...writing this from backstage at the concert hall of Chalons-en-Champagne, the midpoint of our six-concert European tour, which pretty much wraps up the festivities of the last two months surrounding Steve Reich's 70th birthday. For most of these concerts, the program consists of Reich's new work, "Daniel Variations," along with "Music for 18 Musicians." The tour opened last Sunday in Porto, Portugal...interesting hall architecturally, kind of challenging for us acoustically (metal floors and some metal walls!). There were also a lot of empty seats, which was a bit of a comedown after the packed halls and enthusiastic receptions in London and New York.

Last night we played the Cite de la Musique in Paris, where I had been last December with Phil Glass. That is a beautiful hall and a dream when it comes to hearing each other onstage. We had other challenges facing us; a flu-like bug seems to be making the rounds of the band and threatened to knock Jim Preiss out of the concert, which would be disastrous for "18" as he and he alone determines with his vibraphone cues when one section of that work progresses to another. It's like losing the conductor, basically. But Jim made a heroic effort to gut it out, and the show went wonderfully. When the acoustics are difficult (as in Porto and many other halls I've been in) "Music for 18" is relentlessly hard work for one hour; when the acoustics are superb as they are at the Cite de la Musique, the piece practically plays itself, and each one of us simply climbs aboard for a magical one-hour ride. The Parisians went crazy, giving us four or so curtain calls with unison clapping, and lots of hoots and hollers. It was very thrilling to be a part of all that.

We have three shows in smaller French cities now; tonight in Chalons, tomorrow in Caen, and Saturday in Grenoble. Then off to Vilnius, Lithuania for a final concert Monday at the Palace of Congress, and home to USA and impending turkey day after that. Just trying to keep this bug at bay...

...take a look at this 2-minute ad Ellen DeGeneres has done for American Express. (Still can't embed YouTube videos on Blogstream, so for now you have to exert the extra effort to click on the link). My wife and I saw this for the first time on the big screen, before the previews at a movie (OK, it was "Flushed Away," and no, we don't have any children).

This Sunday, November 12, American Public Media's "Saint Paul Sunday" will be rebroadcasting a show violist Helen Callus and I recorded in late 2004. Check the SPS website for broadcast stations and times in your area.

This weekend finds the Columbia music scene hurtling back to the early 18th century and forward to the early 21st. Opera at USC presents its fall production, which this year is George Friedrich Handel's "Acis and Galatea." This is USC's first foray into Baroque opera in some time, the first since we've been in town, and continues the tradition of tremendous variety in programming remarkable for a university opera program of this size. (To show you what I mean, the rest of this season includes Debussy, Bizet, and Dominick Argento.) The smaller orchestral forces used in the Handel (including USC harpsichord prof Jerry Curry) should allow these gifted young singers to project a little more easily than is usual in the Keenan High School acoustics, which at other times can swallow them up a bit. This is another very exciting step in the evolution of the USC Opera program, sparked by the leadership of its director, Ellen Douglas Schlaefer. "Acis and Galatea" will be presented this Friday the 10th at 7:30 PM and Sunday the 12th at 3 PM, both at Keenan High School Theatre. More info on this particular production can be found in this story which ran in the USC Times.

In-between those shows, on Saturday the 11th at 7:30 PM, the second installment of this season's Southern Exposure concert series will take place at the USC School of Music Recital Hall. New Century Saxophone Quartet will be the guest artists, and a very significant world premiere will be taking place: "Revolutionary Etudes" by David Lang, one of the founders of Bang on a Can. In addition, there's a US premiere of a multimedia work involving talk show fragments (now that sounds fun) by Dutch composer Jacob ter Veldhuis, and a work written a few years ago for the Quartet by Ben Johnston. (See this blog entry for more about Johnston).

On top of all that, in a concert that promises an embarrassment of riches, "Prodigal Child," commissioned by the quartet from USC composer John Fitz Rogers, will be performed. Rogers is quickly becoming a darling of sax players nationwide; his highly colorful sax concerto "The Rivers" was brilliantly performed last night by Clifford Leaman with the USC Wind Ensemble at Koger Center (Leaman is one of a consortium of top players who commissioned the concerto from Rogers). Speaking of players, the concert this Saturday is a homecoming of sorts for NCSQ's baritone sax player Connie Frigo: she got her doctorate from USC in 2005. The concerts are free, but as always, get there early for a good seat. In my travels I run into more and more colleagues who say to me, "You live in Columbia? Yeah, there's a good new music series there, isn't there?" Yes there is, so if you live here and are reading this blog you better have a good excuse for not going! (Especially considering the price...but nothing is REALLY free of course, and Southern Exposure can always use your support, so think about that, too!)

Have a great weekend, and if you are looking for more to read...Alex Ross has written his New Yorker piece on the summing-up of the whole recent month of Steve Reich in NYC. He also links to more and more Reich goodies, including Ross' own podcast for the New Yorker.

[Picture: Claude Lorrain's "Landscape with Acis and Galatea" from 1657, in the Gemaldegalerie in Dresden]

In today's New York Times' Arts and Leisure section, James Oestreich has a lovely piece about the French pianist Helene Grimaud and her devotion to wolves.[Link requires free registration or use bugmenot.com] Grimaud, aside from her considerable pianistic accomplishments, is the co-founder of the Wolf Conservation Center in South Salem, New York.

Ruby, who lives with two pianists and who has been called by passersby who meet her, "wolf," "snow-dog,", and most recently and humiliatingly, "part-dingo," gives her unabashed bark of approval to Ms. Grimaud's efforts on behalf of wolves. [photo: Coalition to Restore the Eastern Wolf]