Lucky for us, the first piece we played together was Debussy’s Sonata for flute, viola and harp. One of the best classical pieces of all time, in my opinion. Since then, our violist has moved to New York, and we formed a flute and harp duo.

Alas, we had no name.  At our concert at Vi Gallery yesterday, however, we asked our audience for some help. We got lots of great suggestions, but the one we just couldn’t forget was “The Flarp Duo.” It’s just too funny to walk away from. We’re quirky, we’re fun, and we’re even a little weird- just like the name.

If the shoe fits…wear it!

Thank you to Vi Gallery for inviting us to perform in your beautiful space, and a big thanks to the audience for helping us come up with such a great name for our duo! Thank you so much for coming and supporting us yesterday; it was a beautiful event. For live recordings, visit our website or listen to a little sample here:

Faure Sicilienne for flute and harp

We’ll be performing next on October 18th at 4 pm at the Sequois Portola Valley.

-The Flarp Duo

Calisa Hildebrand, flute and Naomi Hoffmeyer, harp

Everyone in the New Spectrum Ensemble is talented and so fun to work with. Cellist Kathryn Bates-Williams and pianist Sandra Gu do a fantastic job of bring together amazing musicians to perform some truly remarkable pieces.

We are also really excited because NSE received its first funding from the American Composers Forum. The grant supports three performances of Kay Rhie’s I Hear the Sound of Trees for mixed ensemble and soprano.

At our fall concert, we’ll be Rhie’s piece as well as an awesome composition by Takuma Itoh entitled, “Pins and Needles.” Pins and Needles is everything I love in a piece of music: sharp, edgy, dramatic and intense. I fell in love with it instantly and can’t wait for people to hear the final product.

We’re so excited about this program that we are giving 2 back to back performances:

Saturday, October 16th, 7:30 pm at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Francisco, 1187 Franklin Street

Sunday, October 17th, 3:00 pm at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church of Palo Alto, 600 Colorado Avenue

Mark your calendars and invite your friends now, it’s going to be here before you know it!

-Calisa

I first became invested in classical music engagement when I was in 7th grade and I noticed two problems:

1. All my friends dropped out because it wasn’t “cool” and nobody wanted to do zero period

2. Fellow students didn’t want to come hear us perform. It was really hard to get an audience!

The subject of classical music, its audience and the need for engagement has fueled a fire in me for many years. It finally dawned on me recently that while I love playing, I equally love promoting the art form. I constantly think about it, research it, and talk about it, so it’s about time I use that information for good!

I’ve decided to use my knowledge, experience and passion to help other ensembles and musicians promote themselves through strategic social media planning. While my first project was simply promoting myself, I’ve also helped a variety of other musicians get their social media and marketing plans up and running as well.

I’m extremely excited to announce my PR involvement with wildUp; a new, up and coming contemporary classical ensemble. Under the direction of Christopher Rountree, they are challenging the status quo, engaging the audience and making change. I’m honored to be the PR and social media consultant for this group and am loving every minute of it!

Calisa Hildebrand

Flutist and Social Media Consultant

I’d like to take a moment to thank WordPress for (finally) adding some awesome sharing options, including Twitter and Facebook buttons. Sweet!

Try it out, and if you’ve got some WordPress action going on, get it on yours as well!

Tweet, Tweet, party people!

-Calisa

It’s rare to be able to receive praise after a performance such as this. Usually you walk in, play, and go home wondering if you made a difference to anyone that day. Did people like it? Hate it? You rarely know.

Below is an excerpt from one of the emails that was forwarded to me regarding our performance. It’s so nice to hear back from people about how they felt!

“I wish to thank you for providing the Guitar and Flute duo.  They performed beautifully as well and they were at the entrance to the reception and were the delight of all our guests.  Please convey to Jonathan and Calisa our deepest appreciation for their wonderful music.

[We were] very touched by the young artists from the Conservatory of Music that performed.  It was such a wonderful gesture of the Conservatory… It all worked out perfectly and these musicians were the highlight of the entire event.”

This is one of those emails that makes all those rehearsals worth it!  Thank you so much to everyone who came and took the time to let us know how much you appreciated our performance!

