Professional Activities Calendar

Bill has been going over the calendar to reminisce about the last 5.5 months of teaching, performing, interacting with people, and discovering Latvia.  It has been a fun ride!  No pictures this time, just lots of bulleted items.  Throughout the spring, 2010, term Bill had the following "steady" assignment:

• Taught four trumpet students at the J.V.L.M.A. - Janis Ivuskans (trumpet performance major), Guntes Supe (trumpet performance major), Viesturs Galanieks (wind conducting major), and Oskars Ozolins (jazz studies major)
• Taught two trumpet students at the Jazeps Medins Riga Music College - Janis Auzins (trumpet performance major) and Janis Grudinskis (trumpet performance major).  Coached the Medins College brass quintet in the months of January, February, and March.
• Rehearsed weekly with the Latvian Brass Band as solo flugelhorn player and regularly with the J.V.L.M.A. Brass Ensemble.
• Served as the English-language narrator for the J.V.L.M.A. promotional video (click here).

Individual professional activities of note (in the order they occurred): 

• January 29 - Adjudicated trumpet players for a Youth Brass Competition at the J.V.L.M.A.
• January 29 - Brass.lv quintet and solo trumpet performance at Riga's Dome Cathedral (performed Alan Hovhaness' Prayer of Saint Gregory with organist Talivaldis Deksnis).
• February 10 - Adjudicated brass and saxophone players for a Youth Music Competition (supported by the Latvian Ministry of Culture) in Riga, Latvia.
• February 14 - Piccolo trumpet performance at St. Saviour's Anglican Church in Riga, Latvia (selected movements from Handel's Suite in D Major).
• February 17 (10 a.m.) - J.V.L.M.A. Symphony Orchestra Childrens' Concert performing Pictures at an Exhibition by Moussorgsky/Ravel (3rd trumpet, solo piccolo trumpet).
• February 17 (12 p.m.) - J.V.L.M.A. Symphony Orchestra Childrens' Concert performing Pictures at an Exhibition by Moussorgsky/Ravel (3rd trumpet, solo piccolo trumpet).
• February 17 (2 p.m.) - J.V.L.M.A. Symphony Orchestra Childrens' Concert performing Pictures at an Exhibition by Moussorgsky/Ravel (3rd trumpet, solo piccolo trumpet).
• February 19 - J.V.L.M.A. Symphony Orchestra Concert performing Migla (Evija Vecumniece), Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Orchestra (Chopin), and Pictures at an Exhibition by Moussorgsky/Ravel (principal trumpet).
• March 9 - J.V.L.M.A. Woodwind, Brass, and Percussion Faculty Concert (performed Night Sun Journey by Meg Bowles).
• March 10 - Adjudicated brass players for a Youth Music Competition (supported by the Latvian Ministry of Culture) in Ventspils, Latvia.
• March 15 - Adjudicated brass players for a Youth Music Competition (supported by the Latvian Ministry of Culture) in Liepaja, Latvia.
• March 17 - Adjudicated brass players for a Youth Music Competition (supported by the Latvian Ministry of Culture) in Jelgava, Latvia.
• March 18 - Adjudicated brass players for a Youth Music Competition (supported by the Latvian Ministry of Culture) in Jurmala, Latvia.
• March 21 - Riga's City Jazz Big Band performance (solo jazz trumpet). 
• March 24 - Adjudicated brass players for a Youth Music Competition (supported by the Latvian Ministry of Culture) in Rezekne, Latvia.
• March 25 - Adjudicated brass players for a Youth Music Competition (supported by the Latvian Ministry of Culture) in Daugavpils, Latvia.
• March 26 - J.V.L.M.A. Brass Ensemble performance (solo piccolo trumpet).
• April 1 - Presented the "Trumpet" portion of Brass Master Classes for Teachers (supported by the Latvian Ministry of Culture) in Cesis, Latvia.
• April 2 - Conductor/solo trumpet at the Riga Reformed Church (performed Mass for Peace by Bob Chilcott with musicians from the Riga Reformed Church).
• April 9 - Presented the "Trumpet" portion of Brass Master Classes for Teachers (supported by the Latvian Ministry of Culture) in Ventspils, Latvia.
• April 12 - Co-presented the "Trumpet" master class at the 2010 Riga International Brass Symposium.
• April 12-15 - Taught trumpet lessons (with Dutch trumpeter Reijer Dorresteijn) at the 2010 Riga International Brass Symposium.
• April 13 - 2010 Riga International Brass Symposium Teachers' Concert (performed Concerto in E-flat by Neruda, Enescu's Legende, and three movements of Ewazen's Elizabethan Songbook with pianists Ilze Dzerve, Ieva Dzerve, and tuba player Janis Retenais).
• April 15 - 2010 Riga International Brass Symposium Wind Orchestra Concert solo trumpet performance (performed Dramatic Essay by Clifton Williams and Andante et Allegro by Ropartz with the Jazeps Medins Riga Music College Wind Orchestra).
• April 17 - 2010 Riga International Brass Symposium Final Concert performance with the J.V.L.M.A. Brass Ensemble (solo piccolo trumpet) and the Latvian Brass Band (solo flugelhorn).
• April 23 - Presented the "Trumpet" portion of Brass Master Classes for Teachers (supported by the Latvian Ministry of Culture) in Jurmala, Latvia.
• April 23 - Live-Brass quintet performance (solo trumpet and flugelhorn) in Kandava, Latvia.
• April 26 - Presented the "Trumpet" portion of Brass Master Classes for Teachers and Students (supported by the Latvian Ministry of Culture) in Rezekne, Latvia.
• April 27 - Recorded Matt Holmquiest's Stevie R (section trumpet) and Mongo Santamaria's Afro Blue (jazz trumpet soloist) with Riga's City Jazz Big Band. 
• April 28 - Solo trumpet performance at Riga's Anglican Church "Wednesday Recital Series" (performed Handel's Suite in D Major, Bach's Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, and Clarke's Trumpet Voluntary with organist Kristine Adamaite). 
• May 8 - Solo trumpet performance at Jelgava's Lutheran Church (performed Handel's Suite in D Major, Bach's Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, and Clarke's Trumpet Voluntary with organist Kristine Adamaite).
• May 17 - Presented the "Trumpet" portion of Brass Master Classes for Teachers and Students (supported by the Latvian Ministry of Culture) in Cesis, Latvia.
• May 20 - Presented the "Trumpet" portion of Brass Master Classes for Teachers and Students (supported by the Latvian Ministry of Culture) in Rezekne, Latvia.
• May 23 - Conductor/solo trumpet at Riga's Baptist Seminary Church (performed Mass for Peace by Bob Chilcott with musicians from the Riga Reformed Church).
• May 25 - Presented the "Trumpet" portion of Brass Master Classes for Teachers and Students (supported by the Latvian Ministry of Culture) in Riga, Latvia.
• May 27 - Presented the "Trumpet" portion of Brass Master Classes for Teachers and Students (supported by the Latvian Ministry of Culture) in Ventspils, Latvia.
• May 29 - Concert performance with the Latvian Brass Band in Ventspils, Latvia (solo flugelhorn).
• May 30 - Concert performance with Inga Meijere for her J.V.L.M.A. diploma exam (jazz trumpet and flugelhorn soloist).
• June 5 - Wind Orchestra Concert solo trumpet performance (performed The Last Rose of Summer with the Jurmala Youth Wind Orchestra).
• June 6 - Conductor/solo trumpet at Riga's Vilandes Baptist Church (performed Mass for Peace by Bob Chilcott with musicians from the Riga Reformed Church).
• June 7 - Wind Orchestra Concert solo trumpet performance (performed movement two of Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez with the University of Latvia Wind Orchestra).
• June 13 - performed hymns at the Riga Reformed Church (solo flugelhorn).

