Final Posting

Hi friends!

This will probably be my last post before we get home to Missoula on Saturday. Austria has been a great experience. I have learned many new things, made a ton of new friends, and got to see some of the most beautiful things. Today was our last German class- we got our teacher flowers. Tomorrow we're going to have breakfast at the Palmenhaus which is next to the Schmetterling (Butterfly) Haus. Today we also vistied the Transacoustic Research Institute. Last week we went to Baden and then went to Bratislava, Slovakia on Saturday. Such a wonderful place! There was a Children's Festival going on and it was so cool to see the local dances and songs of the region. We saw St. Martin's Gothic Church and bought some great souvenirs at the open air market. The food was much cheaper here than in Vienna (1.79 for half a liter of beer)!
Last night was the final UM music concert in the Palais Corbelli. The flute choir performed. I had some cool solos and Katie sang in the choir. Tonight we will be going to dinner at the Griechenbeisel (the oldest inn in Vienna) and then watching Wagner's opera Parsifal projected outside the opera house for free!
On Friday we fly to Paris where we will spend the night and get to see the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame. Time to charge up the camera batteries again!
Well, folks, it's been a pleasure writing for you- who knows, I may keep writing about my future adventures as well!

Tasty Travels,
CMR

Bratislava!

Hello all,

sorry it's been so long since the last update but the time has gone by really quickly as the trip winds to a close. Today Katie and I and a group of friends took the bus from Vienna, Austria to Bratislava, Slovakia. It takes only an hour to get there since Vienna is so close to the Slovakian border. The people there were very friendly and there was a Children's Festival being held today that inlcuded a traditional dance concert. It was wonderful to see and hear the native music and dances of the region. We visited St. Martin's Cathedral and had a great time exploring the markets in the old city center. Dinner was great- I actually was able to order a real steak for the first time in about 5 weeks! The Danube river runs through the town and it was a beautiful, sunny day. I would love to return someday and explore even more but we had to catch the bus back for the night at 8:00. I hope this post finds all of you well and will try to do at least another post before the end of the trip.

Gute Nacht,
CMR

Another Great Week!

Guten Morgen everyone!

Madame Butterfly was simply stunning- it was held in the State Opera House and the quality of the performance was incredible. The soprano was so fantastic- Un bel di Vedremo never sounded so wonderful. Check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z3-yBlDckY for Renee Fleming's performance of this song for a refresher of how great this aria truly is. The State opera house is seven stories of seats and has a giant crystal chandelier at the top of the ceiling. So cool!

On Tuesday we took a beautiful hike to the Heiligenstadt area on the outer edge of the 19th district of Vienna. It is a beautifully forested area interwoven with vineyards. We began our hike down from the Kahlenberg- a tall hill that the Polish army mounted a counter-attack from that saved Vienna from being overrun by the Turks in 1683. Heiligenstadt means "Holy City" and is so old that scholars believe that there may have been an oracle or sacred place the Romans built when they first settled the area thousands of years ago. There are remains of Roman walls and a cemetery there as well as early Christian churches and settlements. Beethoven lived in Heiligenstadt for a time and wrote the famous Heiligenstadt Testament there. Closer to Vienna, a beautiful monument to Beethoven is located along a stream that was full of ducks and frogs. It is a very peaceful place and it was easy to see why Beethoven loved it.

After seeing Beethoven's hair in a little museum in the town of Heiligenstadt, we went to a traditional Heuriger, a wine-tasting house and restaurant. When there is a new wine being featured, the tradition is to hang a pine branch over the front door. We had the house white wine and it was delicious. To eat we had a chicken salad- which is a little different here then in the states. The salad has a layer of German potato salad on the bottom, a layer of mixed greens with dressing next, and then giant pieces of fried chicken on top. Delicious!

After the wine-tasting, we took a bus back into the city and attended a master class of UM's Pierrot ensemble. Two members of the Pierrot Lunaire Ensemble Wien, Gustavo Balanesco and Silvia Gelos, listened to original compositions written by UM composition students who are also members of MELEe. After hearing the pieces they gave feedback and suggestion to the group. An intense but rewarding process with some of the world's finest musicians.

