Viterbo Notte Bianca 2007 - Carmina Burana

The video originally posted in this post has strangely disappeared of of youtube. too bad, it was great video of us rocking out to Carl Orff. This was a smash hit in the square in front of the main church in town. we played many concerts here. this night was a huge party in viterbo, the notte bianca, or white night. they had "spectaculos" on every corner and in every plaza. it was a high point for sure. there is a pope burried in the plaza below the orchesta, and carmina burana is an orchestration of the songs of the renagade monks who had been excomunicated from the church for partying to much!

Valencia

After Granada, Robin and I took the overnight train to Valencia (where the amercia's cup just took place!). Upon arrival at 5am, we waited unitll 9am for the oboist Juan Ferriol to pick us up. Juan snuck up on us at a moment when Robin was using my oboe for a pillow in the train station and asked Robin: "why don't you use her?" pointing to Mel. Juan brought us to the location where a music festival was happening, a small elementary school just for music. I got to participate in Juan’s day long masterclasses, complete with an at least 2 hour lunch with Juan and the other oboists (all from spain!). We learned that in Valencia, the language is Valencian and not Spanish. Therefore, there were three languages going on all day (English, Spanish and Valencian.) Juan was a wonderful host, and reminded me very much of my oboe teacher Kevin. At the end of the day, Juan drove us back to the airport for our flight to Rome, concluding our week in Spain.

Madrid/Granada

On the Morning of Friday July 6th, we arrived in Mardird by train. This was the largest city we would visti in spain. We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast of Salmon and cheese, and then toured El Prado for hours upon hours. Seeing every painting in the place. Then we ventured over to the botanical gardens where we spent the rest of our day finding all kinds of plants from around the world including New Mexico. In fact, it seems that the only plants they have from the US are from NM.
That night we jumped on our train to Granada. We it was a great ride as we were in First Class drinking wine and eating all the way. Mel and I witnessed a heated argument between two passengers about luggage that soon turned intto a philisophical discusion about luggage etiquette. The latins are so funny. When we arrived in Granada, Joaquin was of course over a half an hour late. We stayed with him the first night we were there, in a great apartment looking up at the Alhambra. I can see why he loves it so much there. Hippies and gypsies everywhere. The next day we toured the Alhambra, seeing the ancient gardens that I have heard so much about. I could see Carl and Joaquin playing in the Gardens and sneeking around at night finding old hidden secrets. That night I hung with Joaquin in the gypsy caves, meeting some of his flamenco friends and playing a little bit. The next day I took mel back there and she impressed them all with her oboe skills! Joaquin is doing great there, getting ready for a flamenco competition and living the life. I would love to return there some day.

Santander/Austurias

We arrived this morning in Santander, Spain (7/4) after a great ride on RyanAir, europes cheapest airline (more like a cattle shipping buisness). When the plane landed everyone applauded in amazement that the plane actually made it. Santander is a beautiful city on the coast of Northern Spain. We took a boat ride and enjoyed our day walking around the small metropolitan area waiting for our train to Gijon. It was an overnight ride and we got our first taste of sleeping on the train. Both being jetlagged, sleeping was no problem for the most part. We arrived in Gijon in the morning and ate breakfast and walked on the beach before getting on another train to Aviles, just a 1/2 hour ride inland. The mountains here are amazing and the town of Aviles is very old. We met the Bass Professor (Andrey Feygin) of the Univeristy of Oviedo here and I had a 2 hour lesson with him. I played Koussavisky's Concerto for him and seeing as though he is Russian he had some interesting things to say. He is a good player, though doesn't quite stand up to the amazing teachers I am used to. I learned that Austurias would be a great place for a begining professional, but not the best for study. After a good lunch we parted for Oviedo and spent some hours exploring. We both liked the town very much. Tonight we are sleeping on the train to Madrid.

A Day in Rome

Hi all, we have arrived in Roma. My bass made it fine through the trans-atlantic flight and melissa has been introduced to the latin passion for Argument, as just about every journey we have enbarked on thus far we have witnessed a heated disscusion between the locals. We arrived in the airport and scared off 5 taxi's before one would dare to put my bass in. We then drove into Roma and dropped my bass off at the Hotel, where the festival will pick it up and take it to Viterbo while we are in Spain. We leave tomorrow for Spain (7/4/07) and tonight we toured a little of Roma, eating by the Fontana di Trevi and spending some time walking around the Vatican. We got lost in the streets and passed through some midnight street markets and movie filming before passing by the Castello di Saint Angelo.

