6 January 2008

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4916966280753281829.post-52654618492752316552008-01-06T07:24:00.000-08:002008-01-06T07:25:39.673-08:006 January 20086 January 2008 Mark Twain United States of America Dear Mark, Here it is, my first letter of the New Year. And what a year it has already been! It’s been quite an incredible week. Firstly, I have to talk about the Russians and their New Years’ celebrating…they’re STILL celebrating…fireworks going off very night at all hours. My apartment overlooks a park, so I get the full effect of this-it’s one thing to watch fireworks at a distance, but quite another when they explode at face level only a few meters away… New Years’ Eve was quite an event. It seemed that the vast majority of Saintpetersburgians, or whatever they wish to be called, packed into Palace Square to see in the new year. The massive amounts of personal fireworks was only dwarfed by the more massive amounts of alcohol…it’s somewhat frightening when 10s of thousands of people are packed into one place, as a drunken mass, and setting off fireworks, sometimes at each other…the alcohol fumes alone would be enough to ignite and engulf the Bay of Finland in flames… There was a huge screen set up in the Square. At a few moments before midnight, a broadcast started of Mr. Putin addressing the new year as one for the glory for Russia. Then, at midnight, do you think they played Auld Lang Sine? Nope…the Russian National Anthem…it was somewhat surreal… Well, later on that week I was invited to the home of sculptor Vladimir Tsivin by my friend and colleague Dmitri Mikalevski. Dmitri is the producer and mastermind behind the Greco-Russian Symposium and Festivals at which both my dance work “APXE” and my film (score, that is) “Longing for the Sun” will be presented over the next year in Athens and Thessaloniki, respectively. The meeting was to create a dialogue to interest Mr. Tsivin in the project and to commission him to create the scenery for the dance work. The good news is that he is very keen on the idea and interested in seeing how the project evolves. If you don’t know his work, it’s more than worth it to look him up-he’s created some stunning pieces, and if you know my music, you’d see why we are a perfect match for this project. We’re both interested in both Ancient and Modern forms and concepts. We have come to agree that our work is complementary. I had a lovely trip to Novgorod to visit the old city and icon museum. Along with me and Margaret was composer Marcus Heathcock, and Marcus’ vicar Terry and his wife Ruth. The old city is quite lovely, dating from around the 10th century. There has been some very good restoration taking place and the city in preparation for it’s 1, 150 year anniversary. It’s funny, there is a modern town surrounding the Medieval one, but the old definitely dominates the new in the landscape. You have to wonder how people who live in such a city feel about their own history and dealing with tourists. I mean, many great cities have historical areas, Athens immediately comes to mind, but it’s also a national capital and a large modern city. Novgorod is more like Olympia: you’ve got a lot of ruins, museums, people selling stuff, and that’s about it…the actual modern town is completely eclipsed. In other news, I’m going to Kyrgyzstan! I just received an invitation to spend a week performing and lecturing at both the State Conservatory and State College of Music-this was made possible by the US Embassy. I will be traveling there immediately after my second trip to Uzbekistan, which was also made possible through the US Embassy. I have to say that the Embassy system over here is really interested in connecting with their communities, which is great. I’m happy that they see cultural connections as important and I am honored that I have been asked to be both a ‘cultural representative’ and a catalyst for intercultural dialogue. Kyrgyzstan has been in the news as of late because a team of (I believe) Swedish scientists determined that the mountains of Kyrgyzstan would be the optimal location for Santa Claus to start and finish his Christmas Eve journey, due to both the wind currents and curvature of the Earth…I kid you not, people actually get government funding for these things…needless to say, the Kyrgyzstan government has jumped on this boost tourism… I can say that this great creative stream that I have been in continues. Since the New Year, I have finished both the clarinet and piano piece (“Gymnopaedia”) for myself and Susanne Kessel to premier in Bonn in April, and also the score to Justin Heim’s film “Define Intervention”, a great work, which will be premiered at DOM Art Space in Moscow in February. It was good to get the first film of the year done…now, I still wait for three others to arrive…deadlines, deadlines… So, that’s the story from the Arctic Circle, or at least near it…it’s getting progressively lighter, as much as 5 good hours of sunlight a day now, but it’s still cold, like -27 degrees cold…the sun is just not warm here, and it actually can be colder during the day then at night-it’s all dependant upon the wind. But…I’ll be in Rome next week at this time…it’s the coldest month there, but it will be like late Spring here…I’ll actually wake up in Rome on my birthday, which will be great, what a way to celebrate! 39...hmmm…an interesting age…I have always believed that at 40 one gains wisdom, so at least I’m almost there…of course, the fact that I occasionally act like I’m 14 is another story… I’ll let you know when I get there… Until next time, DemetriusDemetrius Spaneashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04527904613791909714noreply@blogger.com