The Russians

Here are Roman Stolyar and Sergey Letov together improvising. We will appear as a trio at DOM in Moscow, Russia on September 29, 2009 at 8 PM.

The Kayagum Case for the Russia trip 2009

Woke early this morning having to give the final measurements for the kayagum to Dan at Phillycase.com

He is amazing. I am having him build a custom case for the kayagum so I can take it along to Russia and it must be under 80 inches, width + length + depth. Dan had it at 88 inches and now he has it under 80 with full padding. Quite a task. But now I will be mobile with the precious instrument and can take it far and wide.

Here is a photo of me in the 90s in the Kayagum class of Ok Ja Paik in Woodland Hills. I am second from the far right in the pink dress. Nevermind the preggies look - the traditional dress is like that no matter how big your girth! Notice I am the only Westerner....eek. You can't buy these instruments here; I rented one from my teacher for a long time. Finally in the 2000s I went to Korea and bought my own Kayagum. This is the one I am having the case made for....

Seattle August 18, 2009

Just winding up a week long visit to my mother and stepfather near Seattle, Washington. It is beautiful here - temperature in the high 70s with a light breeze and everything is green unlike hot southern California. Their property is surrounded by beautiful alders and pines.

We have been talking about my upcoming trip to Russia and I was able to meet a woman who was on many peace keeping missions there in the 1980s. It turns out my Russian ballet teacher from childhood, Maria Kedrina in Santa Barbara, escaped from the revolution and danced with Nijinsky and Pavlova in the Bolshoi.