Albuquerque, for 11 hours.

We have arrived in albuquerque where we will stay for 11 hours. My bass has caused minimal problems on this leg, not fitting on the first flight from Powell River-Vancouver and arriving in Vancouver three hours later than us. We arrived in Albuquerque to find our bags are comming in an hour later. As we sit here and watch the rest of our movie, I thought it would be a good time to give some transition thoughts.

The last concert went great, we played Mahler 4th (which Mel played the final English Horn solo for closing the entire symphony beatifully!) and Stravinsky's Rite of Spring (Hard Rock!!!!!) SOAP was a challenging experience for both of us and I feel like I have learned so much and it was good to study with Mark Morton again. He is a great player, teacher, and a whole lot of fun.

We now start the hot part of our summer. The director of SOAP told me he heard that it is so hot in Rome that they had to turn off all of the fountains. Joaquin has warned me that spain is hot too. We will fly tomorrow to Rome, meet Marcio at the airport, go in a taxi to the Hotel Dehon (right behind the Vatican) and spend the day there. On tuesday we fly to Santander, Spain, where we take a train to Gijon. I will meet Andrey Feygin there and take an audition. He is the Bass professor at the conservatory there. Then we will take a train to Madrid, hang there for a day. Then to Granada for a few days with Joaquin, and finally to Valencia where mel will meet Juan Ferriol, the oboe professor. All of our nights, except for Granada, will be spent on the trains. So we may smell a little. but no hostels needed! Then we fly back to Rome to meet the group and start our second festival of the summer.

A note on DAD: he is doing fine. Josh and Lana have both visited for a week each and Mom is on her way for a week as well. He has been able to work a few hours at a time and is in high spirits! As for my dog, he is out of jail and loves his monkey.

Mel Sums up Canada

Robin and I just completed our adventure in Powell River. Our final concert yesterday was spectacuar! It is such a thrill to make music with such a good orchestra. Since the last blog entry, we checked into a haunted hotel. I thought that my bug adventure just wasn't scary enough, so we packed up and moved to a hotel where there are dead bodies in the basement, and mafia history haunting the closed off corridors of the third floor. (actually we left our happy campsite because I got sick, but now I'm better.) Powell River is a beautiful place, and it is fun to be outside at 11:30 pm and see the sun still setting!

Melissa

Mel Tales. Part 1.

I woke up in the middle of the night to a loud "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaGGGGGGGGGGGGGUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" I jumped out of my sleeping bag and grabbed Mel, who was sitting up right waving her hands wildly around in front of her. Looking for a bear or drunk canadian out side of our tent, I asked her, "What happened?" Mel has been suffering from a little head cold the last couple of days and had been up blowing her nose every couple hours. She was on her way out of the tent when a GINORMOUS HUGEMOUNGOUS tiny little bug with wings flew into the tent. I went out to find this midnight intruder who was trapped inbetween the tent and the rain canopy. I came face to face with a long legged large moth type creature. Letting him go into the dark canada night, Mel appeared out of the tent and pointed down the the picnic table and "GASP!!!", there was a racoon prowling the perimiter of our campsite. This has been tales from the Mel.

SOAP, Concert #1 and some Sea Kayaking

On Satruday night, we played two concerts of the same material. Beethoven's 5th Symphony, Ravel's Mother Goose Suite, and Tchiakovisky's 6th Symphony. A huge undertaking, and I played principle bass with Dr. Mark Morton in the Section along with three other fine bass players from Boulder, Colorado. It was amazing to play Beethoven, I have never had so much fun playing a symphony before. The entire night was introduced by the Mayor of Powell River, a rather Fairy Tale Political type, speaking in three languages and wearing a gold sash. Melissa and I retired to the tent after the concert and woke up early the next morning to catch a bus to Lund, BC (maybe 20min North of Powell River). We rented Kayaks there and happened to meet the conductor of our symphony, Aurthor Arnold. He took us out on the bay for a nice three hour tour. We saw Bald Eagles, ducks, crabs, lots of beautiful inlets and rock formations. This place is worthy of some more exploring. Then we returned to our instruments and practiced for our auditons this morning. All for now.

