This week we’re chatting with Serenbe resident Faith McCoy Scriven and her longtime friend James Austin Smith about Tertulia Chamber Music, a dinner & music series that combines some of our favorite things: great wine, conversation, and beautiful classical music from world-class performers. Faith is a classically trained musician in her own right and she now co-owns and operates True Glory Brands Co, a portfolio of leading brands in the African American hair care and beauty industry, and she continues to teach piano to students of all ages. As Executive Director of Tertulia, James Austin Smith has made a career of breaking down the barriers around classical music and bringing it a wider audience. In this episode we chat about Faith’s fateful first trip to Serenbe, why Tertulia is such a perfect fit, and which classical pieces James and Faith are most drawn to.
Show Notes
This week we’re chatting with Serenbe resident Faith McCoy Scriven and her longtime friend James Austin Smith about Tertulia Chamber Music, a dinner & music series that combines some of our favorite things: great wine, conversation, and beautiful classical music from world-class performers. Faith is a classically trained musician in her own right and she now co-owns and operates True Glory Brands Co, a portfolio of leading brands in the African American hair care and beauty industry, and she continues to teach piano to students of all ages. As Executive Director of Tertulia, James Austin Smith has made a career of breaking down the barriers around classical music and bringing it a wider audience. In this episode we chat about Faith’s fateful first trip to Serenbe, why Tertulia is such a perfect fit, and which classical pieces James and Faith are most drawn to.
Show Notes
1 (13s):
This week on Serenbe stories. We are talking with classically trained musicians, faith McCoy, SCR, and James Austin Smith together. Faith and James have brought to Tulia chamber music to Serenbe this intimate dinner series combines many of our favorite things, great food and wine, great conversation. And of course, beautiful music. In this episode, we chat about what brought faith in our husband Serenbe what differentiates chamber music from other types of performances and which classical pieces James and faith are most drawn to take a listen.
2 (44s):
The thing is that what we do is entirely human. This thing we do that we practice every day. It's a human endeavor and it's not only human. It's not only for us, but of course it's for people that we wanna reach. So a lot of what we do at Teria is about transmitting that humanness, that humanity in what we do to our fellow people
3 (1m 7s):
Welcome faith, James, and as always Steve Nygren.
2 (1m 11s):
Thank you so much. It's so great to be there.
4 (1m 14s):
It'd be here
5 (1m 15s):
Collecting forward to the conversation with the two of you. I mean, if our listeners could only see the huge smiles on both of your face, and that's just not for this podcast, every time I see either of you, and of course, it's generally around one of the music events, you both are just false smiles. And that's just part of the delight of talking with you and knowing the two of you.
4 (1m 38s):
Fantastic.
2 (1m 39s):
Steve, I'd be smiling even broader if I were actually in Serenbe right now.
5 (1m 45s):
Well, let's do something about that, huh?
3 (1m 48s):
Well, you'll be back. We're recording here in August and James will be back in Serenbe in September and I know December, and we'll talk a little bit about those events coming up, but I know James is in Holland right now. And so maybe we'll hear about what's going on there, but besides saying thank you for joining both of us and giving us your time. I really wanna start with faith as a resident. We always ask, what is your Serenbe story? What prompted you and your family to make the move?
4 (2m 17s):
Yes, Monica. Great question. So we first visited Serenbe. It had to be end of 2015, early 2016. I can definitely confirm that it got dark very early. This is the time change didn't happen yet or had happened. So anyways Patterson was probably a year and a half and we just moved here from California. And we were looking for a little quick one night escape and Tyler found sandby. And so we came down here, we left Patterson with the sitter, and honestly we were just so excited to be free. We went to the general store, we bought some wine and some cheese and all that great stuff.
4 (2m 57s):
And we took it back to our cottage at the end. And we ended up hanging out there, fell asleep early and woke up around probably 8 30, 9 o'clock at night. And we were like, oh, we need some dinner. And we call at the time, it's just the farmhouse. And it's just the hill. We call them trying to see if we can get a table at, you know, somewhere to have dinner and they're completely booked. And so we're like, we're in the middle of nowhere. What are we gonna do? The one place that delivers to Serenbe, which we found out was Domino's pizza.
