Thursday, February 2, 2012

Manhattan Transfer, Yoga, and Brass Quintets

We are so excited to have Manhattan Transfer coming to Knoxville to perform with us! Ever since the late 70's, when tasty hits such as Birdland and Tuxedo Junction graced the airwaves, I have been a fan. Linking the jazz vocal ensembles of the past (The Pied Pipers, Brazil 66, The Four Freshmen) with those of today (Bobby McFerrin’s Voicestra, The Bobs, The Nylons), there is no more iconic group in their genre that is still performing after all these years. The show will be Saturday, Feb. 4th at the Knoxville Civic Auditorium, 8:00.

The inaugural Calvin Smith Brass Quintet Competition has been announced. While the Competition gets its own website up and running, the temporary link for this event is at the Knox Brassworx website. Pre-formed ensembles may compete in the Student Division or the Graduate/Professional Division. The competition will take place in “historic” Oak Ridge in early July. What an awesome way to memorialize our late colleague Calvin.

Yoga seems to be on the up-and-up these days, being a wonderful partner to music performance. I haven’t yet been (re-)bitten by the bug, but I have been known to bust out a shoulder stand every once in a while. Second flutist Jill Waguespack Allard has found a calling in yoga instruction, leading several types of yoga classes at the Glowing Body in Old North Knoxville and at The Practice Yoga in Western Plaza. She has pursued this endeavor with missionary zeal, which has in turn spurred several symphony players to take up this beneficial practice. Violinist Sara Matayoshi has proven to be a yogi, also leading classes at both of these venues.

Orchestra players attend classes that both Jill and Sara lead. At post-concert gatherings, Concertmaster Gabe Lefkowitz has been known to call it an early night, say “I have a 6:30 yoga class tomorrow morning,” leading to many a face-palm by those within earshot. Violinists Ilia Steinschneider and Diane Zelickman, violist Eunsoon Corliss and pianist Carol Zinavage have also been on board the yoga express with varying degrees of intensity.

6:30???? AM??????

1 comment:

kaney said...

Why are more, and more, students, over 40 years of age, discovering Hatha Yoga classes for the first time? What can Hatha Yoga do for a "couch potato?" What can Hatha Yoga offer the active person, who is over 40? Let's take a closer look at each of these issues for the deeper answers, which Hatha Yoga contains.

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