• About Jeff von der Schmidt, the Hà Nội New Music Ensemble & LA International New Music Festival

Sound Travels with Jeff von der Schmidt

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Sound Travels with Jeff von der Schmidt

Category Archives: Education

A Circle of Trust: the Hà Nội New Music Ensemble Season Begins Sunday October 23

19 Wednesday Oct 2016

Posted by Jeff von der Schmidt in Composers, Contemporary Music, Diplomacy, Education, Food, Hanoi, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Kim Ngoc Tran, LA International New Music Festival, Music, Paris, Travel, Uncategorized, Vietnam, Vu Nhat Tan

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Asia, Didier Latroupe, Hanoi, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Igor Stravinsky, Kim Ngoc Tran, LA International New Music Festival, Nguyen Minh Nhat, Nguyen Thien Dao, Olivier Messiaen, Pierre Boulez, Ton That Tiet, Vietnam War, Vu Nhat Tan

Working on every detail with Vu Khanh Linh and Giang Dương.

Working on every detail with Vũ Khánh Linh and Giang Dương.

Being creative is like riding a bicycle: either you keep going forward or you fall off. – Pierre Boulez

Sunday night at 8 PM the Hà Nội New Music Ensemble begins its second season at L’espace, sponsored by the l’Institut français du Việt Nam-Hà Nội. A group whose time is long overdue, I’m honored to be to help these hard working Vietnamese musicians as their artistic advisor and conductor.

A triangle of countries, France, Việt Nam and the United States, blends with a triangle of cities, Paris, Hà Nội and Los Angeles, for this second season opener. The new music world potential for my friends is vast, but much hard work has to come first. Excepting the usual suspects of classical music, you name the 20th century composer and you might be leading a Vietnamese premiere!

Looking over the horizon, I predict you will see a new music wave in the next few years cresting in Southeast Asia with the emergence of the Hà Nội New Music Ensemble!

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A Barcelona Diary

11 Tuesday Nov 2014

Posted by Jeff von der Schmidt in Arnold Schoenberg, Barcelona, Benet Casablancas, Catalonia, Composers, Contemporary Music, Education, Food, LA International New Music Festival, Los Angeles, Music, Southwest Chamber Music, Travel, Uncategorized, Vienna

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Antoni Gaudi, Arnold Schoenberg, Barcelona, Benet Casablancas, Domenech i Montaner, Frank Gehry, Girona, La Pedrera, Liceu, Montserrat, Morton Subotnick, Moses und Aron, Palau de la Musica, Park Guell, Rafael Moneo, Richard Meier, Sagrada Familia, San Sebastián

A majestic sky over Barcelona.

A majestic sky over Barcelona.

Dreams often get tucked away – but hopefully not forgotten.

From a youthful spark of excitement their inspiration often takes years to become reality. And after visiting Barcelona, I know that dreams in my family now have a new home in a Catalan city we intend to visit as often as possible.

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From Old Hollywood to Old Vienna

29 Friday Aug 2014

Posted by Jeff von der Schmidt in Austria, Contemporary Music, Education, LA International New Music Festival, Music, Southwest Chamber Music, Travel, Uncategorized, Vienna Philharmonic

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Arnold Schoenberg, Bayreuth Festival, Bertolt Brecht, Chasen's Restaurant, Georg Eisler, Hanns Eisler, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Leonard Bernstein, Leonard Stein, Otto Klemperer, Patrice Chereau, Pierre Boulez, Roland Berger, Vienna Philharmonic

A gorgeous Viennese spring day.

A gorgeous Viennese spring day.

“Am I boring you?”

I was 22 years old in September of 1977. I had dreamed and worked and worked and dreamed of studying music in Vienna. At the time I played the French horn, which I retired in 1998 to devote myself to conducting. But for 25 years or more the horn was my voice, my love, my sound. And the person who had the greatest sound in the world was in Vienna, Roland Berger of the Vienna Philharmonic. All that money washing dishes in my parents’ restaurant was beginning to pay off.

However as I now look back, one man took me under his wing, guided me, encouraged me, talked to me, questioned me. And I know that I learned as much, if not more, from renowned Austrian painter Georg Eisler than any musical mentor I would encounter. His father, composer Hanns Eisler, was nominated for two Academy Awards in the 1940s. Somewhat more ominously, Hanns was the prime target of Richard Nixon and the House Un-American Activities Committee, known as HUAC.

“Am I boring you?”

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Tea For Two in Kyoto, Shanghai, Hanzhou, Taipei & Hong Kong

01 Sunday Dec 2013

Posted by Jeff von der Schmidt in Composers, Contemporary Music, Education, Food, Hanzhou, Hong Kong, Kyoto, LA International New Music Festival, Southwest Chamber Music, Taipei, Travel, Uncategorized

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Asia, Hanzhou, Hong Kong, Ippodo, John Cage, Kyoto, Ling Yin Temple, Ming Cha, Ryoanji Temple, Shanghai, Taiwan, Tea

The viewing & tea of Haiku master Basho in Kanazawa, Japan.