Jazz, Mini-Vacation, and Final Performances

Bill has had the opportunity to play with a variety of groups during his stay in Latvia, including Riga's City Jazz Big Band.  He recorded two pieces with CJBB (click on the title to hear each composition), as trumpet soloist on an arrangement of Mongo Santamaria's Afro Blue and a new composition, minimalist-influenced Stevie-R by Swedish composer, arranger, and big-band leader Matt Holmquist.  Here's a picture of the trumpet section at one of the recording sessions.

Moving on, the conductor of the Latvian Brass Band is Andis Karelis.  He's married to Inga Meijere, a saxophone player who just graduated from the J.V.L.M.A.  Here's their picture at the graduation ceremony this past Friday.

Anyway, Inga's saxophone and composition "Exam Concert" was Sunday, May 30th, and she asked Bill to play on some of the pieces.  One her original compositions, K7, can be heard (here).

Last Wednesday and Thursday Bill was able to rearrange trumpet lessons to take a quick trip to Tallinn, Estonia, and Helsinki, Finland.  In Tallin he met fellow Fulbrighter Eric Showalter, who has taught engineering this spring, and Eric's son Nathan.  Nathan has been performing piano in some jazz groups and for a dance studio in town.  Old Town Tallinn has really embraced the medieval part of their history.  In comparison with Riga's Old Town, Tallinn has retained much more of the exterior wall surrounding the area and has many hills.

