i love William Henry Channing

I came upon this beautiful quote from William Henry Channing and it sums up everything my graceful, southern parents embody. If I come away with half their grace, I will be greatly blessed.

"To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable; and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly...to listen to stars and buds, to babes and sages, with open heart; await occasions, hurry never...this is my symphony."

i love finding the perfect fit

We all love finding the perfect fit. Whether it is a shoe, jeans (I'm always on a quest for the perfect jeans!) partner, accessory, hairstyle......you get the idea. I find it equally satisfying and absolutely love the challenge of finding the perfect choice of songs/repertoire for our brides. That perfect combination of personality of the couple (which can greatly vary considering their tastes & styles) with the spirit of the location.

I met with one of our upcoming brides today, whose wedding is in St. Barths, (Designed & planned by the uber-amazing Jung Lee and her team at Fête, www.fêteny.com) and was really inspired to go in search of the perfect song for her to walk down to. Something beautiful, but not too heavy, lyrical but not sappy, romantic but on the sweeter side to match that gorgeous expanse of blue, french caribbean. I haven't found it yet, but I'm loving the search. I'll keep you posted.

i love Lauren & our new artist series

Lauren, our very own cellist, is the first featured artist in our Artist Series at Bianchi Musica. She is an amazingly beautiful player and highly intuitive. (as a side note Mystic, one of my cats below, who is never too adventurous with guests, always sits on Lauren's lap during rehearsals; she's attracted to Lauren's natural warmth) I was incredibly flattered when Lauren recently asked me to perform her original composition "Untitled" with her in her Doctoral Recital at NYU. It is a hauntingly gorgeous piece that takes the listener on a soundscaped journey of emotions. After the performance she was asked by filmmaker Cathryn Davis to record some beautiful tone poems by John Cage along with her own material for the film FULLY AWAKE, which in turn inspired us to create or own collection of improvisations. Please check out Lauren's blog for more fascinating info on her approach to music, food and wine! She is also the goto source on everything Tori. http://foodwinecello.wordpress.com/

The Artist Division is dedicated to performance oriented music, sometimes a little left of center, available for salons and concert series. All of the artists featured, are the talent in the studio of Bianchi Musica. We are expanding this division rapidly, and we will be launching our new performance series at CAFFE VIVALDI on April 15th.

FULLY AWAKE is a film by Cathryn Davis and a wonderful piece about Black Mountain College in Ashville, North Carolina. Fully Awake reflects on the unique educational style and long-term significance of the school using archive photography, interviews with students, teachers, historians, and current artists, and narration. While popularly known as the location for such events as Buckminster Fuller's geodesic dome, John Cage's first 'happening' and the publishing of the Black Mountain Review, the film focuses on the unique educational approach of Black Mountain College to balance academics, art, manual labor and communal living to educate the whole person--head, hand, and heart. http://www.ibiblio.org/bmc/bmchomepage