The viewing & tea pavilion of Haiku poet master Basho in Kanazawa, Japan.

I’ve started writing this post the day after Thanksgiving here in the U.S. I’m so gratified that over 50 countries have followed my blog in its first three months. Holidays are good moments to rest and reflect. After an energetic trip to Hanoi, Luang Prabang and Hong Kong married to a trip to the Latin Grammy Awards in Las Vegas last week, the combination of Thanksgiving with Hanukkah – Thanksgivakkuh – has put me in a mood to unwind.

And there is no better way to do that than with a slow gong-fu (read complicated) tea ceremony…

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The Dragon Awakes: New Music in Hà Nội

05 Saturday Oct 2013

Posted by Jeff von der Schmidt in Composers, Contemporary Music, Education, LA International New Music Festival, Uncategorized

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Alexandra du Bois, Asia, Hanoi, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Nguyen Thien Dao, United States, Vietnam

The Temple of Literature in  Hanoi

The Temple of Literature in Hà Nội.

Việt Nam exists in a world of continuity brought together by a reverence for teachers. The second major holiday here, the Thanksgiving to our Christmas, is Teacher’s Day each November.  The country shifts its gears.  Everyone is obligated to bring a gift to their teacher as a thank you to be guided in life by their example.

That’s right. By national obligation going back for centuries, the person who teaches you in school to talk, add and subtract, write and study, remains important to you for your entire life. No wonder Việt Nam has prevailed over foreign invasion from China (for a 1,000 years), France then Japan then France again, and then us during the Việt Nam War.

The whole country is a Temple of Literature…

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Welcome to Zone 9

29 Sunday Sep 2013

Posted by Jeff von der Schmidt in Composers, Contemporary Music, Education, LA International New Music Festival, Latin Grammy Awards, Music, Southwest Chamber Music, Travel, Uncategorized, Vietnam

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Zone 9

Zone 9 on the edge of the French Quarter in Hà Nội.

What to do with a run down former pharmaceutical factory built by the French in 1905?  Here’s a recipe: combine young take-on-the-world types from a Hà Nội new generation of smart entrepreneurs. Mix a wide spectrum of design, cuisine, art, music, and what the hell throw in a major day care center, while your’e at it throw in a space for experimental contemporary music, bring home the brain drain from San Francisco and Manhattan, renovate an architectural relic from the French (I kid you not there is a Vietnamese homage to La Durée) and the result is the most amazing urban redevelopment project imaginable.

Welcome to Zone 9.

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Maples & Blossoms: My Journey to the East began with Japan

20 Friday Sep 2013

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Asia, Boston Opera Company, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston University, Japan, Sarah Caldwell, Seiji Ozawa, Tanglewood

2013-05-26 13.09.47

Young maple leaves at Ei-Kando Temple in Kyoto, May 2013.

Here’s a thought experiment.  Pierre Boulez, Benjamin Britten and John Cage are stuck in a Tokyo elevator for over three hours.  While waiting for a repairman, what do they talk about to pass the time?  Send me your ideas!

As I mentioned in my last post, our first visit to Asia was to Japan in 2002 and started in Kyoto.  A celebration of our 20th wedding anniversary, Jan and I decided to visit her college friend and enthusiastic chamber music collaborator from Boston University days, Mitsuyo Matsumoto.   We were transformed and overwhelmed with the beauty of cherry blossoms, sakura, as Miko guided us around the temples of Kyoto.

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Posted by Jeff von der Schmidt | Filed under Composers, Contemporary Music, Education, Food, LA International New Music Festival, Music, Southwest Chamber Music, Travel, Uncategorized, Vietnam

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Loi Trinh Le and my Journey to the East

19 Thursday Sep 2013

Posted by Jeff von der Schmidt in Composers, Contemporary Music, Education, Food, LA International New Music Festival, Music, Southwest Chamber Music, Travel, Uncategorized, Vietnam

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Asia, Buddhism, Confucius, Osaka, Trinh, Vietnam, Vietnam War

 

A lotus pond in Hoi An.

A lotus pond in Hội An.

Loi Trinh Le.

As I dream of Việt Nam in anticipation of my return, I dream also of the love that turned me towards the East.  As with most love stories, people get involved and shape the narrative.  My compass, my guide, my mentor and inspiration in this love was Loi Trinh Le.

We called her Trinh.  A diminutive but imposing woman, she was a highly gifted acupuncturist with numerous celebrity patients thrown in for good measure. But everyone had to find her modest house in Culver City for treatments. Trinh navigated me through life’s challenges, imposing Buddhist tough love when necessary and then countering with a warmth of abounding compassion.

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