3 (3m 29s):
I was gonna say, I know that place.
4 (3m 33s):
So our first night at ceremony, we had Domino's pizza. I remember waking up the next morning, Tyler, what, what is this place? I mean, there's what what's going on here. There's nothing going on. And we ended up driving around the golf cart and thought was so beautiful. And Tyler's like, we've gotta give another try. We didn't plan appropriately. You know, we've gotta get the full experience. So we ended up coming back Toby again, and it just went from there. First. It was the night, two nights. Then we were here for two weeks and then two months. Yeah. Now we're, we're almost done with our house and we're super excited.
3 (4m 5s):
I love it. Yeah. Domino's maybe not our best asset, but you know, it does deliver if you need pizza.
4 (4m 10s):
There's a lot more options now, a lot
3 (4m 12s):
More. Exactly. There's a lot more options now. And that's the exciting thing about sandby there's always something new coming. So I know that you're not a resident yet, but tell us how you came to Serenbe, how maybe, you know, faith, and then we can dig into what you guys are doing together here.
2 (4m 32s):
I'm a chamber musician, I'm an OBO player. And I live in New York and I teach and I play and I go around the country and around the world playing and I run this series Tulio that we're gonna talk about for the last few years. And my training started at Northwestern university in 2001 where down the hall from me in
4 (4m 57s):
Dorm, no dates, no dates, no dates.
3 (5m 0s):
We are all eternally youthful
2 (5m 3s):
Down the hall from me, living in the dorm, literally on the same hall was a pianist named faith and faith. And I, I think from the very beginning, got on like a house on fire. I think you could, you would safe to say, and somehow I don't have a lot of friends. Most of my friends are from high school or even earlier, I don't have a lot of friends from college, but somehow faith and I over the years have just stayed close in some way. And you know, in that way, that long time friends you stay close and then you, you don't see each other for a while. And then you see each other quite a lot because life brings you together in certain ways. So my introduction to Serenbe is of course entirely through faith. And the thing that happened was Twilio was founded in New York.
2 (5m 43s):
I should maybe explain kind of what we do to the listeners who haven't been to Twilio yet. So briefly the idea is that you come for dinner and you have say a three or four at the okra. It's often four course dinner. And in between the courses, courses of music, we serve you courses of food. We serve you courses of music. And the idea is that you get these kind of digestible chunks of listening and the listening is really serious. So there's absolute silence. There's no service, no one's coming to top up your drink. It's really a concert. I say often say we turn it into the most intimate concert hall we can imagine, but that happens for 15 or 20 minutes.
2 (6m 24s):
And then of course you get, say your main course. And so what you have built in is this time for really focused, really inquisitive listening, and then time to talk about it or to not talk about it and talk about something entirely different. But you have these moments of focus and then moments of relaxation. And the idea should be that each one enhances the other, that you're listening is the better because you have the relaxation and that your relaxation is better because you've just spent 20 minutes listening to glorious music. So that's kind of the way Tulio works. And we decided in about 2015 to start doing Tuia in San Francisco. And there was a bunch of reasons for that. It doesn't really matter, but we, we just wanted to, and we like San Francisco and, and it had the side benefit of me knowing that my friend faith was that the time living in Menlo park in Silicon valley.
2 (7m 13s):
So faith come up, come up and see tu be great to see you come up, see Tuia. And that was that. And we had a great time that night. It's wonderful evening in San Francisco at a lovely restaurant called town hall. The years go by and faith has always talked about how much she loves Fortu. And she said, let's bring it to Atlanta. And I'm like, I don't really know where, how that's gonna happen or where or why. And then faith says, you know, what really needs to come as Serenbe? And I'm like, I don't, I really you're explaining this place to me. And I do not really understand what it is and I don't know why Tulio goes there. And then finally it was in August of last year, just about actually, just about this time. Last year, that faith email man said, this is serious.
