Not long ago I found myself traipsing through downtown with a horde of literary enthusiasts on a poetry crawl organized by the always dynamic Vancouver poet Kevin Spenst. As we wandered from art galleries to cafes, we stopped briefly at each to take in readings by some of the country’s most fabulous writers. At Centre A gallery, I walked in the door to find every surface of the room covered with art. Stepping on the brightly painted loose canvases that plastered the floor took a little getting used to at first. But if you have a chance to take in Patrick Cruz’s “Bulaklak ng Paraiso (Flower of Paradise)” I highly recommend it. The installation is a full visual overload, and I’m so glad to be surrounded by so much amazing and inspiring art.

In recent weeks I’ve also been fortunate to hear Marina Hasselberg and Zhimin Yu premiere my duet for cello and zhongruan at the Sound of Dragon festival. The entire programme was phenomenal, and I believe it’s the first time that a piece of mine was followed by a dancer bouncing off of a piano accompanied by live improvisation erhu and painting. A huge thanks to Lan Tung, who expended an amazing amount of energy putting on the whole weekend of events. In the works later this spring is a new piece commissioned by Erato Ensemble entitled “Orpheus Unplugged” on a text by Kevin Spenst. I just heard a rehearsal the other weekend, and they are doing a fabulous job with it. For all the details on the concert, check out the EVENTS page.

The increasingly longer days have been keeping me extra busy these days. There seems to be an ever growing list of trails to explore, blossoms to smell, music to make, and seeds to plant. And lots of daylight to do it in; time to water the garden…