The Montana Tour!

Wow! This was such a great Diagenesis Project! We were so fortunate to receive a Myrna Loy Grant to Artists grant to fund the tour. We did SO much.

Jen arrived in Montana on March 14th and the very next day we were off to our first stop on the tour - Lewistown, Montana.



The Lewistown Art Center graciously hosted us and organized a concert in their gallery space. We even had a chance to work with local young dancers from the Lewistown Dance Syndicate, who choreographed a dance to one of Lynn Petersen’s Four Songs. The next day we performed short sets at St. James’ Episcopal Church and Rising Trout Café, then spent the afternoon rehearsing.

Before heading back Helena on Monday, we met with music students at Fergus High School. We had a great time performing bits of our repertoire and engaging the students in conversations about music-making and contemporary music.



Tuesday morning we went to Trinity School, a two room school house with 16 students, two teachers, and two para educators where I teach music. Trinity School is a public school and the oldest continuously operated school in Montana (it was started in the 1860’s). It's such a great place and I love teaching there!

Jen and I performed for Trinity School last year, and I think Jen and her cello made a lasting impression! The kids were giddy with excitement when the cello showed up again! This year we did something a little different - an interactive presentation on the science of sound, instrument building, and improvisation activities from our NewSonics: a New Music Workshop for Kids program.

Wednesday we headed over to Central School to perform for the 3rd and 5th grade music classes. and finished up our afternoon with an interview with the Missoulian. Check it out here.

On Thursday we headed over to the University of Montana in Missoula. Five students - Jake Whitecar, Hillary Lester, Zach Mauer, Jesse Davis, and Qi Shen - wrote compositional sketches for a reading and workshop. We were absolutely inspired by the composers' music and engagement. They were an absolute pleasure to collaborate with. We wrapped up our work with UM's music students with a presentation/discussion for the voice department on the art and business of being a musician.

On Saturday we performed a recital as part of University of Montana's Faculty & Guest Artist Series in the music departments wonderful recital hall. One of the program's highlights was our performance of Morton Feldman’s Two Voices and Cello. We've wanted to perform Two Voices and Cello for a long time and were so excited to get the chance to collaborate with Dr. Kimberly Grantland.

Our time in Missoula wrapped up on Sunday with a performance for the kids at the Missoula Children’s Museum.



Next we needed to build an incredible record-inspired score for Sympathetic Magic - a piece we commissioned from Adam Tinkle for cello, soprano, and improvising children’s ensemble - and prep for our NewSonics workshop at Exploration Works.



The two-day workshop was a blast and we were able to perform the second movement Sympathetic Magic. WATCH the video and see the score in action!



Our very last event was our capstone concert at the Myrna Loy Center. Way back in May of 2011 we performed our very first concert as a duo in Helena, so it was a special homecoming to give a concert nearly three years later in March 2014. I was so proud to perform with Jen and play our beautiful music for my community, including the premiere of Adam Scott Neil’s Travels.

A great tour with great concerts, collaborations, and outreach work that makes us even more excited for our next project - our final recording session for our debut CD!

- Heather