2 (7m 54s):
We're doing this. And I was like, okay, I'm listening. And then I was like, fine, I'm coming. And so I had a day, I had a day before I had to fly somewhere that evening. And so I'm like, all right, I'm coming. So I got on plane in the morning from New York, flew down to Atlanta, faith picks me up and we drive to San B where we meet a bunch of people who, you know, we met a number of people who were gonna be involved in this project. And we tool around in the car and look around at all the different places. And I was like, oh, oh, I get it. Oh, I get it. And three months later we had presented our first Tulia at Serenbe. So it was pretty amazing trajectory there.
5 (8m 37s):
And it was so fabulous with total sell out and smiles on everyone's face.
3 (8m 44s):
Yeah. I think people didn't know what to expect, but they were blown away. So blown away. And since then you have done how many at Sandy?
2 (8m 53s):
We were there last December. And then, then we've been there in March and in June, and now we have two more coming up this year.
3 (8m 60s):
Great, great. Yeah, we have September and December. So depending on when you're listening to this, we'll put that in the show notes. And if you happen to be listening to it a year from now, I'm sure the series will come back in 23. So both of you went to school from music. So I I'm gonna just guess that had been in your lives for a number of years. You don't just show up at college and pick up an instrument. And so you guys met, you both went on your way. You continued on with the OBO. Tell us a little bit about that, James. What's that been like? Did you know you wanted to be a professional musician your whole life or
2 (9m 32s):
Yeah, no, I didn't. I mean, I knew I always loved music, but I had lots of other interests, you know? And, and what we say to a lot of young musicians is if you love anything else, you should probably do that and not be a musician. And that's because it takes a lot of dedication. Right. And you do have to really feel it and love it. And so I wasn't always clear to me that I was gonna be a musician. And sometimes I say, I'm not sure I will always be a musician because we have to follow the things that really light us up every morning. And for now that's surely what I do with music, but yeah, left Northwestern studied in Germany for a year and then came back to the states, did my masters, as you mentioned, and have been living in New York ever since living this sort of unusual, unusual for OBO players, let's say life of ed chamber musician, which, and chamber music basically is always small groups of musicians say two to about eight players.
2 (10m 22s):
There's never a conductor. And it's all about, you know, if you can imagine it's basically a meeting because your rehearsing is like a meeting, let's say you've got five people in the room and you've gotta sort something out. You've gotta come to an agreement, a conclusion about whatever it is that you're trying to figure out, the difference being, of course, then you present your meeting to a hundred or a thousand people. So it kind of calls for that kind of collaboration. It calls for that openness. It calls for that listening. It calls for leading when the time is right sitting back and following when the time is right. It's a real kind of conversation. And that's really what has always attracted me to chamber music. And it's why it's my life. And the only other thing I'll say about it is you can imagine quickly, you build a sense of community amongst the musicians.
2 (11m 5s):
And because chamber music is so intimate, it's typically presented in small spaces. So that community extends beyond the stage to the audience or in the case of Teria. There's no stage. It just extends to the four corners of the room. And so that for me, making music in a communal atmosphere where everyone in the room is a part of that process is really, really powerful.
3 (11m 33s):
I love that. And I'm glad that you defined chamber music because I'm sure that that connotates a lot of different things in people's heads. And they're not sure what that means. Can you give us some example of some of the pieces that you play that a more general public would understand because chamber music, I think what you've defined here is really interesting with these, these smaller groups and limited players, no conductor, but that doesn't mean that it's chamber music. Always.
2 (12m 0s):
We can like, let's talk about what we have coming up in September, December. Cause it's a really good contrast in September, we have a really intimate program. So it's gonna be a set of violin, sonatas, meaning violin and piano and OBO Sonata's OBO and piano. So it might something you might call almost like a recital, like a, a small scale collaboration that in a way if it's done right, is even of course, more intimate, right? Cuz you just are watching two people having a conversation. That's one version of chamber music. But then in December we're going 180 degrees. The other way we're bringing in eight musicians to perform Vivaldi's four seasons. Right?
