Our 2014/15 season started with some amazing opportunities. We started the year off as the opening performance at the IHS Mid-North Horn Symposium hosted by the most awesome Sarah Schmalenberger, in St. Paul Minnesota. Sarah was just a great organizer and host. The University of St. Thomas campus was beautiful and while we could not stay the whole weekend we very much enjoyed performing the opening recital and coaching the horn quartets. A week later found us up north yet again but this time at the University of Wisconsin Whitewater at Linda Kimball's horn day! WOW!!! This was such an great group of horn players. A full day of horn, what could be better? Each Uber broke off and coached a group of talented players ranging in age from elementary school to the retired! It was fabulous. We were so pleased to present a short lecture recital and were able to answer so many thoughtful questions from the participants. Linda sure has organized a terrific event. If you're in the area you should check it out HERE.
Other exciting news that came with the beginning of this season is the official addition of our two newest members, Liz Dietemyer and Anna Jacobson. We are so happy to have them come on board. Their skills and their unique music experiences bring so much to the quartet. Audiences loved them this past fall and we're sure you will to in the coming seasons. You can read about both Liz and Anna on our website. You can read all about all the members in fact on our new and improved website! Check it out: www.uberhornquartet.com
While we can not talk about our 2015/16 season just yet we can tell you that we are proud to announce that starting with this post (yes this one you're reading) marks the first in what we aspire to be a monthly offering to you our followers. These may be in the form of a written blog such as this, or musings from various Uber members, it may be a link to a really cool site or horn accessory we found to be a must. There is also a good possibility it may be an awesomely Uber video or recording. Who knows! Check back at the first of every month to see what we've come up with!
Before I sign off I'd like to take the opportunity to answer the number one question we get. How did you come up with the name Uber? Just after our college days (yes we started this waaaayyyy back then and long before the car service) I went through a phase where anything that excited me was referred to as uber, uberific, ubertastic, rather than the normal description of awesome, great, fantastic, etc, you get the idea. As we moved forward with the group, added members, began playing out more, the thought of changing our name came up, more than once in fact. We thought on it and decided to keep the name for two reasons, 1) we couldn't agree on any other names and 2) we actually looked up what Uber meant and realized that while it may have come from a funny place, it actually describes us and our group quite well.
u·ber [oo-ber]
adverb
1. having the specified property to an extreme or excessive degree;
very: an uber group of musicians. We'd like to think we are more than just horn players, we are musicians, we are friends, we do things above and beyond. Come see a show, you'll understand what we mean ;)
adjective
2. designating a person or thing that exceeds the norms or limits
of its kind or class: uber horn quartet; more than a quartet. We are quite literally more than a quartet, we are in fact a quartet made up of FIVE members.
Thanks for taking the time to read our first blog post and the first in our monthly media series. If you would like Uber to answer a question of yours send us an email, or ask us on our facebook page and maybe we'll answer your question in our next post!
Mary Jo