On Wednesday Katie and I went to the Ensemble Intercontemporain conducted by the legendary Pierre Boulez. This French ensemble is the world's number one ensemble performing modern music. It was so great- we heard pieces by Stockhausen, Ligeti, Berg, and Donatoni. Kammerkonzert by Ligeti is a wonderful (and delightfully modern) piece. Give it a listen sometime. And for those of you who may not enjoy modern music- keep in mind that most movie music we hear today would not be around if wasn't for modern composers like Schoenberg and Ligeti.

Yesterday we had a masterclass with Katharina Klement at the Universitat fur Musik along with some of her electronic music students. The Pierrot ensemble played again and then MELEe performed as well. I got some new feedback on the video art that I create with MELEe and we got ready for our upcoming performance at the Palace Corbelli this coming Tuesday. MELEe and Katharina Klement's students will perform with MELEe and I will also perform with the Flute Choir.

Now its off to another masterclass with Dr. Ulrike Anton at the Palace Corbelli with members of the Flute Choir. Wow! I think it's fair to say that it's been another busy week!

I hope this posting finds all of you well and I'll be seeing you in about two weeks- then I can show you all of my pictures. Have a great day!

CMR

Salzburg!

Hello everyone-

This weekend we took a train to Salzburg. Its about 3 hours away from Vienna and is the city where they filmed the Sound of Music! Salzburg is an absolutely stunning city much smaller than Vienna full of cathedrals, churches, shops and surrounded by beautiful mountains. On the hill is a huge medieval fortress. We also saw where Mozart was born and where the Mozart family lived. We stayed in a really nice hostel and I took about 300 pictures just in the town. On Thursday Katie and I attended a tour of the Essl Contemporary Art Museum and attended a lecture by modern composer Karlheinz Essl. He performed for us along with prepared piano expert, Tzenka Dianova. The museum was full of unique modern artworks including an awesome exhibit by Niki de Saint Phalle. Tonight Katie and I are going to a Beethoven string quartet concert at the Musikverein and tomorrow we are going to Madam Butterfly at the Opera House. Whew! Sop much to see, hear and do! I hope all is well for all of my friends and family and have a wonderful day!!!!

CMR

Media Art on both sides of the Globe

Guten Tag!

I just wanted to let everyone know that the Digital Graffiti Festival held in Alys Beach, Florida is this weekend. Why is this exciting? Because I have a motion design piece that was accepted into the festival- it was one out of 36 final pieces that was accepted from over 300 entries from all over the world. I am so excited even though I can't be there personally. Check out the website at http://www.digitalgraffiti.com/

Thanks to Martin Fromm for letting me know about the festival in the first place and also a good luck shout out to Amber Bushnell, a fellow Missoula Media Arts graduate student who also has a piece in this year's festival!

For examples of my media design check out http://www.cmrdigitalmediadesign.com

In other news on the Austrian side of the globe, the Flute Choir performed last night in the University of Montana concert #2. We played pieces by Luenin and Ravel. After the flute choir performed I stayed to watch Katie play in a woodwind quintet. They beautifully performed Passacaglia by Barthe.

When Katie was done, we booked it over to the Konzerthaus where MELEe played in the electronic music club Brut. The Konzerthaus is considered the Carnegie Hall of Vienna. I vj'ed (created video projection art) live as MELEe played. It was such an awesome experience to be playing in the Konzerthaus for other electronic musicians and artists in the music capital of the world. The visual element helped to complete the experience for the viewer because it created a link between what was being heard and what was being seen. What an awesome experience :)

Yesterday Music 436 Expressionism and Schoenberg attended a prepared Piano lecture. We learned about using erasers, screws, bolts, felt and other materials to insert in piano strings to create different timbres and sounds from the piano. Tomorrow we visit the Essl Music Museum and attend a living composer lecture. On Friday, we leave for Salzburg, the birthplace of Mozart! We will return on Saturday evening to Vienna. I will write more soon!

