2014 Holiday Video Card

Wishing everyone a happy 2015!

2014 Macy's Parade

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was better than ever this year. It moved along fast and was over before you knew it. There were lots of new balloons and floats. We got seats in the bleachers just a block from home which was fabulous. Here’s a 1 minute video with some highlights. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

(if you're on a mobile device and the video does not appear, click on the photo)

  

 

"Practice Recital"

Riley played a short but intense piano recital last night. It was at his teacher's home and was only a "practice recital" so there are a few bloopers and minor edits in the video. He played a Bach Fugue, a Chopin Nocturne, an intense Capriccio by Brahms and concludes with the Rachmaninoff C# minor Prelude.  He's not due to perform the pieces until early February. 
Also, this past Tuesday, Veterans Day, was a lovely day though a bit overcast and we hiked up Bear Mountain (about an hour north of the city) so there are lots of new pictures on the website (click on any of the photos).

HALLOWEEN 2014

This Halloween the boys were ages 12 and 10 and at first they said that they weren’t going to go trick-or-treating in our building as they have for the last 10 years! They were too old for that sort of thing. Then on Halloween morning they both had second thoughts. Riley decided to go as a “Cereal Killer” and Max as "James Bond". That evening they collected over 15 pounds of candy! ABT is performing at Lincoln Center right now so I took 5 pounds down for the dancers and musicians. I should take another 5 pounds down today.

More busy days!

We had a rather busy week starting from last Friday.  Max was scheduled to perform in the ABT Gala at Lincoln Center on Wednesday and was on his way to a rehearsal when he misjudged the height of a concrete wall and slammed his shin into it.  We ended up at the ER where he got 4 stitches.

     

He still wanted to try to dance at the Gala so we went to the rehearsal on Saturday afternoon just to watch. He was limping and pretty stiff from the accident. He fell asleep in the cab on the way home!


Sunday, too, he had a 2 hour nap. Monday evening he did part of a rehearsal, then on Tuesday a bit more.  Wednesday came and he did the dress rehearsal eagerly with only a big Band-Aid over his wound!  Here’s a short vid of part of the dress rehearsal and you have to have eagle eyes to see the Band-Aid!

The performance was even better in the evening!  Max is a young professional.

Max's very busy day

This past Wednesday, June 11^th, was a busy day for Max.  First he had “Field Day” at school, then I picked him up at 1pm in order to get to the MET where he was in the matinee of Cinderella,

then Miranda picked him up from the MET at 3:40 to go to a Ballroom Dance Competition on 45^th St. (he got a silver ribbon), then up to Trinity School where

he played two pieces on a piano recital, then right back to the MET for the evening show of Cinderella.  He handled the busy day like a pro!

Max on stage again

Max was on stage again at the MET for several different reasons. First he was in the Opening Night Gala, then again all the first week as a “Street Urchin” in Don Quixote. Finally, he was a demonstrator (of sautés) for an ABT KIDS program last Saturday morning. Needless to say his performances were flawless! Here are a few photos. He got a bit roughed up for the last show!

He’ll be in Cinderella too which opens in early June.

 (Sorry about the quality of the video,
I took it {totally illegally} during the show from the podium!)

Spring Season

The ABT MET season is about to start and Max is gearing up for several different ballets that he will be in.  But first he performed at a Shakespeare Society Event that combined readings from Mid-Summer Night's Dream and The Tempest with performances of those parts of the ballets we do.

The performance was at the Danny Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College. Max recreated his role of The Changeling in The Dream. He seems to have a lot of fun performing.






Here is Max warming up with Craig Salstein and Marcelo Gomes on stage before his performance.

Both boys will have piano recitals coming up in June so there will be more to come.

Spring Snow!

Travel for the season is basically over! Tripit, the travel app, told me that I had been away over 60 days since January 25^th.  No one was particularly happy about that.  I was able to see Jess and Lily in Minneapolis which was a huge bonus. 

This past week was a Spring Break for the boys.  We took a trip up to Massachusetts to see the music camp where Riley is going this summer. We stayed at Carliss and Randy’s house in Stockbridge and enjoyed that very much. We took a long hike up Monument Mountain just north of Great Barrington, MA. The day before, April 14,  it had snowed about 2 inches and there was still about an inch of snow on the ground for our hike.  When planning the trip I didn’t even think about snow. But it made for some great lighting and very good photos!

Max and Riley ran to the top of Devil’s Pulpit and the other rocky outcroppings on top of the mountain. Then they ran down!  It was all we could do to keep up with them.

On the drive up we stopped at Kent Falls State Park in Connecticut.  It was virtually empty and so we had a great time romping through the park all on our own.

Greenwood Music Camp was lovely.  It was wet from the spring melt but it’s going to be beautiful this summer for sure.  Riley explored the performance venue and the sleeping quarters. He seems very excited about it.

School starts tomorrow for both boys. They seem happy to be going back.  I’m sure they will miss iPadding in the morning and basketball in the afternoons!

Max and Riley in Recital

The last week of January was a busy week for the boys. They both played piano recitals. It was Max’s first recital in public.  He had played a solo recital (of 10 pieces!) at his teacher’s house earlier in November but this was in front of all of her students and their parents.  Max played two pieces, The Snowflake Rag (syncopation is not easy!) and Rage over a Lost Penny by Beethoven. He just started piano in September so he's doing really well!

He also got a new violin.  He had been playing on a 1/2 size instrument but he's been growing like a weed so we got a very nice 3/4 size violin. Our friend Ron, the concertmaster of the ABT Orchestra came over with new strings and adjustment tools and made the instrument sound fantastic.  Max is very pleased. Click on the photos to see the video performances.

Max was also chosen by his ballet teacher to be the student demonstrator at the ABT National Curriculum Seminar next week and was accepted and given a full scholarship to the ABT Summer Intensive program which starts the end of July and lasts 2 weeks.  Go Max!

Riley played two pieces as well. He started with a Debussy Prelude called Les sonts et les parfums tournent dans l’air du soir (the sounds and perfumes swirl in the evening air) and finished with the Brahms Intermezzo op. 118 no. 1.

Then on Sunday he the first of three auditions for Summer Music Camps.  He played the Debussy, Brahms and finished with the Sinding Frühlingsrauschen.  He's competing against some talented kids and their "tiger moms" but he played very well and so we're hopeful.