Calisa Hildebrand

Last weekend, I had the incredible opportunity to perform Beethoven’s 6th Symphony and Britten’s Sea Interludes with the SFCM Symphony Orchestra. What a program!

I knew I’d love the Beethoven- it’s a classic! Did you know that he wrote it while he was going deaf? It’s his “Pastorale” Symphony; he basically walked outside and imagined what nature sounded like and put it into one of the greatest masterpieces of all times. It really is some genius writing.

But the Britten absolutely blew my mind. What a monster! I loved every second. I’ll try to get a recording of us and post it here sometime soon, but it is really amazing. I was frustrated because I felt like the orchestra had so much untapped potential, but we pulled off a pretty successful performance. Well, two performances, to be exact.

The conductor made a special visit to my teacher’s office today to tell him how impressed he was with my performance of these two pieces today. That was definitely nice to hear

This weekend I’m performing with the New Music Ensemble. We are playing Varese, “Deserts” for winds and percussion. It really taps into the extreme capabilities of each and every interest and is a wonderful piece in its own right. Again… not too easy! We are performing it at the Pacific Rim Festival next month as well.

Between these concerts and the 4 auditions earlier this month (i.e. last week), I think school is definitely keeping me on my toes.

Oh, and I’m almost done with the National Flute Association Young Artist’s Competition CDs. Just a couple more things I want to re-do tomorrow and I’m all set! Phew!

Next week: Skydiving!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine’s Day

Much Love,

Calisa