Later in the afternoon Bill met with Estonian jazz vocalist Maria Vali (the singer on Inga's piece, K7).

Here is the Estonian Prime Minister's residence.

An Estonian song festival is held every few years in this large amphitheater.

Here's the home of Estonia's President.

Later we ate dinner and listened to some really great music at a jazz club called Clazz, located right in the heart of Old Town Tallinn.  Overall an excellent day!

On Thursday, June 10, Bill hopped on the Tallink Shuttle boat for a 2-hour trip to Helsinki, Finland.

That's right, you are seeing "big rigs" that were transported in the belly of the beast!  While not a luxury cruise liner, this was a really impressive ferry with shops, restaurants, and plenty of interesting views.

With fewer than 5 hours in Finland, it seemed the best plan was to catch a 90-minute bus tour around the city.  Here are some pictures taken from inside the bus.

The tour stopped at Helsinii's Church in the Rock, a Lutheran church and concert hall designed by architect brothers Timo and Tuomo Suomalainien.  It's walls are granite and the entire ceiling is made from copper wire.  One can only imagine the excellent acoustics for a brass performance in this place!

Our second and final stop on the tour was the Sibelius Park and Monument, a tribute to Finland's most famous composer, Jean Sibelius.  The park is very "natural-looking" and the monument was designed by sculptor Eila Hiltunen.  One section of the monument is an image of the composer.

The other section portrays an image of a Norwegian forest.  It looks like the "trees" could also be organ pipes, which would make sense tying the whole music-thing together.

Very cool.

After an action-packed day it was time to take the ferry back to Tallinn, where Bill walked to the bus station and caught the EuroLines Luxury Express (with a coffee machine, wireless internet, and a bathroom!) for the trip back to Riga.  An excellent trip all the way around.

Yesterday Bill played flugelhorn at the Riga Reformed Church.  It was his last time to attend worship services here and is also his last scheduled performance in Latvia.  Feel free to listen to Be Thou My Vision from yesterday.  Becky and Carl Chaplin had a party at their apartment after church, and we all had a great time. 

This is Bill's final week of teaching at the Music Academy.  It has been a great experience meeting new people, sharing ideas, and experiencing a different culture.  More blog posts to follow!

Restaurants and Shopping

We haven't yet mentioned how bright it is outside at nighttime.  Because Latvia is so far north, the days are quite long in the summer and rather short in the winter.  As an example, here is a picture taken of the Latvian National Opera House last night (June 2, 2010) at 10:00 p.m.!

So this is the consumer-related portion of our blog.  Our Latvia residence is on Merkela iela, and there is a large mall close by called Origo.  The malls here have a variety of shops, including clothing, alterations, hair salon, grocery store, and restaurants.  Although we have done a great deal of our own cooking, a great way to experience a new culture is to actually get-out and grab a meal somewhere.  With this in mind, we offer some of our favorite restaurant chains for your enjoyment.

• Lido - Latvian traditional food restaurants that is cafeteria-style.  We are fond of kartupeli (potatoes), vistas (chicken) stroganoff, and pankukas ar sieru (crepe-like pancakes with cheese), in addition to other items.  The prices at Lido are quite reasonable.
• Cili Pica - This pizza joint has really good Italian-style thin-crust pizza.  We decided early-on to purchase a "friends" discount card for this place, and we're hoping to learn how to replicate the thin, yet soft, crust on the pizza when we set-up the pizzeria at home in Marvyille.  Card-holders can feed a family of 4 for quite cheap during the hours of 2-6 p.m.
• Gan bei - A Chinese restaurant that is excellent.  One is located in Origo.
• Double Coffee - There are 80-million DCs in Riga alone!  We like it because it is conveniently located close to our apartment and the JVLMA, and the kids enjoyed eating the crepes.

There are numerous cafes and mom-and-pop restaurants throughout Riga which are excellent as well.

Most eating establishments here have outdoor eating opportunities when the weather is nice.  There are a variety of really great pubs (especially the outdoor beer gardens in Old-Town as seen in the pictures below), but Bill's favorite is Alus Ordenis, located close to the Music Academy.  It's a basement establishment that serves Uzavas Tumsais, a really fantastic dark alus (beer).  BTW, Bill's list of tasty barley-pop continues to grow, but here's the top-3 thus far: Valmiermuzias, Uzavas Tumsais, and Bauskas Alus.

We have enjoyed meeting with Mike Johnson, owner of the Patricia Tourist Office (http://www.rigaguide.com/).  He is incredibly helpful with information, guidance, electrical equipment, linen items, and packing tape, among other things!  His office is located at Elizabetes iela 22.

