US Tour 2017

 (8000+ miles more or less on I-95)

Photo by Samantha Buker

The tour took place place in March 2017 with ten concerts where we presented the following repertoire:

  • Hannah Lash - C

  • Georges Aperghis - Quatre Pieces Febriles

  • Andy Akiho - Karakurenai

  • Wally Gunn - Can You Hear Me?

  • Nikolai Kapustin - Burlesque op. 97

  • Nikolai Kapustin - Nearly Waltz op. 98

  • Steve Reich - Quartet

One additional concert featured music written for us by the composition students at Miami University:

We were able to produce recordings of three of these works in May while in Brussels:

Some of the venues consisted of universities, art galleries, museums, or cafés. It was very interesting to receive feedback from different types of audiences, to check out our music in very different acoustics and on different instruments (memorablly Nico standing at an electric keyboard and Chris playing on a 1930s Leedy vibraphone), and also how these works connect to visual art in galleries/museums without invading a space.

A special thanks goes to Uncle Shoe from Boston: an accomplished chef, tea connoisseur, and musical talent to boot. He left us his CD (Carve Dat Possum: 100 Years of American Song) that saved us by providing musical accompaniment to our endless driving.

Some memorable moments that we want to mention:

  • Lenny’s Bagels (favorite bagel shop during Chris’s Undergrad)!

  • Margaritas and taco night with our Atlantic Music Festival family

  • Driving through Flint hills, KS with falcons overhead and oil rigs left and right.

  • Crandon park and the Bill Baggs Cape Florida Park, where we spotted iguanas, jellyfish, and dolphins.

Some great artists and musicians you should check out:

Our experience in Miami was especially memorable, where we juggled a talk on the topic of Entrepreneurship in Music and two concerts. Oh yes, it was also Nico’s birthday and we had the chance to celebrate with some of the composers and a very nice bread pudding! Some champagne was poured later on, but that’s another story...

Very special thanks to all that helped us along the way:

Adam Bennett

Trevor Weller

Sean Sweeden

Alyssa Bell and Nick Bell

Andy Bliss

Adam Lion and Ashlee Booth

Ji Hye Jung

Dana Kaufman

Kyle Guffey

Lansing McLoskey

Billy Kaufman

Julian Bajaldo

Catalina von Wrangell

Ana Santos (Abuela)

Other Salvitos

The waiter who didn’t make us pay for the bread pudding

Tom Kolor

John Bechard

Uncle Shoe (Matt Samolis)

Anthony Tan

Julian Loida and Rebecca Ness

Ali Jones and Shawn Earle

Dominic Donato

Sam Buker

Jordan Faye

Simone Baron

Nat Aguilar

Robert Hitz

Adam and Vikki

Garrett Arney

Peter Van Zandt Lane

James Parker