Summer recap from Classical Tahoe/An Open Letter
I meant to write this earlier this week but it’s a bit difficult to be human when you have no power. All salt aside here is a recap of my time from Classical Tahoe.
I’ll start from before I left as I was not having a great time and it took some pulling teeth to make it out to the airport. I was initially pessimistic as life tends to get in the way of me having nice things along with the generally difficult time of relating to my orchestral colleagues. “So it was just another 3 weeks of work, I’m here to do my job” was my thought process. That all changed on the first day of rehearsal. There was the sight of smiling faces and reconnecting/connecting of the orchestra members which at least in my experience is pretty rare. I knew from then, that something was special and different and then a realization of I should probably not be a recluse and talk to people. And who knows, maybe something will come out of it.
Sure enough, I am glad I decided to talk to people. There were a lot of new faces and names for me and it was really interesting getting to read all the bios and whatnot of them. For me currently it’s not everyday you perform with people who have the jobs you’re actively gunning for in your career. My other fellows had some reservations initially about being side by side with them, but I took it as an opportunity to learn how each person sounded, how I can blend, and also what color preferences they have. It was really interesting to hear people from The Metropolitan Opera, NYC Ballet, SF Symphony, and others all come together. As for my apprehension of being able to relate, there are some things I simply can’t relate to (like having kids or owning a house) but honestly there wasn’t too much that I couldn’t relate to.
I haven’t talked about the program yet, mainly because it was intense. Preparing two different programs every week seems daunting but it really isn’t (for me at least). I’m a bit lucky in that sense as I make it a point to think and study the score as a conductor would (conducting in the future maybe?). Each program was drastically different and it is a good feeling to know that I have the endurance for such an intense rehearsal/concert schedule. Add two chamber pieces on top of this and there’s a reason why the saying “no rest for the weary” is common. Would I do it all again though? Absolutely. Lastly, the audiences where very enthusiastic about the programs and whatnot. This is also rare as it isn’t seen very much unless you play along with a really popular film nowadays. It was good to see all the impressed and smiling faces after each piece. All of this is a very long winded way of saying thank you for having me here and thank you to all who where involved with making this festival happen. I hope to be back again in the future.
An Open Letter to Classical Tahoe
To whom it may be of interest,
Good morning. My name is Patrick Prejean. I recently was the viola fellow for this most recent Classical Tahoe Festival. I really enjoyed my time and want to thank you for having me this year. As you might have heard, I am going to Denmark next month from September 13th-21st for a chamber music festival at Hvide Sande Masterclass. I am having a piece that I wrote being performed which will be linked below. This is an amazing opportunity for me both as a violist and composer however I am in need of assistance for travel to and from Europe. It has always been a dream of mine to travel the world performing music. As of now I would need about $2000 to cover the roundtrip and travel costs to and from the festival. I have a GoFundMe page linked below for this very need and graciously ask for donations and shares. Your help is greatly appreciated and every bit counts. I hope you have a wonderful day and wish you all the best. -Patrick Prejean
Piece being performed at Hvide Sande - https://youtu.be/THRa8CkBIs4?si=tyPNln5dOiLcP_yv
Link to Fundraiser - https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-patrick-attend-a-music-festival-in-denmark