Due to my travels, this entry is a few days behind my normal posting schedule (two weeks apart), which may be a metaphor for being late about everything Christmas this year. We didn’t have time to do more than a few Christmas cards but are grateful for the ones we have received (you’ll get a Valentine card from us, at least). We still don’t have a Christmas tree or any decorations, nor have even had a chance to eat a meal together at the table and light our Advent candles! You can only do so much, after all, we told each other at breakfast this morning.

Our first opportunity to go together to buy a Christmas tree is expected to be in the afternoon two days from now, Dec. 20, when Crystal’s last school day will be a half-day — and then company will be coming for dinner that night! Maybe we can at least get lights on the tree before they arrive. I plan to make a new recipe called “Butter Shrimp” and a “Pecan Cheesecake Pie” (like the one pictured here, which I did not make), since Crystal won’t have a chance to cook for this dinner.

She has been slammed by day with putting on Christmas performances by her students at the school where she teaches, and by night with her own performances in one of the lead roles of White Christmas, which ended its three-week run just yesterday. Here she is – as a blonde! (It’s a wig, of course.) The right photo is her doing the vampy song, sung by Rosemary Clooney in the movie, “Love, You Didn’t Do Right By Me.” Sultry!

I have been working hard to keep up with work and meetings on my ballet and my show and with traveling to Buffalo for one of the several performances of my music this past weekend. I will begin with the latter.

The plane travel and weather were merciful on my trip, due to an upgrade to a seat with some leg room. First, here is the backstory:  Several years ago my cell phone rang, and a voice on the line said, “Hi, Michael, this is Marvin Hamlisch, could you send me the score and recording to your Concertino for Celesta and Orchestra: “Fairy Dreams”? By that time, the piece had been performed by orchestras in several countries and featured on NPR’s “Morning Edition” show. I was rather shocked to get a call from such a luminary. In due course, Marvin scheduled the piece for himself to guest conduct on his upcoming tour of six major orchestra, one of which was the Buffalo Philharmonic. That was in the late spring or summer, but in early August he suddenly and shockingly passed away. Of course, those performances were all canceled. This year, the BPO finally programmed the piece and dedicated the concert to the memory of Marvin. You may recall that he was only one of a few composers to win the EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) Awards, and also one of just two (with Richard Rodgers) to win the Pulitzer Prize as well.

Under Marvin’s baton, they would have had to rent or borrow the 5.5-octave concert grand celesta made by the Schiedmayer company in Germany, but now the occasion was the orchestra’s purchase of a new one of their own, at around $60,000 (plus another 10K for its specially padded traveling case).  I was honored that their very first debut of this grand, newly purchased instrument would be made playing my piece. It sounded magnificently beautiful, and the soloist, Susan Schuman, played the piece fabulously, to perfection. This major orchestra, was of course, top-notch. The conductor of this concert was an old colleague from the days when we were both pups, John Morris Russell, who along with the BPO, conducts the Cincinnati Pops and the Hilton Head Symphony. It would have been worth the trip just to hang out and get all caught up with this old friend, both before and after the concert.

Shown below, L to R, are the pre-concert stage prior to the musicians coming out to play, a partial view of the main floor and balcony full house audience (around 2,000 people), and the magnificent Schiedmayer concert grand celesta. I don’t yet have the professional photos they took of me and the conductor and soloist but will post them on Facebook and/or here when I get them. But below is a shot of a later moment in the concert (with vocal soloists after the celesta was taken off) from the balcony.

On my way home, with a layover at Reagan airport in D.C., my good old friend Steve (now a very distinguished Washington attorney) was kind enough to come over to the airport to see me. I had to go out of the secure area to visit with him and then back through security again. We lost track of the time with the most enjoyable chat, and as I made my way back through security and to the gate, a booming voice came over the entire airport P.A. system: “Would a Michael Kurek please make his way quickly to gate E38? The plane has boarded and is waiting on you to depart.” Holy smokes, I ran with my carry-on bag as fast as I could and just made it in time!

There have also been in these past two weeks another production meeting with the choreographer to discuss minor revisions needed in my ballet score (for the choreography with the story) and auditions and a table reading with the cast for Dear Miss Barrett.

I’m happy to report that the table reading of the script by everyone (meaning sitting around a table) the next week was very sharply done, and we appear to have a wonderful cast, including, again, Crystal in the title role – no one can picture anyone else doing it now, and I did write it for her (and without that incentive I would not even have written any show). But we are still lacking a Robert Browning! Looking for a leading man type who can appear to be in his early 30’s with a great baritone-to-tenor voice who can do a good British accent. Please contact me, and I’ll put you in touch with the director. Regular rehearsals begin a few days a week on January 7, and every day for the two weeks prior to the show opening on March 1.

Well, that’s all the news that’s fit to print this time. My next post will be just before or after New Year’s Day. Wishing you and yours a happy holiday season! I leave you with a Christmas quote from my friend, author Joseph Pearce: “In the Coming of Christ at Christmas, we see the Artist of all Creation entering His own Masterpiece, and we see the storyteller entering His own story, history being ultimately His Story.” And last but not least I leave you with kittens (what else) singing “Silent Night” (click here).