Musical updates from sunny Wales

I've been so unexpectedly fortunate in my numerous musical opportunities in Cardiff. It is always a worry for me when I move to a new town: who needs an oboist, and who do I want to play oboe with? I lucked out with the university ensembles, particularly when I crossed paths with the director of the chamber choir and we found a mutual passion for Bach (John Hugh Thomas, officially my oldest Facebook friend). JHT directs the Swansea Bach Choir and first asked me to play John Rutter's "The Lord is My Shepherd" for choir, organ and solo oboe for a BBC Radio 4 programme (joy joy joy joy joy). This term, he trumped that offer by inviting me to play the solo oboe obbligato part in a Bach Cantata (how much joy can I express in a single blog entry!?).

Following a very successful concert of the Bach with some Handel and Purcell in Llandaff cathedral, the choir had a repeat performance in St. David's-- a micro-city on the southwestern coast of Wales with a glorious sunken cathedral and a laid back surfer attitude. My own "saint" David graciously agreed to drive me and my oboe 2+ hours each way rather than force me to sit on a coach with less lucky undergrads. The Welsh coastline is gorgeous (it was Lonely Planet's 'Best Region On Earth' to visit in 2012), and we had brilliant sunshine for our field trip. Here are a few shots from the day:

St. David's Cathedral in St. David's the "city." (It is technically a city, because of the cathedral being there, but it is about two pubs, three surf-shops and and ice cream stand big. 

Have you ever seen such a sunken cathedral?

We wandered over to the coast during my break in rehearsals

There was this yellow bush, everywhere in Southwest Wales. A very happy color, and welcome now that the armies of daffodils in Wales have passed their prime

Dave, very pleased to have his sunglasses. I think it looks like he is so pleased that wispy clouds are radiating out of his forehead.

The concert went very well; unlike most cathedrals, the acoustic was dry enough to achieve clarity in the music. For many of the undergrad musicians, this would be their last ever performance with the university ensembles, and all the students came together as a friendly community for their send-off. After the performance, JHT introduced me to a friend of his who conducts another choir in Wales. Somehow, after many minutes of not being able to fully understand his rapid Welsh accented questions, I ended up being asked to play with his ensemble at a music festival in the Brecon Beacons this July! For this concert, I'll be paid to play second oboe with the principal oboist of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. In an upcoming concert, he would like me to reprise my Bach Wedding Cantata solo. Dust off the reedmaking tools, I have professional gigs this summer!

Meanwhile, Dave and I are preparing for our annual orchestra tour to Europe... this year we'll be driving the van full of instruments to Bilbao! The orchestra had been needing a few extra string players to bulk out the sections, and through these last few concerts I've wrangled a handful of Cardiff musicians to join the Oxford group for the tour. Look at me, ambassador for Anglo-Welsh relations :) I promise to take lots of pictures from the Basque coast and the mayhem that the Oxford Millennium Orchestra tour usually creates!

Mountains, Mormons, and Meetings (oh My)

Every spring I get to enjoy the main "perk" of being in academic research: the international conference meeting. Thus far, I've been reimbursed to travel to and enjoy Berlin, Toronto, Honolulu, Stockholm, Montreal, Melbourne and in 2013... Salt Lake City.  Yes, I admit it lacks a certain glamour that our typical destinations boast, but it is apparently over a million dollars less expensive for the society to host it there than in Europe, so fair enough.

The main benefit of Salt Lake City is that flights from LHR to SLC can be manipulated to pass through NYC, and thus I can nab a cheeky visit home within my travel budget. It was a short stay, but it was made rather wonderful by the simultaneous appearance of my globe-trotting brother, who was briefly returning to US from his assignment in Japan. Andy apparently stuffed every nook and cranny with small Japanese gifts for us, including a wide range of bizarre edible snacks (most pleasant surprise? chocolate bread bites. yum. most distressing item? too-realistic plastic shrimp.)

Loot from Japan!

During the trip, Andy and I escaped into the city for a day of sunny perfection: we meandered down the "High Line" and basked in a streetside cafe in the West Village before meeting up with my friend Cailin for drinks and my friend Becca for a posh manhattan mexican dinner. On our last full day together, we drove out east to a new art museum in the Hamptons. Although I admit that I was sceptical, the museum turned out to be more engaging than I anticipated: neat architecture (apparently it looks like a "potato barn" and is surrounded by manicured acres of "natural Long Island flora" and a nearby vineyard), interesting-enough art, and a fantastic cafe serving up curried carrot and peach soup. We stopped off at the beach afterwards, and I enjoyed suitably silly barefoot prancing about on the sand. It's so easy to forget these aspects of Long Island; it really is a glorious place to live if you take advantage of the beautiful spaces. Friday morning, we said our goodbyes and I was delivered to the local micro-airport of Long Island to began my trek to Utah.

First and foremost, Utah has mountains and sunshine (see above picture). As predicted, the 7-lane roads that dissect Salt Lake City into an enormous grid system were not particularly enjoyable to navigate as a pedestrian: everything is much further away than it appears on a map, particularly when rushing to make a certain poster session after lunch. My first impression of the city was rather negative, perhaps due to the shock of Mountain-state distances on my walkable British town sensibilities. It was also difficult to tell whether the city was "on the up" or declining, with abandoned lots pervading the city center. However, by the end of the week I was enjoying the glimpses of mountains at every intersection, the genuine friendliness of folks, the pervasiveness of book shops and the odd culinary gem.

The conference also provided a boost to my science mojo. Last year I struggled, for months, with a bit of science that just... didn't... work. It felt as if I was bashing my head against a wall, with nothing to show for it after months of labor. Add to that the stress of finding funding for next year and I had been a little anti-science or anti-research in the period leading up to the conference. I should have predicted it: being surrounded by the 6-thousand-odd people that really care about your area of work is very stimulating. The plenary sessions are full of big names talking about their early years (typically with photographic evidence that they once, as a grad student, had HAIR), reminding us that we all have awkward beginnings and just have to hang on. Seeing old lab connections, and meeting friendly interesting people through them, is always a joy. I was also able to gain a bit of perspective on how far I've come since my first ISMRM conference in 2007, and I enjoyed the "Session Moderator" ribbon on my name badge, the increasing number of attendees I recognize and interact with, and my growing confidence in my own scientific capabilities. Coming back to CUBRIC, I am bursting with ideas and have numerous scientists to contact. The mojo returns!

More pictures from my trip, including my walk through the LDS Temple complex, can be found in this Picasa Album