The Summer of Mosquitoes

Dear friends and fans of music,

Here we are, nearing the end of our time of rehearsals together, in the currently mosquito-infested land of Audrey’s family farm, all wearing sweaters, socks and pants in the hopes of discouraging these pestering creatures of God. Typically, we are quite excited for the tour, but this year’s excitement has the extra added motivation of leaving the mosquitoes behind. We have a tally going of how many mosquitoes are being ingested, and so far Audrey is on top. Henceforth, this summer is to be remembered as The Summer of Mosquitoes.

We’ve been busy rehearsing Prokofiev No. 2 and Mozart No. 15, and read my arrangement of Scala & Kolacny’s arrangement of Damien Rice’s Blower’s Daughter, which we will be recording for my aunt on Sunday. Other highlights of today include cuddling kittens, swatting one’s self while rehearsing, making zucchini-nana bread (thanks to Alvin and Audrey for this), and exercising in the hot sun.

After doing about 6 hours of rehearsal a day for the last four days, we are so thrilled to bring our concert to you. Our goal is to bring chamber music to the masses, so at our concerts, we add a couple of pop or fiddle tunes that have a common theme with whichever classical works we are performing. We want people to have as enjoyable of an experience as possible at our concerts, so we tell stories about the works and bring them to life.

We hope that you can make to one of our concerts in Maple Creek, Brooks, or Regina, and experience the joy of live music!

Until next time,

Alyssa

Cellist of the Crimson String Quartet