I have just received an invitation to the Pan-Pacific Gamba Gathering that will happen in late July to August in Hawaii. Represented at this event are viola da gamba players from Australia (this includes me), Canada, Japan, Malaysia (this includes me too), New Zealand, Switzerland, the UK, and the US. I usually falsely represent Singapore, but this time the organisers have got it right! Here is the tentative list of participants:Ibi Aziz, Bruce Bellingham, John Bryan, Liam Byrne, Tina Chancey, Megan Collins, Brendan Conroy, Alison Crum, Marie Dalby, Wendy Gillespie, Brooke Greene, Peter Hallifax, Kaori Hashizume, Julie Jeffrey, Yukimi Kambe, Mari Kano, Andrew Kerr, Margaret Little, Loren Ludwig, Roy Marks, Sarah Mead, Catharina Meints, Miriam Morris, Susie Napper, Shaun Ng, Maki Noguchi, Eriko Ozawa, Ken Perlow, Fred Reinagel, Daniel Rippe, Alice Robbins, Brett Rutherford, Toshiko Shishido, Polly Sussex, Laura Vaughan, Victoria Watts, Webb Wiggins, Brent Wissick and Barbara Zuchowicz.
At this stage, I am still unsure what I will be performing or presenting. It seems that the organisers are keen on an unconventional programme. Perhaps I will include improvisations and contemporary works, especially music that was written for me. Naturally, I would like to include transciptions of current pop tunes. That seems to go down well with the mainstream audience, but I'm afraid that the viola da gamba crowd may not be familiar with what's current on Mtv. I say this because I too am not very familiar with what's on telly these days. I suppose I'll also include a few staple viola da gamba solos to make us all feel at home.
I hope that I will be succesful in securing funding for my trip. Hopefully the art funding bodies that I will approach will be interested in sending a representative from Western Australia to Hawaii.