RILEY'S BUSY WEEK

Riley has had a rather full week. It started last Friday when he attended a Model UN Conference with a few others from his school. He was representing the Czech Republic of 1992. During the conference the directors noticed his abundant preparation and pulled him aside to “redeploy” him as the leader of Russia. As he was about to take over the free world they brought the conference to a conclusion! We attributed his success to his tie.

Next he was accepted to his high school choices and was obliged to chose one. We think he made a good choice with LaGuardia High School, formerly called “Music and Art”. It’s the original “Fame” school. His “major” is piano, but the academics at the school are outstanding. One huge plus is that the school is at Lincoln Center, only a 10 minute walk from our house. His second choice, Bronx Science (the high school with 8 Nobel Laureate graduates) is a 40 minute commute each way.

Then he was accepted to Kinhaven Music Camp (Senior Program) for this summer. We are thrilled about that. It’s a 6-week camp in southern Vermont. Many of my musician colleagues went there as students. Each Saturday he receives a new chamber music assignment with a different group. They rehearse all week and perform it the following Friday. It will be challenging.

Finally, last night his trio performed the first movement of a Beethoven Piano Trio. It is part of the New York Youth Symphony Chamber Music Program and the final assessment is coming up in April. The winners play in Carnegie Recital Hall. ….fingers crossed.

The new school year

School has begun for the year and both boys are loving their schools and teachers. Max is in 4^th Grade still at PS 87 which is close to our house and Riley has moved to a Junior High School called Delta. It’s uptown a bit so he takes a city bus there and back – by himself!  He’s growing up. Both boys are studying piano now and are both avid practicers!  Max is studying violin as well plus he takes ballet at ABT twice a week.

Miranda is teaching again this year at Ballet Tech which is in the same building as ABT so we are often in the same place though we hardly ever see each other there!  ABT’s season has not started but I’m arranging parts of the Verdi opera Ballo in Maschera for string quartet.  I’m nearly finished which is a good thing because the performances are October 18-20!

There is no touring for me this fall which is a great thing.  Nutcracker season is coming and I’m again doing the School of the Arts production in Winston-Salem.  This has the bonus of letting me see Mona several times while I’m there.  In February the travel begins – Pittsburgh, Japan, Abu Dhabi, Minneapolis, back to Pittsburgh, and DC.

Autumn 2012 HURRICANE!

The end of October and beginning of November have been chaotic to say the least. Just before Hurricane Sandy struck a horrible crime was committed across the street from us. The police presence and media blitz outside our window continued for about 48 hours. I was in Pittsburgh so Miranda had to deal with the nightmarish scene by herself.  My return flight from Pittsburgh was cancelled due to Sandy so I rented a car and drove the 7 hours home.

As I approached the Lincoln Tunnel there were fewer and fewer cars. The always crowded NJ Turnpike was virtually car-free as was the tunnel. Sandy struck with shocking devastation to low-lying areas however we on the Upper West Side survived unscathed with only branches and debris in the streets.  We walked outside near the height of the storm and felt the strong winds but retreated before being hit by a flying branch.

Central Park had scores of trees blown apart or uprooted. We walked through after they reopened the park and were shocked at the damage. Also a crane collapsed above a 90-story construction site. School was off for an entire week so the boys were at home. We spent our time raising money and collecting items to donate to the hurricane victims. That was fine but by the end of the week they were looking forward to seeing their friends again at school.

The next week brought the election and another day off of school and then next week was another holiday, Veteran’s Day, and finally the next week was Thanksgiving with two days off from school. This combined with the two weekends that I was away working or visiting Mona, Jess and Lily caused a complete lack of consistency in our normally routine lives.

The weekend in Minneapolis with Jess and Lily was a blast.  Lily is such a lovely girl, smart, pretty, confident and happy. Jess is very involved in building her photography business and it was fun to watch her in action. The weather was glorious.  On Saturday afternoon we took a grand walk around Lake Calhoun. It must have been almost 70 degrees and the sunshine felt great. Sunday we ventured onto some of the rides inside the Mall of America.

The next weekend I saw Sue and Mona and used Sue’s home in Charlotte as a base.  I had rehearsals in Winston-Salem for upcoming Nutcracker performances and it’s an easy drive between the two cities. Mona was as lovely as ever!

I got back just in time to buy a turkey and help Miranda prepare for Thanksgiving dinner. The afternoon before Thanksgiving Max and I watched the volunteers inflate the balloons with helium. The crowd was already huge by 3:30pm when we walked around the perimeter of the Natural History Museum, and it was very busy outside our window until about 10pm. We did have great seats along Central Park West for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was a beautiful day here and the parade was wonderful.

Starting this Monday the boys will have their first full week of school in a month and a half. Despite all of the free time they have had lately, I think they will enjoy it.