Today is time for my presentation on the 'net; by the time you read this, it will be available at http://www.io.com/~rboerger/IHS98conf - should you be interested. I spend the morning applying the final touches to the presentation, but do make it to the finals of the Farkas Performance Awards. The four finalists are Peter Erdei, Austin Hitchcock, Megan McBride, and Carrie Strickland. All have to play the first movement of the Mozart Concerto No. 3, K. 447 plus a selection of their choosing. Erdei is the only one of the group to give the Mozart more than a perfunctory reading (of course, nerves may be responsible for this), and his performance of Schumann's Adagio and Allegro is very bwell done, indeed. My guess is that he will be the winner of the competition.

After lunch, I have to be in my room early and so decide to pass on the Gail Williams masterclass; afterwards, everyone tells me how wonderful it was. Figures. It's a good thing I do skip it, because somehow the DNS settings on the laptop have gotten toasted, and I have to call the Centre's April Kinzel to get them back. I set up and wait for anyone to show. When nobody does by 2:30 (the start of the session), I wander next door to see that the Williams session is running long. Eventually a few people (8, to be exact) show up. It is exactly as I'd feared - most of the people for whom this class might be of interest are instead attending their ensemble rehearsals. I can't blame 'em - I'd rather be there, too! ;-) In any case, the eight who are there are attentive and ask some good questions. Robert Osmun is one of the attendees and also makes a couple of good points that I'd missed.

I pack up the laptop and head to the Eric Harvey Theatre for the afternoon concert. Again, we are treated to some wonderful music:

The string players really get into their work, and sometimes I wonder how they stay in their seats!

All works are performed quite well. The duets for horn and bassoon are fun to listen too. Kendall Betts jokes afterwards that "72% is not bad" on the Haydn, although of course he didn't miss anywhere near that many. He also tells me that even though this is perhaps the most supportive audience he'll perform for, that he still gets nervous. You'd never know it from his playing, but I appreciate the insight nonetheless.

After dinner I get my horn out for the first playing I've done all week [!!!] at the massed horn choir rehearsal. There are about 70 stands set up as we stand in the theatre where rehearsals are held - not all are full. I head over to play 6^th part - we are doing movements from the Handel Water Music. Unlike last year, Paul Mansur (who is conducting us) has to get a couple more people to play the tuba part. So, off we go and other than the usual problems (e.g. dynamics, articulation, notes) everything seems to work. Paul tells me afterwards that he is happy with the progress of the group, especially compared to some previous massed choirs.

I drop my horn back at the room and head over to the evening concert. We get a real shock here during the performance. Julia Studebaker is sharing the program with Karl Pituch tonight, and I notice when she comes onstage for her initial bow that she does not appear terribly happy. About 90% of the way through her first number, Schubert's Auf dem Strom, she suddenly stands, stops the performance, and apologizes to the audience and her co-performers that she is unable to continue and is not sufficiently prepared. After allowing soprano Michelle Todd and pianist Peter Allen to take a bow, she heads offstage, not to return. I do hear at a meal the next day that David Hoyt took her to dinner afterwards to talk to her, but we haven't seen her since.

This leaves Karl Pituch to stand on his own during the much-shortened concert:

The Metro String Quartet plays extremely expressively - it's amazing they can move around so much and still keep their bows on their instruments! The Turner Sonata goes extremely well - so much so that the first standing ovation of the conference is bestowed on the performers, who are brought back for numerous bows. En Foret also is extremely well done!

Respectfully submitted,

Ron Boerger