Hope everything is going well for everyone!

Gute Nacht.

CMR

Jezt in Wien!

Hi all,

the weeks are flying by in Wien (Vienna). Yesterday we took a trip to Eisenstadt, the village where Haydn lived and worked for the Esterhazy's. We then took a trip to the village of Rust, a historic village in Burgenland by the Neusiedler See. This is a quaint town where many people take boats out on the water and have reed-roofed mini-houses where they stay and fish- sort of like ice-fishing houses we use in the states. A beautiful place! Bridget, Jenna, Katie and I ate dinner and experienced traditional Austrian cooking firsthand. I had boiled rump roast with horseradish bread sauce and Katie had delicious snchitzel. Jenna had wonderful roast fish and Bridget had these amazing cream cheese dumplings wrapped in bacon and deep fried served over a salad of baby greens. Guten Appetit!

The Esterhazy palace was a beautiful Baroque castle with Hungarian influences due to the close proximity to Hungary (about 20 kilometers) and the historic relationship between the Austrians and the Hungarians. This palace had a more rustic, "country" feel compared to Schonbrunn. The theatre inside was absolutely stunning- pictures to follow I promise!

On Thursday, Katie, Hilary and I went to another concert at the Musikverein. Klavier (piano) player Maurizio Pollini performed a wonderful concert including the works of Chopin and Schumann. I got to hear the Raindrops prelude, one of my favorite piano pieces and it was wonderful.

Today we visited the MUMOK- a fantastic modern art museum. I was so excited to discover that one of the current main exhibits was called "Changing Channels" and was devoted to the pioneers of video art. In this exhibit were hundreds of televisions set up displaying original films and video art of artists including John Lennon, Andy Warhol, Yoko Ono, and most excitedly for me, Nam June Paik. This was a media artist's dream: being able to experience Nam June Paik's television installations first hand- even the original video synthesizer Paik used to create some of the world's first video art was on display. This was absolutely fantastic.

We also visited the Kirche am Steinhof- a Jugendstil (art nouveau), church at the top of the hill in a historic psychiatric hospital known as Steihoff. It was designed by revolutionary architecht Otto Wagner and was one of the first churches designed to be functional for the disabled and mentally ill as well as beautiful.

German class this week was intense but we are learning how to say many things. Ich studiere Deutsch jezt in Wien. (I study German now in Vienna!) This coming Tuesday is a big night again as the Flute Choir performs in the Palace Corbelli and then MELEe performs at the Velak Gala- more on that in a few days :)

Katie and I had delicious pizza tonight at a little pizzeria near Karlsplatz somewhere. We ordered a pizza apiece and almost ate all of it we were so hungry!

Well its getting late and I'm getting sleepy- tomorrow is free time to explore the city!

Guten Abend,

CMR

If it ain't Baroque.....

Hi kids-

Sorry its been so long since my last post but its been crazy busy here. Tomorrow is the first of the UM Music concerts in the Palace Corbelli where the IES music school is. I will be performing with the flute choir and recording the performance. Today was the first day of classes. It started with German, then there was a tour of the beautiful Schönbrunn Palace with Professor Chacon's art class. This palace is considered Maria Teresa's most beloved residence, and the gardens contain elaborate ironwork and fountains. The rooms are incredible examples of Rococco Baroque architecture and design and each room is different from the next. More pictures to follow I promise!

On Sunday Katie and I and our friend Hilary attended mass at St. Ursula's church. We heard Instituts für Orgel, Orgelforschung und Kirchenmusik perform the Missa brevis in C by Viennese composer Anton Heiller. This is a fairly modern piece written in 1951. There were definitely modern influences interwoven in the organ and vocal parts. This was a beautiful experience that I will never forget.