2 (12m 40s):
Okay. So these are pieces that we, of course we know in some way, everyone knows in some way, one of the melodies from the four seasons, cuz they've heard it on a commercial or at the grocery store or wherever it might be, this is really iconic music. So you imagine the skills that you need to bring eight people together into the same musical purpose. The same with, to have the same musical goals are a little different than Sage's two people. But the idea is like maybe written large chamber music was written literally for a chamber for a room. So when we are in the Oak room at the end and there's, let's say in the room, 75 people, total or 80 people total, we are doing chamber music, old school, we are doing it the way it was meant to be.
2 (13m 34s):
And it's the way that it shines.
3 (13m 36s):
Oh, so cool. Love everything you're saying. Cause it's so fun to hear somebody really explain it. And sometimes you feel, or I'll speak to myself, dumb that I'm like, I don't know really what the difference is. Is it possible? Is it chamber? Like I thought of it, you know? So I love that. You're explaining it to me and to the listeners. Cause I think then it becomes more accessible, right? Because sometimes we think, oh I can't, well, I don't know anything about it. So how could I go? So faith, what's going on in your world with piano? Are you still playing your yes, but you so many things since then.
4 (14m 9s):
Yes I have. I have done a number of things since then, but you know, one thing that has always been consistent for me is teaching. It's something that I love. I always joke if there's something I could do all day, every day and for free, it would be teaching the piano. Oh, there's something about it. And it's, you know, there's no particular age or level that I favor or keen to, but there's just something about one seeing their eyes open when they get it. Whether it's the simplest reading something on the staff or memorizing a piece or playing chamber music and is how everyone learns differently. So it's something I always, no matter what I've done, whether it's executive recruiting or running true glory or any of that great stuff, it's I always teach
3 (14m 56s):
Love that
4 (14m 57s):
Quite a bit.
3 (14m 59s):
It sounds like you got involved with Tuia because it was in San Francisco and then it was, I'm gonna just think like a magical experience and you love James. And so you're like we must do more come to ceremony. So who did you have to convince to get them to come to ceremony? What was the process like? How did that happen? Why tell us a little bit about what's going on there.
4 (15m 21s):
I've always been, I'd say relatively active as far as listening to all kinds of music, but I'm always gonna have season tickets to the symphony or whatever it is. And I still remember the first time I went to Tuia what was so amazing to me and what really blew me away was the intimacy of it. You know, when you're sitting in a large hall with 40 musicians, binoculars view away from you, it's very different than being in this intimate space. And not only, yes, the acoustics are fantastic in either location, but really seeing the cues and listening to the music and seeing them all work together is something very special that I think everyone should experience, whether you're a musician or not.
4 (16m 3s):
I mean, even my husband, he's not a musician, but he immediately got the magic of it. When he went to his first or Tulia, I saw them in San Francisco and up coming to New York a couple times and seeing them. And so when we got to Atlanta, I was like, I've been several conscious here, but I'm like, this is, we're missing this. We need this. And then once we came to Sam, it just, it seemed like this perfect place for it, the artistry and the nature, just all of it. It just seemed like it melded so well together. And you know, as James had said, you know, I I've been talking to him about bringing Tulia here for several years and it was always, oh, okay. We'll see. You
3 (16m 42s):
Know,
4 (16m 43s):
But yeah, everything aligned very beautifully. Once I got involved with art farm at C B and programming and it was just like, this is the time is right. Let's do this. And yeah. And it was, I mean, literally James had a couple of hours to stop through and he met Garney. He met Janice and the magic happened.
3 (17m 1s):
Yeah. Sometimes that's all you need. And so James, you and faith have sort of come together and said, I think it's about four times a year, almost quarterly that you guys are in Seren. Be, will you continue to expand the number of concerts or is for good? Do you wanna expand cities? Like what's the plan with Tuia in general?
