We made it! Somehow, we managed to get through 2025 and are heading into the New Year with hopes that may or may not be dashed by the many variables in our lives now. But at least for this musician, the year ended on several notes of optimism contained within the piece I led in Tokyo.

The month started off in a city that I had never heard of, much less conducted in. Takasaki is located in the Gunma Prefecture, about an hour’s train ride from Tokyo Station. The Gunma Symphony Orchestra was kind enough to ask me to be part of its eightieth anniversary celebrations.

The last two months of 2025 were primarily centered in Asia, with stops in four countries. But one event on the first of November generated much excitement, and it was not in Taiwan, Seoul, or any place outside the United States.

The time for taking it easy appears to be over. Conducting and other activities filled up the calendar in October. Sadly, this also marked the end of barbecue season. The cover will adorn my Big Green Egg until March or so.

Musical matters began in New York with a week at the Manhattan School of Music. This annual trip is always enjoyable, as each year brings new students. Programming a concert without knowing the skill set of an ensemble can be tricky, but all the pieces worked well because this crop of young musicians at MSM is excellent.

If variety is the spice of life, then I am certainly enjoying some very pungent meals.

September turned out to be one of those months in which it was not possible to compare one set of events with another. And just when I thought that all the 80^th birthday celebrations were over, there was one last hurrah.

It’s a quiet Sunday morning in Boonville, Missouri. Neither Maggie’s Bar and Grill nor the Main Street Diner are open yet. The shoe store is closed for the day, and the Hotel Frederick is seeing several musicians checking out.

Boonville is a quiet little town located about halfway between St. Louis and Kansas City; about 8,000 people live and work here. The community hosts events that celebrate its history—an early Civil War skirmish took place here in 1861—as well as a Heritage Festival that occurs every August.

From Transylvania to Pasadena—those are words I never expected to write, but they represent two of the very interesting visits that occupied the past month. The former region is not the one associated with vampires, which, as far as I know, do not inhabit the mountains of North Carolina.

Let’s start with what turned out to be a surprisingly wonderful experience at the Brevard Music Festival. I had always heard of it but knew very little of its history. Its origins date back to 1936 with the founding of a summer music camp, and the annual festival began ten years later. That places it among the oldest of festivals in the United States.