Music@Menlo

Greetings and my apologies for the lack of updates recently! My experience at Music@Menlo was absolutely incredible, but very time consuming. Immediately thereafter, I traveled to Saratoga Springs, New York to visit my boyfriend and my mother, who were there for music-related work. Since then, I have been busy getting settled in NYC and figuring out scheduling for the upcoming semester.

Masterclass with Wu Han
Photo courtesy of Music@Menlo

I wanted to write a post on Music@Menlo and my experiences there for awhile now! I'm not sure I can adequately sum up the sheer amount of inspiration and knowledge acquired during my time there. The schedule was very intense, usually running nonstop from 8am-12am or later. Our days were filled with coachings, rehearsals, informal lectures and discussions, formal lectures, masterclasses, and attending the performances of the Young Performers program, our fellow colleagues in the International program, and the senior artists of the festival (the quality of which was outstanding), as well as going to the parties and donor events hosted afterwards.

Coaching on Dvorak American with Jorja Fleezanis
Photo courtesy of Music@Menlo

While I was there, I gave two performances each of Dvorak Piano Quintet in A major, Beethoven "Ghost" Piano Trio, Dohnanyi Piano Quintet no. 2, Dvorak American Quartet, and Mendelssohn Piano Trio no. 2 in C minor. We had anywhere from 2-5 days to put together these works, receiving numerous coachings from many different artists (I think we saw 7 different people for the Dvorak Piano Quintet prior to our performances!).

Performance of Beethoven "Ghost" Piano Trio
Photo courtesy of Music@Menlo

In addition to all things musical, we also had lots of development related sessions, including time with the marketing, events, and public relations staff. We even were lucky enough to work with the photography interns to receive new head shots!

Photo credit: Diana Lake

I will always be grateful for my experience at Music@Menlo. I learned so much about myself, what it means to sit down and interpret a work, and how to deal with such a busy schedule and still be the best version of myself as a musician and as a person. To hear more about my experience, check out the video Music@Menlo "To Be an IP", put together by the talented videographers at Music@Menlo.

Until next time,
Francesca