A mix of musical preparation and family frenzy, this 2015 holiday season has been a whirlwind!
Timely Christmas motivation arrived in the form of my preparation package for the International Piano Competition in Paris. A looming deadline! The competition looks stiff!
My chosen program:
- Chopin, Etude Op.25, no.12
- Rachmaninov, Gryaznov Italian Polka
- Bach, Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue BWV 903
- Schubert, Impromptu Op. 90, no.3
- Rachmaninov, Sonata no.2, Op.36
This will definitely be a change of pace from this year’s jazz focus…
The annual Christmas Concert with Rebecca Lohnes in Méru, a town just north of Paris, was a family-friendly community event hosted by the Sablons Protestant Association. A mix of classical pieces and contemporary Christmas songs, it was a lovely way to get the festive juices flowing.
Have a listen to some extracts here and here.
Christmas with my family is always a boisterous affair – relatives return to France from all over the world (with their instruments!) and we eat too much, laugh too loudly and jam like a garage band – I love it!
I hope you and your loved ones had a wonderful holiday season!
See you in 2016!
Stéphane Oudet 