2 (17m 24s):
The thing I have to say that struck me when I came for the afternoon and, and with faith and met was Janice and Garney, it was two things. It was an openness and a feeling of, we want to create something really culturally rewarding and exciting here. And we are kind of really open to talking about how we in this place, through this place, using this place, using all of the wonderful spots at Cy with music, right. And the other thing. So it was the openness and it was also the thoughtfulness. And I think anyone who can come to Cy and say, wow, this is a nice place, right?
2 (18m 6s):
Like, I mean, sure, it's a very nice place, but there's a certain deeper level of thoughtfulness that has, first of all, gone into C and B. And I think it's something that rewards the people who visit and live there because you're thinking more deeply about your environment. You're thinking more deeply about the way that people interact with each other, that you interact with your neighbors. And perhaps even of course, then onto things like food, how you eat and where your food comes from or mental health or physical wellbeing that all of that sort of fosters a kind of thoughtfulness. And it's that kind of thoughtfulness that is so rewarded with an art form, like chamber music.
2 (18m 47s):
You don't need to know anything about the music that you're about to hear, but you do need to approach it with a certain amount of care and a certain willingness to be open and to listen and to digest. And so I think that's, what's so beautiful about, so look, it all sounds so logical and reasonable, but I mean, look at our world around us. These places are few and far between. And so to bring the art form and the way in which we presented at Tulia to a community that is just ready to dig in literally is just such a special relationship, such a special match.
2 (19m 29s):
So to answer your question, you know, here's my, this is my long answer to your short question. I think what we're doing is we're looking for ways we structure these visits as residencies. So we come for four days, we try to really fill the community with music and we are looking for ways to deepen and broaden those residencies so that we look for more places in the community or that we reach new audiences in the community that we haven't reached yet through church, that we create more unique experiences with music in September. We're gonna have a sunset serenade where we're gonna hear a really extraordinary violinist.
2 (20m 10s):
Kristen Lee perform solo as the sunsets. It's something that we can only cook up at San be we don't cook this up in Manhattan. It's not like we find a place where we can put a solo violin. I mean, think about like you wouldn't even be able to hear. So these are the kind of things that we're doing with our visits and that we are gonna keep doing.
3 (20m 32s):
I love that. Tell us a little bit more and, and I dunno if faith, you wanna jump in, there's a really cute one or the name I particularly live. I think it's cupcakes and concerts, concert and cupcakes, because you are trying to expand access. And so tell us a little bit about that. And I feel like you're doing maybe another event in a smaller venue. Is it the Daisy or maybe some stuff on the streets? Talk to us a little bit of whoever jump in.
4 (20m 60s):
Yeah. James GOFOR but yeah. Lots of fun programming while here or
2 (21m 3s):
Residency. Yeah. So we've done over the past couple visits. We have done some popups where we've brought some musicians to say in front of the general store and all of a sudden there's a little surprise concert, you know, a 10 minute or 15 minute concert. We did that next to the Daisy as well. One time we had every intention of doing that in June and then it was about a thousand degrees outside. So we decided that was probably not the best idea, but then the cupcake concerts are just absolutely key because they are geared, I'd say nominally towards younger people, but they are for everyone, of course. And especially those younger people's parents. And the idea is to simply present.
2 (21m 46s):
We have spent a long time in classical music building up walls. We, we stand on stage. We wear tuxedos. We Ooh, sometimes this summer I wore dinner jackets.
3 (21m 59s):
Ah,
2 (22m 0s):
We put up a lot of walls. And the thing is that what we do is entirely human. This thing we do that we practice every day. It's a human endeavor and it's not only human. It's not only for us, but of course it's for people that we wanna reach. So a lot of what we do at Tulia is about transmitting that humanness, that humanity in what we do to our fellow people so that they can experience it in the way that we do as well. So cupcake concerts are a perfect example of that. We set up little pillows on the floor and there are benches in the back and we introduce ourselves and we introduce our instruments and talk a little bit about why we play them. And then we play a little something each individually, we might play something together.