Powell River Peak Front Page: Taking a Bow

Robin Abeles [left] from New Mexico is joining the Symphony Orchestra Academy of the Pacific (SOAP) for his second year, while Thomas Mayes from Seattle is returning to Powell River for his third time at the festival. Both musicians play the double bass and are participating in rehearsals throughout the next two weeks, while learning about playing in a symphonic orchestra plus putting on classical music performances.


I can't keep my face out of the news. This is from the Powell River News Paper for the week.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.asp?brd=1998

Thursday

Well, we have survived four days of our Canada adventures thus far. Tonight was a mock audition (a staged "fake" orchestra audition) planned to give us experience in the most grueling part of our profession. To me, auditions are like trying to portray your entire life story in just a few words. And those words must be completely articulated, with exact execution and intention, with no stumbling or restating, while standing on one foot in the rain with someone yelling at you the whole time: "Hey YOU, OVER HERE! NO HERE!!!!!!" And then you have to play. (Mel's audition was accompanied a band rehearsing "Oh Canada" in another room). Both of our auditions went well and comments were positive. My big strength seems to be my enourmous sound. Now if I could only play the right notes with the right dynamic at the right tempo with the right bow stroke and the right style and INTUNE, maybe I could win an orchestra job. Sounds easy no?

So, things to look forward to: Sea Kayaking on sunday, two concerts on Saturday. Its raining right now and we are sleeping in a tent. Our walk home consists of a trail thru the woods and a couple of blocks along the beach. And mel asks, "are you done?" good night.

Symphony Orchestra Academy of the Pacific, Powell River, BC

Hey all, we have finally arrived in Canada. After being turned down at the airport because the bass was too big to fit on the plane, fighting our way onto another plane(with the bass of course), riding a ferry and a bus, we are here. Many thanks to Tanya who helped us out with our crazy airport drama! We are camping on the beach and playing everyday in an orchestra. I auditioned into the principle bass position for the first concert (Beethoven 5, Ravel's Mother Goose Suite, and Tchaikovsky's 6th). Quite a move up for me since I was dead last chair last year at the same festival.(not that seating has anything to do with how much fun I have!) It is a breath of fresh air to be back here again, loving the humidity and beautiful surroundings. Not mention the un-distracted hours of playing. Now that we have an Internet connection, I will post more about the concerts as they happen. Melissa seems to love the place and says here oboe teacher is not bad, yet can hardly stand up the the "coolness" of one Kevin V. Well gotta go practice. Will write more soon.

AND THEY'RE OFF!!!!

"Music is enough for a lifetime; but a lifetime is not enough for music." --Rachmaninov

Christain McBride, a moment of Inspiration

"Nobody's ever going to groove harder playing straight ahead than Ray Brown, no one's going to groove any funkier ever than Bootsy Collins or Larry Graham (Sly & the Family Stone). You start thinking,' Man, what's left?' But if I'm going to make some kind of contribution to the world of music, I have a feeling it's going to be rooted in the groove underneath, from the bottom." -CM

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5328890

Sesame Goes to Jail

In keeping in form with his counterpart blond celebrities, my dog Sesame has landed himself in jail for 10 days. As we all know, Ses has a little biting problem, which got away from him on Saturday as he went after a neighborhood kid and put a nice gash in his leg. Being the responsible dog owner I am, I had let his rabbies vaccination expire by a couple of months. After much consultation with his doggy lawyers, Ses turned himself in to the Eldorado Animal Clinic. He will spend the next ten days smoking and lifting weights and promised to tattoo Melissa's name on his front leg. Upon his release a nice new muzzle will be waiting for him along with a stint at doggy rehab. Live from santa fe, this is robin abeles.

Dad Has Heart Attack

On Memorial day my father checked himself into a hospital in Kearny, Nebraska. He had been feeling chest pains for a couple weeks, and while he was driving his moving truck across the country to his new home in Moline, Il, he couldn't take it any more. The tests confirmed that 2 arteries were 99.9% clogged while a 3rd was 80% clogged. Luckily, he stopped at one of Two hospitals on 1-80 that has a heart surgeon. A few hour later he was in surgery and mom and I were on the road to him. He had a successful quadruple by-pass and now gets to spend a week in the hospital flirting with the nurses. I am very happy that he is OK and alive. I have returned home after a week of driving across the country to finish his drive for him and unloading his truck. My mom is returning to take care of him and my brother and sister will share the chores in Moline. This week has brought our family closer to each other and reminded me of how things can change in a second. The thoughts of losing my father have challenged my sense of permanence and have made me desire the love of my family even more. NO MORE GREASY SPOON FOR YOU DAD!!!!!!!!

