Earlier this summer I was invited to perform a program of early music at the Sounds of Lyons Music Festival in Lyons, Colorado. The director of the festival was interested in adding early music to the existing classical music offerings, so I was given a bit of a blank canvas to choose whatever I wanted to perform. My colleague from the Denver Early Music Consort, Peter Schimpf, and I will be previewing some of the songs from our upcoming concert of John Dowland's First Book of Lute Songs, and we'll be performing some small arias and concert works by Henry Purcell and Heinrich Schuetz, among others.
I am particularly grateful to be participating in this festival because I know that the Lyons community has endured a great deal of hardship in the aftermath of the devastating September 2013 flooding. I was living in Baltimore when those storms hit, and I felt helpless as I watched my fellow Coloradans suffer the devastation. In this small way, I feel that I can contribute to the growth and recovery of the community, and can uplift and encourage my neighbors as they move forward into their future.
I am emboldened by initiatives like the Sounds of Lyons Music Festival. While it is a blessing to have the Aspens and Vails of festival renown here in Colorado (and I have had the honor of performing in both!), the festivals of Steamboat Springs, Grand Junction, and Lyons are what create a thriving, robust artistic ecosystem in our state. We become a destination for the arts when there is room enough, and work enough, not only for the Robert Spanos and Joshua Bells of the world, but for the hardworking freelancers, the young up-and-comers, and the passionate amateurs. All of these "species" make Colorado an oasis for the arts in the Rocky Mountain West. I am very happy to have the chance to offer my own work in the care and feeding of our artistic Eden.
I am particularly grateful to be participating in this festival because I know that the Lyons community has endured a great deal of hardship in the aftermath of the devastating September 2013 flooding. I was living in Baltimore when those storms hit, and I felt helpless as I watched my fellow Coloradans suffer the devastation. In this small way, I feel that I can contribute to the growth and recovery of the community, and can uplift and encourage my neighbors as they move forward into their future.
I am emboldened by initiatives like the Sounds of Lyons Music Festival. While it is a blessing to have the Aspens and Vails of festival renown here in Colorado (and I have had the honor of performing in both!), the festivals of Steamboat Springs, Grand Junction, and Lyons are what create a thriving, robust artistic ecosystem in our state. We become a destination for the arts when there is room enough, and work enough, not only for the Robert Spanos and Joshua Bells of the world, but for the hardworking freelancers, the young up-and-comers, and the passionate amateurs. All of these "species" make Colorado an oasis for the arts in the Rocky Mountain West. I am very happy to have the chance to offer my own work in the care and feeding of our artistic Eden.