Dear Friends-

The sixdegrees.org contest is over and we weren't the winners of the $10,000 matching funds. Nevertheless, I am happy to announce that we were able to raise a significant amount of money for ETHEL's Foundation for the Arts! I want to express my SINCERE THANKS to all you folks who gave so generously. Your donations will help us with our many exciting upcoming projects!

Hey and if you've been thinking of giving... it is not too late. We are always accepting donations! Just follow the link below.



ETHEL'S Foundation for the Arts

CLICK HERE to DONATE!


Once again, THANK YOU!!

-Ralph

Each month I will be a regular guest of Deaconlight on ErrorFM internet radio, gabbing mostly about various ETHEL comings and goings. This show is way cool -- DD, the host is a trip and a half, and it's a an all-around super-fun hang. The last installment was on March 27th. Visit www.errorfm.com for show dates and details. And do be sure to stop by www.deaconlight.com for loads of information about ETHEL... and all of your other favorite music. A quick link to Deaconlight and Error FM on MySpace can be found in my top friends.

+

In April the amazing piano duo Raja Rahman & Aileen Chanco will again perform my new piece "Led Astray", which they commissioned from me earlier this year and premiered in San Francisco. You can catch them at St. Joseph Cathedral Basilica in San Jose, CA on April 20th and Mission San Jose in Fremont on April 21st at 8PM. I am super-proud of this tune and these two piano-heads play the bejiminy out of it!

+

Also in April, I will be on the road with ETHEL in Lexington, KY as we completely immerse ourselves in one amazing local music scene! How's about y'all come on down to Blue Grass country for a craaaaazy hang with the The Red State Ramblers, The Appalachian Association of Sacred Harp Singers, banjo maestro Dean Osborne, and bourbon-sippin' with our legendary host -- Singer, Fiddler, Scholar, and all-around good fellow Ron Pen.

+

I am proud to say that I work with fools. Or rather, THE Fools. These guys are a wicked pissa Boston band -- The mad geniuses behind "She Makes Me Feel Big". I was surfing MySpace a few months back, found these guys & wrote 'em a lengthy tome @ how much I loved their stuff. Next thing I know -- POW! I'm laying down tracks of fiddles for their new record and they even seem pretty happy about it. Woo-Hoo! I am one happy Bostonian. You can find them here on Myspace on my top friends list.

+

For more Ralph info than you ever really needed, check out these articles: "A polished musician with a flair for the irreverent", by Kathy Uek, January 26, 2007 (in my hometown paper, Natick Bulletin & Tab!) and "Cultivating Audiences in Cyberspace" by Derek Mithaug, March 2007 (The Juilliard Journal).

Dear Friends,

Well, now I feel like I'm on a PBS Telethon but this is a great opportunity for us so deep breath and here's the schpiel:

What is ETHEL's FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS you ask? EFFA is our nonprofit foundation which supports our commissions, recordings, performances, education workshops and much more! EFFA makes our work with the NACAP kids a reality; it made possible our participation in the 2006 TED Conference, and most recently it brought to life our exciting collaborations with all those incredible artists just a few weeks ago at Symphony Space.

And what does any of this have to do with you?

Well, we have just learned of a new opportunity to earn $10,000 in matching funds for our nonprofit. Between now and March 31, 2007, SixDegrees.org, is offering $10,000 in matching funds to the nonprofit that receives the most donations by March 31st, 2007. When we say most donations, we don't mean $$$ brought in, but rather the .. of people inspired to make a donation!

In other words, if each of our friends contributes a minimum of $10 online, ETHEL's FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS has a chance of being the winner of this contest and gaining $10,000 to support more music, more commissions, more recordings, more performances, more collaborations...more... okay, okay. I think you get the picture!


CLICK HERE to DONATE NOW!


THANK YOU!!

-Ralph & ETHEL

James Bilagody has posted at least one of his audience pics on his MySpace account (look under his photos).

Visit: www.myspace.com/jamesbilagodymusic

Special thanks to all you Flat Earth Society folks for coming to the show and for all your kind words on your message board! Check it out, I bet you can see yourselves in the picture!!

Peace,
Ralph

A High-Octane Chamber Group's Continuing Insurrection

 

By STEVE SMITH

CLICK HERE

A polished musician with a flair for the irreverent
By Kathy Uek
Friday, January 26, 2007

Dear Friends,

Greetings! I have posted several new show dates (some with ETHEL and some not!)

I am especially excited to announce two premieres in the coming weeks:

.. This SATURDAY on Uncanning Worms at SICA, I'll be debuting my own "Ettitudes for Vla.". Hey Joisey -- How's about a little Vla. on a Saturday? Uncanning Worms is a Jon Francis production. Drop in on Jon at www.jonfrancis.net or www.myspace.com/jonfrancis. He likes the company.

.. Sunday, Feb. 11 marks the premiere of "Led Astray" (after Led Zep) for 2 pianos, 4 hands, commissioned by my dear friends Aileen Chanco and Raja Rahman. More info to follow!

Also, a big THANK YOU to all of you who voted for ETHEL in WNYC's New Sounds Listener Poll!!! Our CD, Light made ..5 of new releases of 2006!