Chile News

So, for those of you who can read spanish, check out the article published in the Universidad Mayor's online news paper about Carmelo's Trio and My plans to attend!

http://www.diariomayor.cl/001home_488.htm

My First NMSO Gig

Tonight, and earlier today, I played with the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra for the first time ever. It was a sureal experience, one that I had expected to happen, yet not in the manner in which it did. I recieved a phone call last night at around 9pm from Mark, the personel manager: "Robin, can you play a concert tomorrow night? Rehersal is at 10am." "Yes." There is no other answer when the big boys call. I will play. Stop everything else and play. The rehearsal and the concert went great, and all the members of the orchestra were very supportive. Derek Develder, my stand partner and the guy who recommended me, graciously introduced me into the NMSO bass section practicing the ancient art of coyote teaching: one dog helps another one along. I owe you Derek! Jean Luc, the principle was pleased with my playing and said he would have me back.

Ya llegue a casa

I arrived back in Albuquerque yesterday at 11:30am. Since then, less than 48 hours, I have moved out of my house and up to Santa Fe, Played a gig, and been called for a gig by the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra. I cannot believe that the day before yesterday I spent 12 hours at the Universidad Mayor, oh yeah..... Here's the rest of my Chile trip:
So I was only in Santiago for 4 days total. I spent my time on Monday buying Bombos (a folkloric drum), and touring the neighborhood of Los Condes. I had lunch with Kelly and met a few more of his artists before spending some time preparing for my "audition" at the school the next day. I gave the second bombo I bought to Kelly to bring up to Mirabal. It is an amazing drum, a wooden tom with skin of goat. They leave the hair on the skin so the tone is so mellow and warm. Perfect.
I woke up early-ish on Tuesday and found my way to the Universidad Mayor's music conservatory. It is in the nicest nieghborhood in Santiago. The school itself is very new, only 4 years old, and has over 230 music students. 30 of these are bass players!!! I met the teacher I would study with if i attend: Elian Ortiz. His is a very nice guy and has a lot to offer. Instead of a formal audition, he requested I sit in on a few of his lessons, and then take one from him. I was very impressed with his teaching style, being very similar to Mark Tatum Maximous himself, and his comments were very musical and relevent. His students play very well. I was allowed a couple of hours before my lesson to practice on a school bass, which was rather playable. Elian was very happy with my playing and gave me a lesson the next day as well. The next day carmelo and his trio gave a master class at the Music Conservatory and I sat in on some of it. The students of the school played very well and I was impressed by the level of musicality they expressed.
I spent some time that day being interviewed by the school newspaper as they were very interested in my want to be an exchange student there. "Why Chile?" "What do you have to offer Chile?" "What will you have to offer our school?" Damn! I felt like I was running for office or something!!! I just want to play music in a cool place! Is that so much to ASSKK?? Really I was honored to be the center of attention and it seems as though Carmelo is already recruting Chilean violinists to fill the UNM orchesta.
Elian said he would be happy to have me in his studio, I feel the trip allowed the connection between student and teacher to begin. I would like to study with him, but the jury is out until end of the summer. I have promised myself and melissa that I will check out the schools in Spain and give all of this a lot of time and thought. Really, these are the choices I am lucky enough to have to make. My over all impression of Chile is that it is a great place and I would do well living there for a while. There are some challenges to face, such as pollution and a school in it's infancy. I would have to change my style of bow from French to German, Yet the school is open to me as no other school has ever been. The are welcoming me with excitement. I finally saw the Andes, looming high over Santiago, covered in Snow, Rigged, Arched, and calling my name. Hasta Pronto, un abrazo a todos.

