrings. Mira is also in that group. We're first cousins, and we always play together. I love that. It was a HUGE difference in Orlando than Chicago. It was warm and sunny in Orlando, and cold and snowy in Chicago. I love both types of weather.
 
Those were the only two performances out of the state. Meanwhile, I had two application deadlines for national competitions, multiple performances with SugarStrings, my own performances and competitions, lessons, practicing with both groups and on my own, and somehow fitting school work into that somewhere. I was pretty busy. So was my Mom! She's doing all of this stuff with me and more! Driving me to and fro for hours. 
 
 THANKS, MOM!
 
In March I got a little break. Woo! I probably had something but I don't remember. In April I remember I had something every weekend. But not everyday like February:
  • 1st weekend: Performance in DeLand, FL with SugarStrings. 
  • 2nd weekend: Solo performance with the Waukegan Symphony Orchestra. 
  • 3rd weekend: Competition with Okemo in St. Paul, MN. 
  • 4th weekend: Seating auditions for Academy Orchestra. 
  • 5th weekend: Performances, master classes, and teaching in Bermuda!
 
In May I had a competition with Okemo at Notre Dame in South Bend, IN. It's called Fischoff Chamber Music Association or something. We were the youngest to get in and to advance to the semi- finals. It was fun. The last thing was my last orchestra performance of the year.
 
Well now that you have the past few months worth of stuff, I'll give you the update about what's coming up next...later. LOL! 
 
OH! And remind me to blog about some catastrophes before or even during performances.
 
I would love to read your comments! 
 
Blog ya!
 
 
Adé   

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Goofing off

Ayanna used me and Mira to practice her photo taking skills. What do you think?

Why is my violin upside down?


OK, so what's so funny?

Just strumming my banjo eee hah!


Fierce jump for joy!




Hope we don't land on our instruments!

Monday, April 25, 2011

Performing in Bermuda!


Hellooooo Americaaaaaaa!

Long time no blog! I have some very exciting news for you. I'm going to BERMUDA!

OMGOODNESS!

OK, so you’re probably wondering how I got this honor and pleasure. Well I'm actually wondering the same thing. Uh, how DID I get this opportunity?

I think David France at the Bermuda School of Music knows my AMAZING teacher, Almita Vamos, so he either just wanted some of her students to come and perform or he heard or saw me at competitions or something.

A quartet featuring some of Mrs. Vamos’ students is also going. Roland Vamos (Mrs. Vamos' husband — violin-viola teacher extraordinaire and fabulous conductor) actually coaches the quartet. Well, he  teaches multiple quartets but this one in particular is also going to  Bermuda!

The musicians are Alexandra (Allie) Switala (violin), Clayton Penrose-Whitemore (violin), Leah Ferguson (viola), and Alexander (Alex) Hersh (cello). They're really good.

Well, that's one of a bunch of really exciting things that are happening, but there are many more! I'll blog to you about those later.

JESUS LOVES YOU!

Adé

Friday, April 1, 2011

News from de land of music

Hello People!

There's been more news about SugarStrings' performance this Saturday in DeLand, Florida.

Looky here: Cousins headline 'fabulous' DeLand benefit lineup (DAYTONA TIMES) (The Daytona Beach News-Journal/GO386). 

And here: SugarStrings trio to perform in Deland (Florida Courier). They used this pic of us when we were pretty young. We were in our sherbert gowns. OMG they don't even fit anymore!!!

(l-r) Mira, Ayanna, Me (Adé)

We can't wait!

Bye!

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Legendary Landmarks

Hello People! 

I am at the Ritz Carlton right now! I am about to perform for this event. 



Guess who's being honored. Alexandra and John Nichols! They are the most generous and sweet people you will ever meet. They are also HUGE supporters of the Music Institute of Chicago where I study music — so HUGE that the hall at MIC's Evanston's campus is named after them!!! I was so excited and honored to be asked to play for them! 

And here I am blogging to you when it's about to happen!

Look at this chandelier!!!! It's MASSIVE...BEAUTEOUS and SPARKLY!!!!
Ok! Well, I'm going to get into character now, so I'll blog to you soon!

Bye!

Violin news from the Titanic!

Breaking News!!!!! 

The violin that was played by Wallace Heartley on the Titanic while it was sinking was FOUND!!!!! 


The violin was strapped on his chest in its case when he drowned, but they never found it...until now!

How FANTASTIC is that?!

I am soooooo curious about how it sounds, what it looks like, the history of it, and everything about it!

Blog to ya soon!