Category: Tour

The ASQ is performing and recording this season on a matched set of beautiful American instruments – the Ellen M. Egger Quartet of instruments made by luthier Francis Kuttner. On Friday, the cello manifest strange buzzing and rattling noises and needed attention in a hurry. The ASQ spent a couple of hours first thing down…

So last night after ASQ attended the lower string seminar at Juilliard, our dear friend Toby Appel and his wife, Carolyn, graciously invited us to dinner. Not only is Toby an amazing educator, violinist and violist, he is an amazing cook as well. Every time we go over to Toby’s for dinner, he surprises us…

Finding good food while on the road can sometimes be quite challenging but when we come to NYC, we run across the opposite problem. There are SO many amazing restaurants in Manhattan, it’s sometimes hard to choose. A few months back I was watching the Food Network and I saw a show featuring the Meatball…

On my first Tuesday in Buenos Aires, I started off in search for a new tuxedo shirt, as mine had bitten the dust. The sleeves were too short, and the whole showed signs of having done a little too much good service. As I headed out in search of an alternative, the window-shopping provided good…

Correction: This blog post was erroneously attributed to Paul instead of Sandy – our apologies for the mixup! As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts to these blogs, resting and down-time while on the road frequently affords a welcome and stimulating opportunity to get out and about in less familiar cultures and cities. It’s no doubt…

Sunday, Oct. 3rd, 12-midnight Back now from this weekend sweep of gorgeous Mendocino County. A bit saddle-sore from the driving- I did it all. Fred did almost all the talking ( I know deep down he feels he has to keep up a constant chatter in order to keep me awake as he has done…

Sometimes being quiet in a hotel room without the accumulation of chores that sit on the home/office desk can be liberating. It’s a welcome chance to read a book, take an afternoon snooze or get out and walk a little in a less familiar neighborhood. Even if it’s raining “cats and dogs” as it has…

Whenever I have a good book on tour the memories of the performances and the places we visit become inextricably associated with the literature. A few of the books that have that sort of resonance with past travels are Larry McMurtry’s “Lonesome Dove”, Barbara Kingsolver’s “The Poisonwood Bible”, Paul Auster’s “Brooklyn Follies” and “Oracle Night”,…

We performed an informal concert today at the brand new Peterson-Kermani Performance Hall at St. Lawrence University. Last minute cleanup before opening the house for the first time. We played movements from Mozart “The Hunt”, Schubert “Death and the Maiden”, Shostakovich String Quartet No. 4, and Dvorak Op. 106. As we played our first notes…

I thought it might be interesting for ASQ fans out there to explain a little bit why Roger Woodward’s recording of the 24 Preludes & Fugues by Shostakovich was the inspiration behind my transcriptions for string quartet. Before we started our Shostakovich cycle recording project we were discussing how to organize each of the discs. We realized early…

Monday, Sept. 20th, 7:35pm Update from Zak: Just landed in Newark, NJ. We didn’t fly on United like we normally do… flew Continental instead now that they’re a part of StarAlliance. The flight was ok but I DO have to admit… I missed my Economy Plus seat! We have a short layover and then another…