Santiago, First Impressions

After a nice lunch with Kelly at the airport, in which we caught up and discussed the ups and downs of the music business, we boarded our plane to Dallas. Nothing could have ever prepared me for who was on the flight for Santiago though. As I was walking down the aisle to me seat, I saw Carmelo de los Santos, the UNM violin professor. "Que estas haciendo?" "Playing a concert in Santiago!" "Where?" "Universidad Mayor!" AAAHHHH!!!
Thanks guardian angel, you once again have proven you've got my back. I really am supposed to be here doing what I am doing. Carmelo and I sat together and talked the whole way. I have always respected him, and the fact that we are only a year apart has always been comforting to me. We connected on a level that only such a happenstance could have allowed.
Kelly and I spent the rest of today walking around Santiago, getting to know the place. We visited Santa Luica (the birth place of the city), Bella Vista(the main live music district) and rode the subway. The parks are clean, and so are the streets. Much cleaner than Buenos Aires. My fear of pollution has been subsided. My throat has been raw from the trash fires, though. The smell brings me back to Jamacia. It is foggy here, and I have yet to really see the Andes, though I can feel them looming.
Tomorrow I hope find the school and get my hands on a bass. Carmelo seems to think he can get me in there even though it is a holiday. I will meet more of Kelly's friends tonight, a bass player and a band on his label. I've already hung a little with his manager Ignacio (whose uncle owns the hotel we are staying at). The hotel is my father's dream. Made of wood and has a mast and sail coming out the front. All the doors have circular windows and the Helm is located in the Restaurant. Mermaids and Ships fill the lobby. El Hotel Cap Ducal is our vessel setting sail over Santiago. Dad, you would never leave. I have a good feeling so far, flamenco, jazz, and salsa, as well as classical music are very present and alive. German speakers are here as well, they even have their own TV station. The architecture is very German as well. Alpacas are the streets. all for now.

I leave for Chile

Tomorrow at 5pm I board a flight for Chile. My traveling companion is none other than Kelly Rudy. Kelly owns Petroglyph Records, a small record company based in Taos, NM. He specializes in the music scene of Santiago. A few years back, I played a CD pre-release party at Kelly's house with guitarist Antonio Restucci (Antonio's album features some of my flamenco heroes like Carles Benavent and Jorge Pardo). We jammed on some flamenco and latin jazz standards. I remember Sr. Mirabal came to hang. "I liked how you're vibin' it bro." It was one of the few times he has been in my audience as a listener. I expressed interest back then about someday visiting Santiago as I drove Antonio around Taos drinking maté, but never dreamed of traveling there to audition.
This particular opportunity came about while I was visiting the International studies fair at UNM. Robin Coté, the study abroad coordinator, answered my question ("where can I go to study music in a foreign county?") by pulling out a brochure to the Universidad Mayor in Santiago. I contacted the school and eventually heard back. They have pretty much accepted me, yet I insisted on visiting and auditioning live for them, more for my benefit than theirs. I want to meet the bass professor, to see if he could possibly stand up to the greatest bass player in New Mexico, my current teacher Marcus Aurelius Maxi mus Tatum, the first. We'll see....
The odds are stacked high on this trip for a few reasons. I am not bringing my bass, as of 1:30am, right now. This could change if I have a bad dream. The school will provide me with an instrument, one I have never seen before and know nothing of its quality or playability. One of the two pieces I am playing I have never played for anyone before. I will not be able to practice for two days, and have no idea how much time they will give me alone with the instrument before they ask me to play. My girlfriend wants nothing to do with Chile. There's more, but no need.
Kelly has promised a tour of the city and to meet some more artists on his label. He has been an amazing resource and friend. When I first mentioned I was trying to get down to Chile this summer, he got on the horn right away and the next thing I knew I was tagging along with him. Mirabal just finished an album produced by Andy Bird, the same guy who did the Antonio album. My emotions for taking on a summer that set me on a different path from the Mirabal Clan have been present, yet it is so amazing how life cycles back on us. I feel such a connection with the past and present. It is almost as if they are the same. I am on a musical journey, there are so many to play with, again and again. For music truly is enough for life, yet life is not enough for music. Take care, and mom I love you.

Good Snake, Sit! Cabazon Jemez, May 13

Check out more of Lazlo's Pictures at www.mezoarruda.com/gallery/CabezonPeak

The Jade

"Work like you don't need the money
Love like you've never been hurt &
Dance like nobody's watching"

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope you all had a good mothers day and called your mamas. Mom and I went hiking in the santa fe mountains with ses the dog. then we BBQed some steaks and talked about what if all night. love you mom!

Starting Out

Greatings friends, family, and new comers. This is my blog, I set it up for an english class this year. I got an A in that class. I erased all the nonsense, and now I own the blog. I will journal my summer adventures here for you all to share. I finished my Junior Year of College tonight by emailing my last paper in. As of right now, I am on summer vacation. Vacation is hardly what it will be. I will be traveling to Chile, Canada, Spain, and Italy this summer. All to play classical music. Please come along, comment, keep in touch, and keep me true to my word. I will document this summer for it promises to be epic.