Texas "Faust": deal with the devil ;-)

After just conducting in Flensburg, Germany, in February of 2002 I was assistant conductor to maestro Raymond Harvey at the El Paso Opera on Gounod's "Faust".

The opera company took such great care of us all, and every day we had free meals at the best restaurants in town: Tex/Mex ... mmmmmmm! Everyone must have put at least 5 pounds in the first week! We even made a day-trip across the border into Juarez for the best Mexican meal I ever had.

Here is a photo of me shaking hands with baritone Mark Schnaible who played Mephistopheles. Wouldn't you like to know what the deal was that I made with that devil? ;-)

Jazz in the Symphony 2002

One of my favorite programs that I ever created was "Jazz in the Symphony" with the Hradec Kralove Philharmonic in 2002. The highlight of our concert was a performance of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" with pianist Lukas Vondracek, but first we introduced the audience to works of other composers which also used Jazz influences even before the Rhapsody in Blue was written in 1923: Stravinsky - Soldier's Tale (Ragtime), Hindemith - Kammermusik Nr.1, & Milhaud - La creation du monde.

We started the program with Ravel's "Alborada del grazioso", and we also gave the Czech premier of "A Night in the Tropics" (written in 1859) by New Orleanian composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk.

Flensburg, Germany 2001-02

In December of 2001, I was a finalist for the position of 1.Kapellmeister at the Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landestheater in Flensburg, Germany. I was invited to return and guest conduct a performance of Mozart's "Cosi fan tutte" in 2002.

Flensburg is a charming city near Denmark, and I especially enjoyed being there around Christmas for the mulled wine in the outside markets.

Salzburg, Jenufa 2001

By far, the most demanding job of 2001 was working as assistant conductor to Sir John Eliot Gardiner on Janacek's "Jenufa" at the Salzburg Music Festival. I had already worked on "Jenufa" at the Prague National Theater, but this time we were performing the new critical edition of the Brno version from 1908 (edited by Sir Charles Mackerras and John Tyrrell).

It was a very memorable experience which included comparing autograph manuscripts in Brno, coaching singers from the piano (some who had never sung in Czech before such as Hildegard Behrens), and most exciting of all was leading full company rehearsals in the Felsenreitschule (with the offstage musicians entering from what seemed like a mile away). It was heaven to be able to connect with such fabulous artists as Karita Mattila and Jerry Hadley!

Bob and Mary Ann Butler from California had just seen me conducting the ballet there. They visited me in Salzburg, and now they are starting to set a record for seeing me in the most corners of the globe. Besides joining my family at the opera in New Orleans, they recently met me in Bratislava too.

California "Werther", 2000

In the summer of 2000, I worked as an assistant conductor to Michael Morgan at the Festival Opera in Walnut Creek, California. We performed Massenet's "Werther", and as you can see from the photos, it was a truly joyful experience to work with the children's chorus ("noel, noel, noel ...").

Later that year, I came back to share conducting duties on "The Nutcracker" with the Oakland East Bay Symphony and the Oakland Ballet.

While in California, I had two more nice Christmas surprises. First, maestro Michael Tilson Thomas invited me to be one of a select few participants in his upcoming masterclass with the New World Symphony in Miami (where I conducted Bartok's "Concerto for Orchestra"), and then I was offered the job of assistant conductor at the 2001 Salzburg Music Festival.

Hradec Kralove, Boni Pueri 2000, & Pirates of Penzance

In February of 2000, I returned again to conduct the Hradec Kralove Philharmonic in a concert which included the "Fantasy on a Theme of Thomas Tallis" by Ralph Vaughan Williams. I spoke with the audience about this piece (which had never been played in Hradec Kralove), and we first performed the original hymn by Tallis with the boys choir Boni Pueri. The choir was definitely a major element in the success of this performance (a very rewarding experience)!

Our concert in Hradec also included Mahler's 1st Symphony, and a week later I returned to New Orleans to conduct "The Pirates of Penzance" :

Prague and Carlsbad 1998-99

In 1998 I conducted the Prague Philharmonia in the closing concert of the Young Prague Festival. Amoung the soloists on this concert were flutist Jan Ostry, Tomas Djupsjöbacka, and pianist Takahiro Hoshino.

During that season, I also conducted the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Hradec Kralove Philharmonic, and after a vacation in Thailand I conducted the Carlsbad Symphony Orchestra with soloist Vaclav Hudecek.

Prague Spring 1995 & 2000

These photos were taken while I was living in Prague and working at the National Theater. In 1995, I conducted Janacek's "Taras Bulba" and Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" in the Prague Spring conducting competition, and I was awarded Honorary Mention.

