Hello all!  Having left California's heat a few days ago, I returned to a very hot Canada and was immediately put into the teacher's seat at the National Youth Orchestra's String Quartet training session.  The groups had already been preparing string quartets for over a week, and the results have been excellent!  The opportunity to pass on what we know as artists, and the chance to watch talent grow right in front of you is something I feel extremely fortunate to do.  At SweetWater, we've been doing it for 10 years!  Through our Saturday morning Masterclass series and our outreach projects at local schools, we've had a chance to give the gift of music to children from ages  6 to 96.  As well, our children's concerts have been a great hit - anyone out there remember "Jake and the Musical Zoo"?  This September we'll have our Saturday morning Masterclass series, as well as a terrific performance by the group Van Django. 

Tomorrow I leave for Italy.  I'll write again once I arrive at Lake Como.  The next blog will be about our new pieces of music that have been premiered at SweetWater over the years.