A photo with some of my students at the 12th. Festival Music in the Mountains, in Pocos de Caldas, Minas Gerais, Brazil, Jan. 9 to 22, 2011. Courtesy of Tamiris Soler (PS: note my "Dracula" shirt - it's original from Transylvania!! :)

(post duplicated from the Strings@tached blog at www.stringsatund.org)

Dear students, friends, and colleagues:

I am back in Grand Forks, after another edition of the Pocos de Caldas Festival, directed by Prof. Jean Reis. Here's the website: www.festivalmusicanasmontanhas.com.br

This year the string and piano faculty enjoyed the valuable additions of Dr. Carmelo de los Santos (Violin, New Mexico State U.), Dr. Viktor Uzur (Cello, Weber State U.), Dr. Marcos Machado (Double Bass, U. of Southern Mississippi) and Prof. Guigla Katsarava (Piano, Ecole Normal de Paris, France.)

On a personal level, I am particularly pleased by the rising of the students level's baseline throughout the years (I startet teaching at Pocos in 2004.) Here is the list of the works performed in the 45+ lessons I thought this year (asterisks near a composition or movement mean that more than one student played that work):

A. Vivaldi
- Sonata in A major for violin and basso continuo
J. S. Bach
- Concerto in A minor
- Partita no. 2 - Giga
- Partita no. 3 - Prelude
G. B. Viotti
- Concerto no. 22 *
J. Haydn
- Concerto in G major, I mov.
W. A. Mozart
- 3rd. Concerto, I mov. * *
- 4th. Concerto, I mov.
- 5th. Concerto, I mov. *
L. v. Beethoven
- Sonata no. 5 "Spring" for violin and piano
J. H. Fiocco
- Allegro
F. Fiorillo
- Etude no. 1
N. Paganini
- Caprice no. 14
F. Mendelssohn
- Concerto in E minor op. 64, I mov. *
M. Bruch
- Concerto no. 1 in G minor, I mov. *
H. Wieniawski
- Polonaise Brillante no. 2 in A major
F. Kreisler
- Sicilienne and Rigaudon
- Praeludim und Allegro
- Liebesleid
E. Lalo
- Sinfonie Spagnole, I and V mov.
C. Franck
- Sonata for violin and piano, II mov.
E. Ysaye
- Sonata no. 4 op. 27 for solo violin, I mov.
M. Ravel
- Tzigane
D. Kavalevsky
- Concerto, I mov.
A. Khachaturian
- Concerto in D minor, I and II mov.

Each year has a little surprise. I remember one year teaching as many as 5 students with Haydn G major concerto, to the point that I arranged the lesson schedule to have them come in the same day. Kreisler's "Praeludim und Allegro" seems to permeate the festival with its presence since the begining - at least, I don't recall a single edition of the festival at which at least ONE students didn't play it; some years these students were as many as 5 or 6. I am pleased with the shift toward late 19th - early 20th century composers, but a little worried about the notorious decrease in solo Bach performances - are studio teachers emphasizing that enough in Brazil? I wonder if this is merely a local tendency or a spreading phenomenon.

Be as it may, I am happy to be back home and ready to tackle yet another semester at UND!