2 (22m 42s):
So it's kind of a way of showing that what we do is totally normal actually. And maybe to some of the young people in the room, maybe it's something that might wanna do too. So that's the idea behind the company country. The last thing that you mentioned, the happy hours that we've done, both at the Daisy and Halsa, and that's where we do, what's basically a wine tasting and a music tasting. So you typically have a sparkling, a white and a red, or maybe a rose thrown in there. And we pair very brief, let's say one minute to five minute pieces of music with lines so that you get kind of a bite sized concert or put differently, you get a kind of drinking playlist.
3 (23m 29s):
I like that
4 (23m 30s):
Great description. It was great
2 (23m 32s):
Description. Yeah. And we're talking, look, we're talking intimate in the Oak room with 75 or 80 people. And also we do it for about 40. So it's really up close and personal. And there, we get to talk a little bit more about who we are and what we do as musicians. So that's been really, really special in my memory, the sun setting on the side of also with the light streaming and through the windows and just glorious music and a glass of wine. I don't know what else you could want in life. That's just like,
3 (24m 2s):
Sounds perfect. Sounds good.
5 (24m 5s):
It's for those people who are passionate about wine, food music, the whole thing, that's what Seren sets the table for. You are doing such a service. And I think about the last dinner concert at Seren and Monica had invited someone from the press who, who reviews art. And she was seated next to me, across from fate. And before it all started, she said, well, tell me what's special about this. Why are you excited about it? And I tried to frame it. I said, finally, you're just gonna have to listen because I could tell she wasn't quite capturing. And so of course you came on with the first set and I turned to her when you finished.
5 (24m 47s):
And I said, now, what do you think? And she said, oh my God, it's like having movie stars in your living room. She said, it's so intimate. And she got it just right there for set. And that's what you're doing. And bringing people from all sorts, you know, I'm certainly not that person. In fact, my grandmother complained, I had a deaf ear and I'm just mesmerized by all your performances. And it's not only the music, how you presented the, and how you tell the story. Jen, you are a magical storyteller.
2 (25m 22s):
Thanks, Steve. I will just add to that. The other aspect of this is that Serenbe is a community of quality. It's what you eat. It's about how you live. It's about how your surroundings are as I was saying before. And so one thing that was very important, it's very important to us. Tuia and of course it's important to faith. And to me is that we bring the best we bring the best artists to Seren be because it doesn't matter if you don't know anything about music, when it's outstanding, you can tell that it's outstanding.
5 (25m 55s):
So true.
3 (25m 57s):
When you're curating a Tulia dinner, are they typically the same musicians or do you curate different musicians? Do you always play? And are you thinking of expanding to other cities? It's sort of a three parter.
2 (26m 13s):
Yeah. So it's not always the same musicians. And sometimes it's a preformed group, like say a preformed string quartet that plays together all the time. And sometimes it's bringing friends from all over old and new together, and that's a particularly fun thing to do at Serenbe because you get to like, I always get so excited when I say, look, just trust me, just come to this place. You are gonna be so happy you came. And then we get to spend a couple days rehearsing together. And then of course sharing the fruits of our kind of work with the serene community. I don't always play, but I do always host because that to me is something it's really important that we build a certain kind of look, we build comfort into the model, right into the way we present our concerts.
2 (26m 58s):
We want people to feel comfortable, even if they've never heard a note of classical music before. And part of it is also seeing a familiar face and having someone who's there to say, here we go. Tonight's the night. This is the one. So that's kind of the way it works in terms of, oh, and I will say, then we do like to bring people back now. And again, so someone remember, oh, I heard that bassoon player lash, oh, I met that. I met that guy or I met that girl, whatever. It's nice to see people that you recognize in terms of expansion. We present Tulia in New York and we present it in San Francisco and we present in Serenbe and there are, I don't know, faith.
2 (27m 38s):
How would I put this? There's there's some irons in the fire. There's some plans here and there, but in a way, what has been such a blessing about being at Serenbe is that we're kind of learning. What is the most effective best practices? Serenbe is this place where we get to experiment and we get to see what really touches people and then maybe what doesn't speak to people in a way that we wanted to. So I would say our focus is on what we're doing right now in all three of our geographies at the same time, kind of keeping an eye out for maybe where else is there a special connection to a community? The music we talk about the way it has to come full circle, like the musicians, the community has to be enriched by the music making and by the artists.
