My father, Richard Rath, and I have a background of performing together. He is an oboist, but started on alto saxophone and then eventually learned to double professionally on all of the woodwind instruments. He is one of those guys who has so much talent that honestly, it can be pretty sickening.
As I neared the end of my college days, we looked for some duets that we might be able to perform on my Junior and Senior recitals. We found a few really good ones and later, when we wanted another excuse to perform together, I wrote one for us.
As a charter member of the International Double Reed Society, my father has been fairly involved at previous conventions, as a lecturer and attender. But, about two years ago he approached me about performing a duo recital at the 2015 convention being held in Tokyo, Japan. My reaction was reminiscent of my teenage days when I tended to be somewhat dismissive towards my parents: "Yeah sure. Whatever you want to do, Dad." (I always was a little bit of a people-pleaser.)
Steadily over the course of the next couple of years, we sifted through an enormous amount of literature for Oboe and any number of Percussion instruments. I was rather shocked at just how much music there is that I had never heard of by wonderful composers whose names I was not yet familiar with. This past December, we had to nail down a few of those pieces and submit them along with our proposal. Dad sent off the proposal and waited anxiously. I completely forgot about it.
At the beginning of this past March, he forwarded me the acceptance email he had received. Startled, I called him immediately only to find him as cool as a cucumber, speaking nonchalantly about performing in Japan. You know. No big deal.
No big deal? Yes: BIG DEAL.
Once I realized we were good to go, I had to ask for special permission to miss the week before school starts. The convention is August from the 15th-21st. For more info, the convention's website is idrs2015.org/
So, we are making preparations left and right to get travel and accommodations nailed down as well as obtain all of the music we'll be performing and start to work out those details. It's all very exciting and not only is the performance going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but this will be the first time I will have traveled off the continent!
More news to follow! Stay tuned!
I'll be making some updates through my Go Fund Me page and if you are even slightly interested in supporting our performance in Japan, you can go to GoFundMe.com
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
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