I attended the opening reception for the 2006 International Debussy Congress at the Harry Ransom Center. Dean Doug Dempster, Music School Director Glenn Chandler, and Elliott Antokoletz gave warm welcomes. It was nice to meet the contributors and attendees, particularly Roy Howat and Marie Rolf. Howat will perform and all-Debussy program tomorrow night, Thursday October 26. Beth Usher, one of the eurythmists I work with, inspired Howat to suggest that the three Etudes he will perform might lend themself to eurythmy, and also mentioned people who knew both Debussy and Steiner. It is interesting to posit how Debussy would have reacted to Steiner’s work.
Marie Rolf suggested that I contact Noel Lee about my exploration of how the light of Paris may have influenced Debussy’s works, particularly the second book of Preludes. She agreed that Paris has an unusual quality of light.
After Howat’s performance we will setup a time for the interview.
Until then, I am playing on Fox 7 Austin at 7:45 AM Thursday, tomorrow, with Flutist Seetha Shivaswamy in order to promote the earthquake benefit we are playing Saturday at 7:30 PM at Asbury Methodist. We will play Mucynski and Satie and I will likely play Feux d’artifice, “Fireworks,” by Debussy.