2 (28m 22s):
And at the same time, the artists have to be enriched by the community that they're playing for, that they're playing with. And so there you have a perfect example of Serenbe and where else maybe is that possible? That's kind of what we have our
3 (28m 37s):
Eyes up. I love that you brought up the, what I'll call like artists alumni, or over the years that happened. And it really is wonderful because it's not just you're in and out for this event. And you're presenting, which is incredible, but you're really forming and forging new relationships and new connections. And the residents are enriched so much, not just from the experience of hearing the music, but meeting the musicians and then calling them friends and then maybe going to see one in New York that they are compelled to carry that on. And then to your point, having the musicians come back like an alumni, they're part of the community.
3 (29m 17s):
Now, one of the questions I wanted to ask both of you, you know, because you're both classically trained musicians is, do you each have a favorite piece of music to perform? I know that's probably a big question or piece that really speaks to you, perhaps what you played in Carnegie hall or first you learned, or the first you mastered, you have a piece of music that you
4 (29m 42s):
That's
3 (29m 45s):
Save the hard one for laugh,
4 (29m 48s):
As far as performing and playing. I definitely enjoy most probably romantic composers, your rock modern off your show hands, but you know, be perfectly honest. I just thought tickets suits and the bros requi in January, which is completely different, much bigger. So all kinds of great stuff, unfortunately, but that's why I would say if I sat down right now just to relax in the piano, I would probably play some CPAN preludes or some bros or something along those lines.
2 (30m 18s):
One of the best parts of my job with Tuia is that I not only do I put together, who's gonna play, but I put together the program, what they're gonna play, what our audiences are going to hear. And that is both a, let's say a generous job because I get to literally give music to people, but it's also a super selfish job cuz I get to choose what I am gonna listen to when I'm sitting there with everyone. So I have pieces, for example, I deeply love the music of Maurice Ravel. We heard some Ravel in June. We will surely hear Ravel again. It's the most evocative music to listen to romantic, still romantic era, but French romantic.
2 (31m 2s):
So it has that kind of, it has a perfumed quality to it. But if I'm talking about the music that I love to play, that would be the music of Johan Sebastian Bach. And that is because Bach had a very special way of writing for my instrument. He knew somehow he didn't play the OBO, but he somehow knew everything about it and he knew how to make it sing and he knew how to make it dance. And he knew how to make it in a way kind of weep or cry. So I think that, and I just was very fortunate here in Holland to have the experience on, I think it was on Friday night, last week to play some B areas with a wonderful soprano and a wonderful violinist and harps chord.
2 (31m 46s):
And it just, you know, it's the kind of thing. It just feeds you in a way. So hopefully we'll have some Bach at Seren be sometime soon as well. And I think I can probably assure you that I will be playing on that concept.
3 (32m 1s):
There you go. As we wrap up, I mean, this has been delightful and both of you are such wonderful storytellers about and just explaining the traia. I really, really appreciate it. It's really, really helpful for me to understand it better. And the beautiful work that goes into it. One of the last questions we always ask on the podcast is, and I'll put it out for both of you guys, is what's the one thing that if you were gonna recommend to somebody and you've spent, you're getting somebody who hasn't been before, what would you suggest that while they're
4 (32m 36s):
There so many things hikes the Daisy, you know, dinner at the farmhouse or the hill? I think if I had to be selfishly biased, I would say any and all events produced by art farm at Serenbe just because there's such a range of amazing things, theater dance, obviously Tutu's just a range of programming. I think that any, and all visitors can enjoy
3 (33m 5s):
James, do you have something that you like or that you hear from your musicians, even that they're like, Ugh, that was the thing.
