Syrinx : XXII — back at work!

August at the beach? 'Fraid not! August finds me happily rehearsing a fantastic new program with Syrinx : XXII: António Carrilho, recorders and Raj Bhimani, piano. 

We are preparing for our return tour to India in November, taking a program of gorgeous works from four centuries, including Bach, Gluck, Schubert and Mozart, works by living Portuguese composers and the premier of a new trio by Sören Sieg, to boot!

Raj snapped this cool photo of me warming up on the bass flute for the Sieg work—a rollicking fun and beautiful trio that uses the bass flute to perfection—thank you, dear Sören, once again!

Why is the bass flute just so cool?

An-ti-ci-paaaaaaa-tion!

Guess who's on their way to Lisbon? Aside from thousands of tourists, that is…

Answer: Raj Bhimani, the wonderful pianist of Syrinx: XXII, our trio with the fabulous António Carrilho, recorders. Soon he'll be somewhere over the Atlantic, en route from New York, in order to rehearse for upcoming concerts of Syrinx: XXII and soak up the ambience of Lisbon in August. We're preparing a couple programs about which you'll hear more later—can't spill the beans quite yet! But you can bet they'll be anything but the "same old, same old"—working with Syrinx: XXII is a case of 1+1+1=10!

I love this atmospheric, Rembrandt-esque photo of Raj (by the NY photographer Jiyang Chen) because it has depth of expression, both in the subject and in the photo itself. Plus, check out the serious piano-size hands—

American pianist, Raj Bhimani. Photo by Jiyang Chen