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Author: DaveF
Date: 2009-10-28 04:36
Perhaps those of you in and around Philadelphia would have some advise for me.
I'm Seattle based, and have a plan to put on a short chamber music concert in February as a present for my mother's 90th birthday, at her senior center in Center City Philadelphia. She loves klezmer, so I'd like to do Prokofiev Overture on Hebrew Themes, and Kovacs arrangement of Shalom Alechem. (and maybe get the string quartet to play Happy Birthday also). I'm a serious amateur who plays well, and I think I can make these pieces sound pretty good. Since Curtis is in the neighborhood, and Curtis student musicians periodically play recitals at her facility, I had hoped I might be able to hire a Curtis student string quartet and a pianist.
I made contact with an individual at Curtis who seems to coordinate community engagements, and, well, I've thrown them a real curveball. They're passing my email around, and have stated they'll get back to me, but they did say this out of the ordinary kind of things they do. That's true, of course......but I'm offering to pay the musicians an appropriate rate, and would rehearse with them the day before.....paying for both rehearsing and the short concert. I'm trying to avoid being too much of a pushy fellow, but would really like to make this possible. I had thought of offering each of the five musicians $100 each for their involvement, but could push that higher if appropriate.
Any advise? I could contact one or more professional quartets, but charges look like $750 - 900 per hour, and even though my two sisters will be helping with the cost, that would really be excessive.
I would appreciate any thoughts. Thanks.
Oh......go Phillies!
David (near Seattle)
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Author: kdk
Date: 2009-10-28 13:17
The problem may be related to Curtis's historical position of discouraging its students from performing in concerts outside Curtis, especially for fees. I don't know if the current administration still takes this approach. There was a time, I think starting with John DeLancie's tenure as director, when a student could be dismissed from the school if caught playing an outside job (it was said that it interfered with students' dedication to practicing for their lessons and school ensembles). I don't know if this history is affecting your request. Another reason may be that I think you're underestimating the difficulty of the Prokofiev. The string players will need to spend some time preparing their parts, and then without knowing what kind of playing level to expect from you (which may be very high indeed, but an unknown to the people at Curtis), they may not be confident, especially with only one rehearsal, in the quality of the outcome, which is important to Curtis institutionally (another reason for DeLancie's attitude toward outside free-lancing).
Curtis may yet come through for you. If the don't respond soon, contact me directly (my email address is shown in my profile listing) and I can provide at least a couple of recommendations who won't, I don't think, ask as much as the groups you've checked with.
Good luck.
Karl
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Author: vin
Date: 2009-10-28 13:54
I can't speak to your particular situation, but Curtis kids now play all the time in outside orchestras like Haddonfield.
Post Edited (2009-10-28 13:54)
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Author: reedwizard
Date: 2009-10-28 14:11
Why don't you also consider contacting Boyer College of Music and Dance of Temple University which is also located in Philadelphia.
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2009-10-28 15:19
I find 4-pages of ACMP members in their directory. Plenty of strings and pianists to form an ad-hoc group for your gig.
The Amateur Chamber Music Players association serves to put their members together for just such gigs as you are planning --and they play music for the love of it. Many of these folks are willing to set-up ensembles to fill in around a visitor.
You sign up, rate your playing abilities, note your instruments and your willingness to organize.
ACMP is international and performs other services.
www.acmp.net
Bob Phillips
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Author: DaveF
Date: 2009-10-28 15:56
Thanks for your thoughts everyone. Bob......great tip on ACMP! I totally missed on that possibility, and I'm an ACMP member! I'll make some contacts through their listings and see what happens.
David
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