As the official unofficial photographer of the St. Lawrence String Quartet’s Chamber Music Seminar 2011, I present the following batch of pictures. (read more »)

I had an incredible (and unusual) experience tonight at Davies Symphony Hall, where I went to see the San Francisco Symphony play Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 (one of my favorite pieces of orchestral music). I’ve seen it performed live a few times; each time, it’s moved me to tears.

Mahler’s 9th symphony ends in adagio—in the softest of fragmented whimpers—and as the last few notes whispered into existence, I suddenly had a moment of incredible clarity. All of my senses converged into absolute sharpness; I could see, vividly, every detail of the orchestra—the position of every stand, chair, instrument, player—and hear every tiny little creak of audience members trying not to move in their seats. Every bit of my brain was oscillating in perfect harmony, and I finally truly understood the meaning of the word, clarity.

It only lasted a few seconds, but was a moment I will remember for a lifetime. Thank you, MTT and the members of the San Francisco Symphony, for the wonderful performance.

As a side note, I now wonder if some people are able to achieve this sort of clarity during their normal, day-to-day lives. I can only imagine…

I’m performing (on the cello) with the Stanford Chamber Chorale this coming Friday, March 4 at 8pm (MemChu). The theme: light!

See you there, maybe. :)

Chee-Yun and Alisa are in town to play Beethoven Triple Concerto with the SF Symphony. The music world is tiny; I’m not even really a part of it, but it’s always fun to hang out and catch up.

Tickets for tonight and tomorrow night are still available — highly recommended! Photos follow… (read more »)

If you are a classical musician or music buff, you MUST see these incredible videos. (read more »)

3D test (anaglyph — requires red/cyan glasses) of Quartetto Sugoi in low light using dual Sony CX550V camcorders zoomed in a bit, perhaps, to 40mm (35mm equivalent) or so. Camera sync is approx 16ms apart, which is why there is ghosting when objects move. Video targets large displays (30″+ ideal).

Due to tolerances in manufacturing, it is nearly impossible to get two of these cameras to align perfectly, resulting in the need for rotational geometry correction in post, which may also account for further image degradation (in addition to the low light noise, that is).

Music: Mendelssohn String Quartet No. 6, excerpt from first movement (thanks, Quartetto Sugoi!)

A short from the St. Lawrence String Quartet’s 2010 Summer Chamber Music Seminar at Stanford University. I only shot a little video during the 10-day seminar because I was focused on shooting stills, but I had enough to mash it together into this little piece.

I posted a bunch of photos from the SLSQ Chamber Music Seminar 2010 over on Facebook (public link). If you’re not on Facebook, you can see all of the photos here in this journal entry (apologies: it’s bandwidth-intensive!). You can also download hi-res versions of the group photos (click on the image you want and then select “O” for original image).

Special thanks to the other members of my group, Alex Li and Heidi Hau, and to all of the coaches and folks who made the seminar possible. See you next year! (read more »)

Cellist Maria Simiz’s fingers, black with fingerboard varnish after practicing hard. SLSQ Summer Chamber Music Seminar 2010. echeng100627_0257851

Cellist Roman Borys, pianist Jamie Parker, and violist Lesley Robertson

I’m delirious after reading chamber music until well past midnight. Good night!

I went to see György Ligeti’s opera, Le Grand Macabre, last night at Avery Fisher hall in Lincoln Center. The New York Philharmonic and a talented cast of singers performed the fully-staged performance, with Alan Gilbert conducting.

My mother told me that the staging was controversial because it was so avant-garde, but I’m not sure an opera completed in the mid 70s and revised in 1996 could be staged in a way that wasn’t avant-garde. (read more »)

Pam, Vienna Teng and Me

Pam, Laurel, Zandra and I went to see Vienna Teng and Alex Wong at Yoshi’s SF, and the show was absolutely fantastic! (“I concur,” Pam says)

I love the entire show, but two things stood out, in particular:

1. Star Wars cantina theme song, snuck into In Another Life by Alex Wong on melodica
2. A powerful performance of Radio, which had the perfect introductory anecdote about the inspiration of the song

Photos follow… (read more »)

Here are some photos from tonight’s Stanford Chamber Chorale concert. Had a great time up there! Special thanks to Brad and Susan (and parents!), Tiffany Shih, Scott St. John, Geoff Nuttall, and Pam, for coming. :)

Andrew Lan and me. We’ve been playing together for 17 years!

More photos follow… (read more »)

I’m performing (on the cello) with the Stanford Chamber Chorale this coming Saturday, May 15, 2010 at Stanford Memorial Church:

8:00 P.M. Stanford Memorial Church
Admission: general $10 | senior $9 | student $5

The Chorale closes its formal 2009-2010 season with Poulenc’s Mass, and Fauré’s beloved Requiem.

Fauré Requiem is super moody and dark because it forgoes violins for violas. If for no other reason, you should come to the show to celebrate the viola! ;)

It’s rare that surprise birthday parties actually work

Happy surprise birthday party, Warren! Not many people get to play with Livia and the SLSQ on their birthday — must have been the best gift ever. ;) (read more »)

At the all-Hayden concert at Stanford today, Warren gave me a copy of the August 2009 issue of The Strad magazine, which features the St. Lawrence String Quartet on its cover. Congratulations, guys!

The concert was incredible. I had never heard Op. 54 No. 2 (in C major) before. I loved all of it, but the Adagio parts (2nd movement and 2 parts of the Finale) were incredibly moving. I was totally floored.

Geoff became a normal person again after the show, and after I recovered from my disbelief at his talent, I took him to the airport. Their schedule is crazy.

Ang Lee and Vienna Teng @ KFOG, San Francisco

I had an interesting morning accompanying Vienna Teng to KFOG for her 8am interview and live performance on the air. Director Ang Lee was on immediately preceding Vienna, and when he was finished with his interview, we were introduced to him in the hallway.

“It’s a Taiwan morning,” he said, after we introduced ourselves as having Taiwanese roots. (read more »)

Hanging out after the concert: Laural, Antoni, Eric, Pam and Thon

I really enjoyed performing with the Stanford Symphonic Chorus a week ago. Need to play cello more!

I took 7 friends to see my good friend, Vienna Teng, at Yoshi’s in Oakland last Friday. Vienna is currently on tour promoting the recent release of her fourth album, Inland Territory. The new CD is great, and I highly recommend it.

The Yoshi’s show was incredible; it was probably the best Vienna Teng show I’ve ever been to!

Unfortunately, it was a madhouse and I missed her SMS invite to go backstage. It has been nearly three months since I’ve seen her, which is way too long.

Incidentally, I’m playing the cello on the CD. I’m just a single voice in the small chamber orchestra, but it’s fun to listen to the album knowing that I contributed in my little way…