Su Lian Tan teaching with me. Middlebury College 27 9 18

Lake Bomoseen. 3 am 27th September

25-26th September 2018

Walking in the Ithaca Woods with Evis Sammoutis. Honey fungi (Armillaria mellea)

Such a busy and inspiring two days at Ithaca College. This was the next stage in my project with Evis Sammoutis, working on the the ‘Nicosia Etudes & Concertos’. Here’s a link to the project, on the INTERFACES website LINK

Extraordinary paper sculpture (no, it is not a radiator) in Imin Yeh’s ‘This a valuable collection’ exhibit at Ithaca College’s Handwerker Gallery

A vital part of that work involves experimentation with new techniques of violin playing, and exploring some fundamentals-such as playing surfaces. The picture above shows some of the new approaches to bows which we are exploring-using leather, wool, rubber, notched wood, combs and much more, instead of bow hair. So a lot of time in the past two days was spent very much playing, and experimentation has to really be play, with these. I got very excited about what can be done with a rubber band.

A treasure in the Ithaca Library. From the 13th Century Llandaff Cathedral, which was almost completely destroyed in the ‘Great Storm’ of 1703.

The second, but not secondary, reason to come to Ithaca is the students. The composition students working with Evis and Jorge Villavicencio Grossmann are extraordinary, and it was a pleasure to both meet and work with new arrivals and my now colleagues from previous visits, particularly Emmanuel Berrido and Dallas Howard.

Materials. Working on new playing materials for the violin bow.

24th September 2018

A wonderful day, beginning with an exquisite sunrise departure from London, and ending with the drive Northwest from New York City, 250 miles up the Hudson Valley, through the Catskils to the Finger Lakes to meet and work with my friends Evis Sammoutis & Jorge Villavicencio Grossmann at Ithaca College:The drive  was punctuated by a wam welcome and excellent Turkey soup (also warm) at Tilly’s Diner in Monticello. And excellent curtains

Tillys Diner. Monticellol. Highway 17 24 9 18

Follow the project here!