This past Wednesday, September 17, we hit the road under the auspices of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Association for one week comprised of five concerts, four master classes, and several audience meet and greets surrounding our recent Gold Medal.
Believe it or not, Akropolis has never been on tour! Over the past six years, we've been fortunate enough to travel to some amazing places around the world for performances, but this is the first time we've hit the road and traveled to five different cities for five different performances in a row. The tour began in downtown Chicago. We spent the evening foreging for some origional deep dish pizza and checking in at the Chicago Union League Club (no jeans allowed) for the night. Wednesday was a true highlight of the trip, as we performed at the Chicago Cultural Center which was aired live on WFMT Chicago and hosted by the "Voice of Michigan," Carl Grapentine. GO BLUE!
After Chicago, we drove to Notre Dame University in South Bend, IN where we'd be performing on the Fischoff stage once again at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center. Returning to the competition stage and performing on this series was truly humbling, as we were booked side by side renowned artists like Jazz at Lincoln Center with Wynton Marsalis and Third Coast Percussion. Our South Bend adventures continued as we led a chamber music coaching for some local high school and middle school students part of the Fischoff Mentorship Program.
After performing at Notre Dame, we traveled Culver, IN and spent a day both teaching and performing at the historic Culver Military Academy. Similar to the Interlochen high school experience Ryan had, this private high school academy was home to students from all over the United States. We spent the morning and afternoon working with the band programs leading a class called Chamber Music 101. Culver Academy was located right on a beautiful lake, so we spent most of the afternoon relaxing and taking in the beautiful landscape. The concert in the evening was held in the rotunda of the art museum, with audience members sitting in the round levels above our performance space.
Our fourth day led us to Wheaton College in Indiana for a master class and lunch with the music students and a performance that evening to kick off the 14/15 Wheaton College Artist Series. Wheaton's partnership with Fischoff is only two years old, but should prove to be fruitful, as this season at Wheaton features Emmanuel Ax, the Spektral Quartet, and more. The real treat at Wheaton was the incredible students. Their master class performances included the Weber Clarinet Concerto and the Neilson Woodwind Quintet. Not only were these students incredibly talented, but it was a treat to work with young musicians as eager to listen as they are to perform.
The final day of the Fishoff tour led us to Crawfordsville, IN for a performance on the Wabash College Visiting Artists Series. Although we were tired from traveling (and novice at touring), this week will be hard to forget. We were able to share our music with a diverse audience across the midwest and spend time growing as musicians and people. A huge thanks to the Fischoff National Chamber Music Association and each presenter we visited for their hospitality throughout this tour and for their constant support and guidance as we continue to grow as artists.
What was our favorite part of this week long tour?
Tim: I had really powerful FLOW experience with Akropolis when we were performing at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center at Notre Dame. This was the first time we played on this stage without having the air of the competition around us -- it felt so much better looking into the hall without seeing a table of judges! We got on stage, played our first half of Debussy's "Children's Corner", Ives' "Variations on America", Gershwin's "3 Preludes" and a newer work by our friend Paul Dooley called "Warp & Weft", and got a very nice reaction from the audience. I felt normal -- meaning that I was aware of the different things going on, looking at my music and other members of the group at times, listening to the other members of the group, focusing on what I was doing with my instrument, etc...nothing out of the ordinary. When we came and did our memorized program for the second half, something changed. We were in the middle of our first piece, called "Variations on Reverse Entropy," and all of a sudden I noticed myself become aware of nothing but the music. It was almost as if there was an awareness of everything and nothing at the same time. An awareness of everything musical and the contact between the 5 of us, but letting go of thinking about what my body was suppose to be doing to play the oboe. I felt the group become one, living organism. It was different than just hearing everyone else; it was literally a metaphysical sensation of every one of us moving to the music. It was incredible! The second piece we played was called "Four Letter Word," and I had the same feeling of truly being "in the zone." It was such a heightening experience! It's been a while since I was on such a performance high after a concert. We went back to the green room, and the only thing I could think of was how I didn't want that feeling to ever go away.
Kari: Performing in downtown Chicago was an unforgettable experience. The Cultural Center was one of the most beautiful spaces I think we've ever performed in. Not only was the space so historic and beautifully decorated in handcrafted mosaic tiles, but we had some incredible audience members. There was a woman in the audience who drew us while we performed, having done that during every free concert in that space for the past seven years. She showed us some sketches of previous performers, and it was a wonderful feeling to be included in this memorable collection. Then, by what seemed like a stroke of fate, we met Alban Wesley's mother-in-law. Who's that, you ask? Alban is the bassoonist and co-founder of the Calefax Reed Quintet! She said she heard a reed quintet from the street and thought, "Is Calefax in Chicago?"
Andrew: The most memorable part of this tour for me was meeting many young musicians and forming lasting connections with them. It was cool to hear these gifted growing musicians play, and to perform for them as well as work with them on a more personal level. When it comes to teaching, I am always inspired by how much I learn by meeting and hearing from the people I'm teaching, and how much they continue to impact me as a teacher and musician.
Ryan: It was great seeing all the friendly faces that make up Fischoff once again. Whether it was Pam taking us around to some of the concerts, Ann leading our pre-concert talk at DeBartolo, Miki giving us all the info we needed to be comfortable, or the many other brilliant people running the show, we felt valued and taken care of the whole time. It let us enjoy everything else this fantastic tour had to offer.
Matt: Probably my "flow" experience. Oh, did Tim already say that? Then my next favorite moment was a conversation I had with an elderly woman after our Thursday night concert. In a broken foreign accent, she told me that she studied piano her life and listened mainly to Beethoven and Mozart. Then she said she had never heard such marvelous music: "After the first piece, I didn't know what you were doing, but by the end I was in love!" Our mission is to bring new sounds to a wide audience, so this was probably the most gratifying part of the tour for me.
Check out photos from our whole tour here on our Flickr!