I was a semi-finalist again in the Prague Spring competition in 2000 conducting "Taras Bulba" again as well as Mahler's 1st Symphony. It was such an honor to be able to conduct in the beautiful Rudolfinum and especially to work with the Czech Radio Orchestra.

The photo by the piano was taken in the conductor's dressing room of the Rudolfinum, and in the background you can see a photo of Sir Charles Mackerras on the wall.

Home on the bayou

Even though I conduct primarily in Europe, I always enjoy coming home to Louisiana ... a real cajun can't survive too long without crawfish, oyster po-boys, gumbo, and redbeans-and-rice :-)

The picture on the boat is from a bayou tour where we actually got to feed the alligators with pieces of chicken on the end of a pole!

Paul's Paris 1999-01

I've mentioned Paris in a few other posts. Although I didn't spend as much time there as it might look from these blogs, there were just too many good pics and memorable events ...

One of the truly spontaneos moments of joy was when we found a cafe named "Paul's"! Not only were the croissants and pastries some of the best looking in the world, but each one had MY name on it :-)

Augsburg, Germany 2001

After conducting in Lyon at the beginning of March, 2001, I was in Paris on my way back to America. Just before confirming my flight, however, I received an unexpected last minute invitation to replace a conductor in an upcoming concert with the Augsburg Philharmonic in Germany. Thus, I stayed a bit longer in Paris to prepare the program which included works of Werner Egk and Maurice Ravel with mezzo soprano Lorraine DiSimone. Here is a photo of the opera house where we rehearsed in Augsburg.

My good friend Debra Fernandes attended this concert, and a few years later we recorded a CD together in Prague.

Lyon, France 2000-01

In April of 2000, I was invited on last minute notice to audition for the position of Resident Conductor with the Orchestre National de Lyon. When I say last-minute, I mean it really was very "last minute"! They phoned me in the afternoon to say that a candidate had cancelled and that I should be in Lyon at 9 am the next morning to conduct: Mendelssohn - Italian Symphony, Berlioz - Roman Carnival Overture, Webern - Passacaglia, and Stravinsky - Firebird Suite! Luckily, I was able to get there quickly, since I happened to be in Besancon, France at the time!




Although I did not get selected for the full-time position, the Music Director David Robertson invited me back to conduct a subscription concert in March 2001. It was wonderful to get to conduct in beautiful Lyon two years in a row. We performed the "African Suite"by Abdullah Ibrahim. This is a piece which mixes a jazz trio with an interesting orchestral accompaniment (click here to read the reviews).

Before my second trip to Lyon, I spent a week nearby in Geneva, Switzerland attending rehearsals of Janacek's opera "Jenufa".

Besancon, France 1999-2001

I first visited Besancon, France in March of 1995 to conduct Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" as part of their international conducting competition. I participated in this competition three times, and each time out of over 200 candidates I was among the 20 to be accepted past the preliminary rounds.

Some of the other repertoire I conducted in the Besancon competition was: Bartok -Dance Suite, Divertimento, & Concerto for Orchestra, Copland - Appalachian Spring, Kodaly - Dances of Galantea, Milhaud - Le boef sur le toit, Roussel - The Spider's Feast, & Stravinsky - Petroushka.

Since I was already in Europe, I even participated in the competition there a few days after September 11, 2001. This was a very difficult task for me as I was the only American accepted that year, and I was very concerned about the recent attacks on our country. At least the reviewer wrote that I should have made it into a further round (click here).

Hradec Kralove 1999

The first time I conducted the Hradec Kralove Philharmonic was Janacek's Suite from The Cumnning Little Vixen in 1994. These photos are from a concert in Hradec in 1999 which included Albinoni - Adagio, Poulenc - Concerto for Two Pianos, Ravel - Mother Goose Suite, & Stravinsky - Firebird Suite.

Sweden 1999

Here are some photos from when I conducted in Sweden. I had previously worked with the Vänersborg youth orchestra in Prague in 1998, and in the summer of 1999 we did a concert in Vargön which is on the lake Vänern near Trolhätten.

These were some of the nicest and most well-behaved kids I have met in the whole world, and they were a real joy to work with! We rode bicycles everywhere in town, got to play tennis together in our spare time, and we even saw a wild moose in the forest one morning.

Two of the other pictures I'm including are from a boat I slept on in Stockholm and our visit to the unique town of Smögen on the west coast of Sweden. The highlight of my trip to Stockholm was attending rehearsals of Myun-Whun Chung conducting Nielsen's 5th symphony!

It was an unforgettable surprise when the youth orchestra invited me to a crawfish dinner! This is about the best thing you can do for someone from Louisiana :-)