Monday, November 10, 2008

Work and Play


The Swara Sonora Trio doesn't just make music together, we're pretty good at hanging out together, too. In fact, most of our rehearsals and meetings turn into dinner parties. Last night the guys came over my place for tour planning and a Mexican feast. We decided to have more regular meetings, both so that we don't have hours of talking to do each time, and so that we can share more meals together. This seems to bode well for spending three weeks on the road together in Indonesia next summer...

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Recording Session

Last week Aryo, Nathan, and I (with the page-turning help of our friend Brian) went into the recording studio at the U of A to make a professional recording of "Love and Variations."

In two hours we had all 8 songs in the can. Once we've selected the best tracks, we'll send the complete recording of "Love and Variations" to Bob Conrad of WCLV Radio in Cleveland, who will play our recording on WCLV.

We also made a video of the session, to use in promotional materials for our tour to Indonesia. Our Indonesian manager, Mutia Dharma, requested a video of something well-known to help sell us to presenters and donors in Indonesia, so we made a quick recording of one of our favorite operatic duets, "Là ci darem la mano" from Don Giovanni.

Look for these audio and video clips to be posted soon on our website, www.swarasonora.com

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Summer Happenings

Greetings!
After our successful premiere, we are all off on our own for a busy summer! Unfortunately there won't be any performances for the trio this summer, but we are all doing great individual things. Even though we aren't performing together as a group, we are in working hard at arranging performances and and make arrangements for our trip to Indonesia.

In addition to trip plans, we are planning a recording that we can use for promotion and radio broadcast. Check back here for more info on where to here excerpts of the recording or broadcasts!

In other news, I am applying for a grant with the Arizona Commission on the Arts. If the granted, we will be arranging Indonesian folk songs for the trio that we can use for our tour and for concerts here in Tucson.

Don't forget to check back here for more info.

Nathan

Monday, April 28, 2008

Success!

Our world premiere concert of Love and Variations was a great success. The audience gave a warm reception to the newly commissioned work and to our entire concert program, which featured a creative format combining music and poetry.

Now, on to planning for our 2009 Peace Tour to Indonesia!


Bloom Music Center at St. Philip's in the Hills

We'll post more photos from the concert and our post-concert patrons' reception soon, so keep checking the blog!

Friday, April 25, 2008

Tonight's the Night!

Our World Premiere concert is this evening! On Wednesday we had a great dress rehearsal at St. Philip's. The Music Center is a nice hall with good acoustics, and we found that performing the music with a good piano was a completely new experience.


Aryo mugs for the camera while Nathan sings "At the Last Lousy Moments of Love"


Mary Baker was kind enough to come be our audience and listen for balance. She really liked "Love and Variations," our new commission by Ananda Sukarlan. We'd always thought the songs were beautiful, interesting, and audience-friendly, and it was nice to have our opinions confirmed by an impartial listener. Mary's favorite song was "Snowflakes." If you hear our concert tonight, send us a comment and tell us your favorite!

We're ready. Today Aryo has to play for some 1st grade OMA operas, but Nathan and I get to have diva days to rest and get ready. In fact, I'm getting my hair done by Rene, my fabulous stylist at Gadabout!

See you tonight!


Aryo runs his solo, "Isolde's Liebestod"

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Wrapping up!

With just three days left until our World Premiere concert, we are busy putting on the finishing touches! We spent the day rehearsing for the last time at Kathryn's apartment, and tomorrow we will run the program in the Bloom Music Center at St. Philip's. We are very excited about the program and we hope to see you there!

Be sure to visit our website for up to the date information!

Rehearsal Photos:

Aryo studies "Glass Conservatory" ...

... while Kathryn and Nathan perform the unaccompanied duet.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Website Launch


Our official Swara Sonora website is now online! On it you can find detailed information about the trio, our Love and Variations project, and how you can support the Swara Sonora Trio.

Visit our wesbite at www.swarasonora.com.

Please give us your feedback on the site! Feel free to send an email to swarasonora@gmail.com with your comments.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Project in Motion


Today Nathan, Aryo and I had a productive planning meeting about our world premiere, fundraising, and publicity. We set things in motion to prepare press releases, talk to potential sponsors, and organize ourselves as a music business. On the way home, the guys opened a P.O. Box for us (P.O. Box 31453, Tucson, AZ 85751 if you want to send us mail), while I stayed behind and created an official trio website. The site should be online by early next week, so check back here soon for a launch announcement!

Monday, January 21, 2008

Photo Shoot


A big day for Swara Sonora - we had a photo shoot and launched our blog. Stay tuned for more information on our project and our world premiere performance of Ananda Sukarlan's "Love & Variations" on April 25 at St. Philip's in the Hills!