2 (33m 12s):
Yeah. Okay. So of course my first answer is Tussy gotta make it gotta
3 (33m 18s):
Come. Of course, of course,
2 (33m 20s):
I think from my musicians, I think they just so enjoy the way their blood pressure drops. They arrive and they don't really know where they've landed, but they can tell that, you know, and we always start the week with a lunch at Halsa hopefully outside everyone just kind of, you know, they've come from New York or LA or Chicago or they, they all just kind of like chill out. And I think they carry that with them through the whole week. For me personally, as you can imagine, there's a lot of, there's always a lot of details to tend to faith knows that intimately through through Twilio week and the great team at art farm of course is also on the ball and hoping keep everything running smoothly.
2 (34m 2s):
But I am often up quite early when I'm at Serenbe making sure everything's just sorted out and ready to go for the day. And so I particularly love early mornings at Sereneb say if you're in the golf cart at seven or seven 30, and maybe there's still some haze over some of the fields, maybe the air's kind of cool. I'll typically head over to the Daisy and sit outside with a cup of coffee, trying to wake up, hoping that no one recognizes me in my disheveled state. And I just kind of love watching the interactions between the folks who live there and work there and are are visiting because I think there's a really special sense of community that you can witness and kind of amazingly be a part of.
2 (34m 46s):
That's just really a gift.
3 (34m 48s):
I thank you guys so much for your time. And is there anything that I can plug go by true glory and go by tickets Tolia? Is there, can we follow you guys on Instagram or do you do social? How can we support you? I know, yes.
4 (35m 3s):
I love that
3 (35m 4s):
Was good. I gotta give a shout out for
4 (35m 8s):
Yeah, no, I love it. Yeah. Just check out the art farm at Serenbe website.
2 (35m 13s):
Absolutely. We're
4 (35m 14s):
Getting ready to release our 20, 23 calendar events hopefully in the next six weeks or so.
3 (35m 19s):
Wow. Exciting.
2 (35m 21s):
We will have Tuia events at San be from September 22nd to 24th, right. And then again from December 8th until December 10th. So two chances there events that are anywhere from our sort of signature wine dinner to the more intimate, happy hour to free events like the cupcake concert or the sunset ceremony that we talked about. So we're really trying to create a really diverse offering of musical experiences. And yes, you can follow us at Tulia chamber music on Instagram and on Facebook. And if you are in New York, we actually round out our serenbe weeks in New York.
2 (36m 1s):
So we'll be on September 25th in New York, on December 11th in New York and in between in San Francisco on
3 (36m 9s):
October 21st. Good, good. I'm gonna have to spread the word to all of my relatives and friends in both those cities. Cause it sounds like a not to be missed event.
2 (36m 17s):
Absolutely. And maybe I can just say how grateful I am to all of you and to faith, especially for making this connection and caring so much about it. You know, faith, it's a service to Teria, but it's a service to ceremony too, that you have sort of brought us all together. So I'm grateful for the community. Really. Can't wait to be back with you all.
5 (36m 39s):
We're looking forward to your visit and faith. Just thank you so much. I mean, what you're bringing to us is the music group in the park is incredible and of course is a great experience and everyone who brings this and as we were talking, I have a fantasy for 2024.
4 (36m 59s):
Tell us more.
5 (37m 2s):
Wouldn't it be incredible to bring a joint concert with Telia and Terminus. So let's to come in during the Terminus production and vice versa, let's make sure that some of those OUS folks comes to one of the future events. And I love it. Start creating unique experiences that happen here.
4 (37m 29s):
No, I love it. I'm all about the
3 (37m 30s):
Collaboration. That's beautiful. James, have you met John? We before?
2 (37m 35s):
I have not. No, but I've heard about, I've heard about Terminus.
3 (37m 40s):
You too would be
5 (37m 41s):
Old brothers, right? Monica.
3 (37m 43s):
Yeah, totally brilliant idea, Steve. I love it.
2 (37m 48s):
I love it
5 (37m 49s):
With faith, the guiding part. I can just see this all now, you know? Right.
4 (37m 54s):
I'm excited. I'm very excited.
5 (37m 58s):
Thank you all.
3 (37m 59s):
Thank you all again. And we look forward to seeing you at the next concert. Absolutely
5 (38m 3s):
Fantastic. Thank you. Thank everyone.