After a whirlwind weekend at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, where we won the Gold Medal ($3,500) in the Senior Wind Division, the adventure continues to one of the most stunning and naturally beautiful places the five of us have ever been: Juneau, Alaska.
How'd we end up in Alaska in the first place?
We were fortunate enough to be booked on the Juneau Jazz & Classics series, and now we are in the middle of a week-long residency with the nationally recognized festival. Over the week, we will be performing several concerts, workshops, and a variety of educational outreach activities for Juneau students.
Last night, we kicked off the week performing on the Gold Town Nickelodeon Theater's "Not-So-Silent Films" double feature. In this historic small theater, Akropolis provided the musical soundtrack to two 1920s films: "Felix the Cat Saves the Day" and Buster Keaton's "The Electric House."
In this historic small theater, tucked away in Juneau's charming Emporium Mall, we provided the musical soundtrack to an authentic 1920s experience.
Enjoy a two minute snapshot of Buster Keaton's "The Electric House", shot side-stage from our Gold Town concert, captured by our "professional iPhone video wrangler", Tim!
What's the best thing about Alaska so far?
Here's what we each had to say!
Tim: I loved being in the cozy Gold Town Theater and watching Ryan, Kari, and Matt (on piano) play the silent film. The popcorn was flowing and the audience was cracking up the whole time. An awesome trip back to the 1920s!
Ryan: By far the mountains!! I have never seen a mountain before with snow on the top. Now, we walk outside and we are surrounded by the most breathtaking landscape I've ever seen.
Kari: The Alaskan Brewery made one of the best amber ales I've ever tasted. So crisp and refreshing. I'm hoping we can go on a tour of the whole brewery later this week.
Andrew: Right before we performed the Not-So-Silent Film double feature, we grabbed some street food, Alaska style. We met John, the master chef from Seattle and he served us up some Uzbekistan pork kabobs. After spending the entire day traveling, they hit the spot.
Matt: The fact that the ravens are everywhere and bigger than our dog, Oscar.