I’ve been working on an interview with soprano Hima Joshi for the September issue of the San Diego Troubadour. In the process, I remembered that I failed to properly document the concert that she and I organized and performed with pianist Anna Juliar on February 15, 2020. We raised $1,360 for Border Angels, an organization that advocates and takes action on behalf of migrants and refugees.
My memories of this concert are bittersweet. I’m proud of the money we raised for an organization I admire. I’m proud of the program we put together. I’m not so proud of how I played; I was in the middle of editing “Trouble! A Calamity Adventure,” and I think the stress from that took its toll. I wouldn’t find out about my neurodivergence for another year, so spoon management was a foreign concept. It’s also disorienting to remember that we were on the verge of the pandemic, but we had no idea; this concert was one of the last times that anyone could hear live music before the shutdown in March.
We didn’t take any video or make any recordings, so the photos below are the only records I have of this performance. We projected the slideshow on a screen while performing in lieu of a program. I included a phone recording I found of my arrangement of Chiquinha Gonzaga‘s “O Abre Alas.” I’m proud of how I pieced it together even if there are a few wrong notes (I value bravery over perfectionism).