See results here: www.wnyc.org/shows/newsounds/episodes/2007/01/11

Big Hug,

Ralpf

Dear Friends,

WNYC's New Sounds, with host John Schaefer, is conducting its 21st annual New Sounds Listener Poll of the New Releases of 2006. Place your vote for ETHEL's newest CD Light!!!!!

You must get your vote in before January 11th.


VOTE HERE (on left side of page)



Thanks to you all!

-Ralph

Dear Friends-

Great news! One of the alumni of this year's NACAP will be featured in tonight's installment of From the Top: Live From Carnegie Hall.


From the Top is a radio series that features outstanding musical performances and interviews with talented young musicians. It is broadcasted weekly from WGBH in Boston. Tonight's Live From Carnegie Hall performance is x-tra special because it is one in a 13-part series that is being taped for PBS to be aired in 2007!

SPECIAL NOTE to all of our young friends: From the Top is always looking for talented pre-college age soloists and ensembles who would like to perform and be interviewed on the air. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and evaluated for all future tapings. You are eligible if you are of pre-college age and you play or sing classical repertoire.

Visit www.fromthetop.org for more information and check out their podcast! You can hear From the Top on Sundays at 6PM (USA - EST) on WGBH via the web at www.wgbh.org or 89.7 FM on the dial in the Boston area.



What is NACAP?
The Native American Composers Apprentice Project (NACAP) is an outreach program focused on training young talented Native American students in the art of composition. ETHEL is honored to be the quartet-in-residence with this program. Special thanks to the Grand Canyon Music Festival and Chamber Music America, with support from The Helen F. Whitaker Fund and the Chamber Music America Residency Endowment Fund.

For more information about NACAP or the Grand Canyon Music Festival visit
www.grandcanyonmusicfest.org.

To hear compositions by NACAP students performed by ETHEL visit www.myspace.com

Peace,
Ralph

Dear Friends,

I wanted to let all my MySpace friends know about this show b/c these kids rock and they deserve lots of support!

My alma mater, Walnut Hill, will soon begin the school's inaugural summer of chamber music. Of course, I'm all excited about it.

Nicholas Kitchen, the artistic director of the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, will be one of the program's guest artist faculty members (along with his compatriots in the Borromeo String Quartet), and they have arranged for this wicked-cool concert opportunity for The Walnut Hill Ensemble at the Cape Cod Museum of Art! Check it out, y'all --

You can make a whole night of it! Head ovah to the Cape -- Have some lobstah and chowdah, then go ovah t' tha cahncert!

Peace,
Ralph


Monday Jul 31, 2006 at 6:30 PM
Cape Cod Museum of Art
Route 6A
Dennis, MA 02638

Cost:$15 General admission

Repertoire:
String Quintet in B Flat, Op. 87 by Felix Mendelssohn
String Quartet, Op.11 by Samuel Barber
String Quintet in C Major, Op. 163 by Franz Schubert

Concert should be about 90 min. long in an air-conditioned and beautiful space on Cape Cod. There is plenty of free parking available.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Visit the Cape Cod Museum of Art website www.cmfa.org

This performance will be repeated at Walnut Hill in August 2nd at 7:00 p.m.

Hi All-

Just back from Miami. Wow, between traveling and recording, it has been a while since I last had 5 seconds to blog on my site!

I just wanted to give a big thanks to artist and photographer Tomas Loewy for sending in this photo of me from the Miami Light Project show In the House of Ethel. Here's the photo without the Tomas' "interpretative drama". Yikes, he really captured my dark "other" side

Dear Friends - I am proud to host the following slideshow by Ed Burtynsky from TED's Worldchanging Campaign. The photos illustrate how the world has been changed by human industry. It is his hope (and mine as well) to inspire worldwide conservation of the planet.

Peace- Ralph


Get this video and more at MySpace.com

Dear Friends: I've just signed the ONE Declaration committing myself to help fight the emergency of global AIDS and extreme poverty. I'm asking you to make that commitment, too, by adding your voice. I think your name belongs on that declaration, too. You can put it there by visiting: ONE ONE is a new effort by Americans to rally Americans - one by one. So far, over two million have signed the declaration in support of a historic pact for compassion and justice to help the poorest people of the world. Together as ONE we can make a difference! Thank you, Friends.

Just wanted to say that Ethel's trip to ODU was an amazing experience. Great show on Monday, then on Tuesday, we did a master class. Fantastic players, really good attitudes, and just a really good time. I am pretty sure that Neil has written @ all of this on Ethel's MySpace, but after the class, Nick (a kickin' sax player and ODU student) dragged all of his buds on stage and we did a huge jam on Neil's "Lighthouse". That was way cool. And then Ethel rolled off to the airport (via a funky burrito place -- trying to remember the name... Machismo Burrito, I think?) And home we went. Then off to bed.

Well, here I go with the blogging. I'm up at my Alma Mater, Walnut Hill, for the Board of Trustees meeting. Very cool and INSPIRING to hang at this school -- The kids rock and the faculty is amazing. I am way proud to come from this place. Check it out on: Walnut Hill More on the school to follow later on these pages. Right now it's all about the fact that I had best scoot off to bed. Gotta love that beauty sleep! Thanks for hangin'... Talk soon!