Several of our friends at the Riga Reformed Church work in a small handmade art and clothing shop called Pumpa.  It's located at Brivibas iela 166 and a short description can be found here (Pumpa).  They are open weekdays from 11:00-7:00 p.m. and on Saturdays from 11:00-4:00 p.m.  They have really interesting clothing, accessories, and hand-crafted items...Pumpa is highly recommended if you have a chance to visit Riga!

Riga's Central Market is basically a set of airplane-hangar buildings that is truly a one-of-a-kind experience.  Here's a picture taken from the top of St. Peter's Church.

The Richardson ladies are back in the United States and have recovered from jet-lag, which is a good thing.  Ciao for now!

Open-Air Ethnographic Museum and Good-Byes...

This just in...Niki, Sarah, and Leah made it back to Maryville, Missouri, EARLY this morning!  Things happen so quickly; it seems like yesterday that we arrived in freezing-cold Riga with no coats...

Happy Birthday to Ms. Sarah Richardson, who turned "devini-gadi" (9 years-old) today!

Last week we visited the Latvian Open-Air Ethnographic Museum with Becky and Carl Chaplin, American missionaries affiliated with the church we've been attending.  The outdoor exhibition showcased the four main geographic regions of the country (Vidzeme, Latgale, Kurzeme, and Zemgale).  It was really interesting to see the different buildings from each area, and everyone had fun wearing Bill's hat at some point in the day.

Here's a picture of the ladies in an historic chapel.

They REALLY know how to build a swing here!

Sunday, May 23, marked Niki, Sarah, and Leah's final service at the Riga Reformed Church, so the Sunday School threw them a party!  Many thanks to Anete and all the other Sunday School teachers who have been so wonderful (and bilingual!) over the past several months.  We have all enjoyed our time with this congregation!

Good friends!

Niki's cousin, Anna Nichols, joined us at the end of her Eastern-European vacation to help escort Niki and the girls home.  There's nothing like having a seasoned world-traveler (plus a second pair of hands) to ease any anxieties about travel "details;" plus, she brought presents for the little ladies!

Of course, we said good-bye to Dzemma, the daytime security guard at our apartment.  She (and the other guards) have been so helpful in so many ways.

We also traveled to the Music Academy for a last visit with Maija Sipola, Vice-Rector for International Relations.  In addition to helping Bill out with TONS of details regarding his teaching at the JVLMA, Maija was a wonderful resource for keeping us "in the know" about childrens' concerts in Riga.  With 4 ballets, 1 children's opera, and numerous other performances attended, we were most definitely not starved for artistic activity here!

Sarah's birthday actually occured today when she traveled back to Maryville, but we had to have a celebration with dad!

We also said good-bye to Liga, our favorite waitress at the Double Coffee next to the JVLMA.

Finally, here's a picture of Niki, Anna, Leah, and Sarah at the Riga airport.  More to come in the next few days.

Springtime in Latvia!

We have really enjoyed the warm, sunny weather here.  It was especially nice as the family Ričardsoni took the train to the seaside city of Jurmala!

Our stay in Latvia has included many "firsts" for the little ladies, including seeing the first beach and lots of first public transportation experiences (tram, train, trolley bus, taxi...you name it).  May 15 was the opening day of tourist season, complete with a parade and lots of activities at the beach.

We also took a fun trip to Bauska with the Retenais family (Iveta, Janis, and Krists) to see Bauska Castle and the automobile museum.

We also spent some time checking-out the Rundale Palace Garden, just a few kilometers away from Bauska.

For May, Bill's Fulbright-related activity included a trumpet/organ recital at the historic Lutheran Church in Jelgava with organist Kristine Adamaite, a repeat performance of Bob Chilcott's "Peace Mass" at a Baptist Church in Riga, a performance at the Anglican Church service, and brass-playing master classes (sponsored by the Latvian Ministry of Culture) in the towns of Cesis, Rezekne, Riga, and Ventspils.  Of course, this is in addition to teaching trumpet students at the Jazeps Vitols Latvian Academy of Music and the Jazeps Medins Riga Music School.  Congratulations to JVLMA trumpet student Janis Ivuskans, who successfully completed his trumpet exam this week!

Here are some pictures:

Kristine Adamaite and Viljams Ričardsons in Jelgava

Sarah's first game of Solitaire...SHE WON!!!!

Riga's Saint Peter's Cathedral

Stylin' and Profilin'

Visiting the Open-Air Ethnographic Museum with Becky and Carl Chaplin