castle/glass/vaso

This summer has been full of exciting musical developments. In May, New Hermitage toured for ten days—we presented two sound walks at the Canadian New Music Network Forum and then performed our way Eastward to Halifax’s OBEY convention. We are sitting on some recordings, some of which may be released in the coming months… stay tuned!

I’ve just returned to Canada from the fairytale town of Kirchberg an der Jagst, Germany, where I spent two weeks studying chamber music in a yellow castle. The trip was funded by a research grant from McGill University (thank you, McGill). In the castle there were paintings of Mozart and other musicians who visited the little unicorn turret kingdom several decades ago to perform. I’d like to believe that I absorbed some of the Western classical lore and wisdom just by practicing cello within these walls. My favourite moment of this trip was when an old German lady yelled out of a second story window and then tossed down two gorgeous cucumbers. Beautiful gift.

I also had the privilege of performing as a young artist in residence at the Scotia Festival of Music in June. The string quartet I played with worked with Philip Glass, who was composer in residence this year, on his String Quartet no. 2. He told lots of interesting stories, and was quite encouraging and generous. Our ensemble coalesced in a really auspicious way, and we’ve decided to name ourselves and continue playing music together. You can read more about our vision or donate to our development here. If you support our project but are not able to donate, sharing the fundraiser would also be an enormous help. We are followable on Facebook here, and if you are in Toronto, we’ll be performing a zesty program on Friday, August 24, 7:30pm at Creeds Coffee Bar, more details here. Concert plans for various North American cities are currently percolating.

I’m truly grateful to have the opportunity to make music in these challenging times. I hope it can be of benefit to the world!

Glad summer tidings to you,
India