My Sabbatical Year is Starting!

We entered into a flowering spring in Illinois, and I saw more days of sun and warmer weather, saw a total Eclipse on Monday, April 8! My spring gardens were budding with my crocus and tulips showing their little noses above ground.

I was in my final month of classes and concerts for this academic year and concert season at Illinois State University, anticipating my being on sabbatical from Illinois State for Fall/August, 2024 semester and re-settling to Buenos Aires beginning of May, 2024 until January, 2025!

The month of March was an active one with several concerts and foreign guests visiting the Illinois State University campus.

The ISU Symphony concert on March 24 had music inspired by human emotions and sounds of Buenos Aires. Former student Maestro Steven Allen Fox, composed and conducted the world premiere of his EMOTICA for Orchestra and Voice with Soprano Sohee Kim. Maestro Claudio Alsuyet from Buenos Aires was on campus for final rehearsals and the North American continent premiere of his BUENOS AIRES: CARPE DIEM. Early rehearsals had me teaching Piazzola/Tango string effects: el Latigo (whip), Tambor (special pizzicato effects, la Chicharra (cricket), and la Strambatta (bass/cello: ricochet’ bow effects followed by the hand hitting the box!

I am in final discussions arranging for guest-conducting and conducting seminars during my sabbatical in Argentina: Salta, Rio Negro, Mar del Plata, Rosario, Posadas; Asuncion, Paraguay.

In May, I began my South American residency until January, 2025 with A MAY 19 concert in Salta, Argentina with the UCASAL Camerata, music by Leo Weiner, Vivaldi, and Tschaikovsky SERENADE FOR STRINGS. Then I traveled to Viedma, Argentina to conduct the Filarmonica Rio Negro in music by Charles Ives, Gabriel Faure and the Brahms SYMPHONY NO. 4.

I begin my European residency June 4 with conducting in Mede, Italy, in the Serene Republic of San Marino, and excursions to Spain and Portugal. Returning back to Buenos Aires, Argentina in mid-July!