Musings

Here is a list of the music that was performed last night at St. Anna's Chapel

NCMF Festival Officially Begins in 2026!

Is it weird that the piece I’m most excited about this summer is only three minutes long?

There are two approaches to designing an addition to an old building: match the original or do something completely different.

I could imagine doing a mix of solo and string quartet, tending to my animal sanctuary,

The Prince hired a young Italian singer, Luigia Polzelli, with whom Haydn began a passionate and torrid affair.

In a dream world, I'd want to run a blueberry farm or fruit orchard.

Ever turned on the radio and some music comes on, you know it by heart

Question: What is better than a string quartet? Answer: Two string quartets

The poem is all of three minutes long – perfect for a listen over a cup of coffee (or a scotch).

And thus concludes our journey. We're already strategizing about another...

While meandering on a bicycle, looking for a café, you can wind up

The rain has stopped and it was glorious today. I wish I could say the same about my legs.

We waited to depart at 10 am since it was still pissing rain; we didn’t arrive until 8 at night. You do the math.

After donning every single item of clothing we'd brought, we headed out. What else could we do? 

Looking out your window today, perhaps sipping a steaming mug of hot chocolate, some of you may have noticed that it rained.

The exquisite subtlety with which this driver demonstrated nuanced inflections of the F-bomb was deeply moving.

Travelling by bike is so real. How empowering it feels to step from my front door and ride up to Newburyport. The act of motion is exhilarating.

Tomorrow starts the Big Ride™. Between you and me, I’ll take rain over cook-an-egg-on-the-sidewalk heat. I hope to be on the road by 7:00 am. 

Not unlike preparing for a concert, this 571 mile ride has provided a kind of focused structure over the past six months, imposing its own kind of discipline.

Think of it like an arch – the keystone is the vital piece at the center, but remove any one stone and the entire structure comes crashing down.

Maybe not everything worthwhile has to involve struggle - per ardua ad astra? Pshaw!

A few weeks ago when it looked like the world was going up in flames, a beam of light came to me...

I've done some pretty crazy stuff for NCMF but this might be the wackiest.

We were one of the last commands to go when President de Gaulle requested the evacuation of American troops.