Later that night we attended a concert at the Musikverein. One of the performers was a get this, male mezzo-soprano. He was fantastic- it was like nothing I've ever heard before. Afterwards, we attended a festival at Karl's Kirche across the street from the Musikverien. There was some really great video art being projected on the church by a huge projector. It was so amazing to see this giant Baroque structure being used a canvas for video art.

Well friends, the hour grows later here and I need to do some studying for tomorrow.

I wish you the best.

Gute Nacht,

CMR

Painting (Detail) housed in the KHM

Stained Glass Window in St. Stephen's Cathedral

Roses in old city district (photos by CMR)

The First Few Days

Hello friends.

I have been trying to get this blog running for a few days now but due to technical difficulties and the unforeseen effects of jet lag I have been unable to get to this until now. As some of you know I've never been outside of the country before. Ever. Not even to Canada though I've lived my entire life in a state the borders it for several hundred miles. I have been lucky to be able to to go on a trip with my fiancee, Katie. We are both from Dillon, Montana- a small town that seems even smaller now that I've seen what a city with almost 2 million people living in it truly looks like. I don't mean that in a negative way at all- my eyes have just been opened about a hundred times their original size in about 2 days.

But let me back up a little. Out mutual friend Danielle, or "Guido" or sometimes just "D" as she is affectionately known, deserves a huge shout out from Katie and I. Not only did she help me frantically finish packing the night before we were supposed to leave, she drove us to catch the bus at 2:30 am Missoula time. Thank you, Guido!

And thank you to our neighbor, Bob, who is watering our plants and getting out mail for us while we're gone, and our dear friend Caitlin Hepburn who is also helping watch our place and moved our bikes for us. Thanks guys!

After boarding the bus we then had an 8 hour ride to the Seattle airport. Holy cramped up knees, Batman. After going through security, we had a few hours wait before boarding the flight to Paris. Katie and I took the opportunity to eat a final burger and fries for lunch. As we took off for Paris, I was very excited but also very tired. I had no idea how much more tired I was going to get in the days to come, however.

Our flight on Air Paris had fantastic food- chicken chicken catchatori, bread and butter, smoked salmon with couscous, cranberry-orange cake, and champagne. All free of charge. And then after dinner brandy. Mmmmmm. And there were little movie screens built into the back of the seats with lots of movies to watch and music to listen to. I didn't get too much sleep even though the flight was about 10 hours long.

When we arrived in Paris it was pretty cloudy, so I couldn't see anything on the way down. However, it cleared up during the afternoon and when we took off for Vienna I was able to get a great view of the Eiffel Tower. It was incredible.

When we arrived in Vienna after a 2 hour flight, it was a mad dash (but more like an angry waddle for me) to the luggage claim. Thankfully, everything was there safe and sound. With me I brought a computer, a projector, a tripod, a video camera, a Canon DSLR and a flute. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention what I'm doing in Vienna for the next 5 weeks. I am studying abroad with the University of Montana doing music and digital art performances. I have a music minor in Flute performance, and

a Bachelor of Art in Media Arts in Integrated Digital Media. I will be performing with the Flute Choir and the MELEe Computer Music Ensemble. I do live video art with the ensemble as the members perform original compositions.

We are staying at the Vienna City Hostel. It is a small but clean place with a free breakfast every morning that includes meat, cheese, bread, and hot cereals. It is close to a U-Bhan (subway) stop that we take everyday to get to the IES center in the Palace Corbelli. This is where the classrooms and performance areas are. There are also practice rooms, a library, and beautiful ornate Baroque paintings and sculptures everywhere. Which is just like the city itself- decoration upon decoration as far as the eye can see. So far we have visited St. Stephen's Cathedral, Karlskirche (St. Charle's Church), the Griechen Beisel, the Kunsthistorisches Museum (or KHM), Hundertwasserhaus, the Belvedere Palace, The Imperial Palace, and tons of other beautiful places I will be describing more at a later date with pictures.

I hope this finds all of my family and friends well, and I think of you often! I will be very excited to see you all in a few weeks.

Peace and Blessin's,

CMR