Calisa

The Mercury News wrote that the Pacific Rim Festival opened with a “special concert of rarely performed music by the influential French-born composer Edgard Varèse. His concept of “organized sound” and his use of new instruments and other non-traditional sound sources greatly influenced the contemporary avant-garde.”

I was involved in the performance of Edgar Varèse’s’ Desèrts, a dark, haunting piece written for chamber orchestra and tape. The first piece ever written to use recorded sounds, it was premiered in 1954 to an audience that called it “the music of the time of the H-Bomb,” and protested it’s performance for several minutes.

Desèrts has not been performed many times since it’s premier in 1954. Even the composer wasn’t entirely happy with the work, as he felt that he was never truly able to create what he envisioned. Nevertheless, it is incredibly important to honor the historical significance of this composer and his contribution to music. He had a huge influence on post World War II composers. Since the premiere of Desèrts, composers have incorporated the use of pre-recorded tape into live performances with increasing frequency and success. For example, one of my favorite composers, Ian Clarke, has written a number of pieces for flute and tape (or now, flute and CD).  I was lucky enough to be the first person in the US to premiere his piece, TRK’s, aside from the composer himself.

Cheers to Varèse for paving the way for using pre-recorded sounds, and cheers to Nicole Paiement, director of the SFCM New Music Ensemble, for having the courage to perform such a historically significant work. It was an honor to play it, and an equally great honor to perform at the Pacific Rim Festival!

-Calisa

I am so excited to have won this audition. It was my first professional audition that I’ve ever taken, and I’m so very honored! I rushed to the audition while at my first rehearsal for a fantastic chamber group, The New Spectrum Ensemble.  It was a crazy day, but was such a rush! I love getting to  play music all the time like this.

While I would absolutely love to be a part of this incredible opportunity, I will not be able to accept the position due to a previous engagement. I know the production will be beautiful and I truly wish that I could be a part of it. I’m looking forward to seeing the performances and to whatever lies ahead for me next!

Best wishes,

Calisa

“A Map of the Imagination,” by Katherine Saxon, commissioned by and written for my flute, viola, piano trio, has arrived! I’m sitting here, looking at it right now!

We will be premiering this piece at the UC Santa Barbara Primavera Festival of Contemporary Arts and Digital Media on April 30th at 7 pm as part of the “Electric Catfish” performance.  I know it will be received well and I’m so looking forward to getting to go back to Santa Barbara, play with my favorite musicians, and work with this extremely talented composer.

The coolest thing about having someone that knows you so well write a piece for you is that I get all things Calisa in it.  Here’s a list of my favorite techniques she included:

-Flutter Tonguing!!!

-LOUD flutter tonguing!

-Multiphonics (playing multiple notes at once)

-Glissandos and note bends

-”Knock on viola body with fists” and “Hit the outside of the piano body”

-”Stomp feet” (um… awesome!)

And that just skims the surface. It’s going to be very cool.

Did I mention how excited I am to get to play with my trio, Major Third, again? Shannon McCue, the violist, and Margaret Halbig, the pianist, are incredible musicians. Combine that with a great piece by a wonderful composer and you have a recipe for something truly amazing.

Thank you, Katie, for all your hard work! We are so thankful for everything you have done!

-Calisa

Recordings to come, I promise!

Amanda was such a joy to work with and by the end of the lesson, she was tootin’ away! We turned that frown upside down and got her moving in the right direction.  She inspired me to be a better musician and a better teacher. It was a truly incredible experience.

I knew when we finished that I wouldn’t see her for another long period of time, so I was wondering how she might continue after our meeting. Would she go back to her initial frustrations, or hopefully continue to find some joy in the flute?

Then I got this email from her family:

“I just wanted to let you know that Amanda is super excited about the flute!  She practiced for an hour yesterday and was sitting up and articulating and having so much fun!  Thank you so much for reinvigorating her interest in music!  We were getting so worried that she would completely lose interest because of her teacher. We had so much fun too! “

And that is 150% the reason why I teach. My heart is overjoyed.

Thank you, Amanda, for reminding me why I love what I do so much.

-Calisa