Joël Belgique

Principal Viola

At this very moment …

we'd find Joël doing his post-concert "detox" by checking e-mails, grabbing a snack and watching Seinfeld reruns. Tonight he's also preparing this season's Fear No Music brochures for mailing. Watch for yours.

On the CD player …

upstairs in the small boombox are some Gidon Kremer tangos; in the computer ("which has a great soundcard and speakers") is a recording of some contemporary viola music recorded and produced by a Japanese company called Viola Space 2002 (Ligeti, Benjamin,and other "great stuff"); in Joël's personal CD player with headphones is Kim Kashkashian playing the Hindemith viola sonatas; and in his '89 Volvo, (only a tape deck) he has an old favorite of a San Diego band called Noisepie.

In the kitchen …

you'll find all the fixings for his Belgique Nachos El Super Uber Grande, with his favorite hot salsa du jour, currently a salsa that gets an "insanity+++" rating on the hot meter. "Es muy caliente!"

On the music stand …

"That is a loaded question, and I mean that literally because my stand no longer stays up with that much music on it." Joël says there is maybe four to five inches of music out for a variety of reasons. A lot of Hindemith in preparation for a Viola-HindemithFest coming this January (see www.thefourviolas.com for details, and mark it on your calendar); a Schickele Quartet for the upcoming Fear No Music concert in October (see www.fearnomusic.org); and the Rebecca Clarke Sonata, Prokofiev "Romeo & Juliette" pieces for viola and piano, Astor Piazzolla's Grand Tango, and of course the 6 Suites by Bach. Downstairs on his stand by the computer are scores used for making four-viola arrangements. Right now it's Mendelssohn's Scherzo from a Midsummer Night's Dream, and the Macarena.

And on the nightstand …

just an alarm clock which is useful for telling the time in the middle of the night.

Before you left …

I would offer you some figs and tomatoes for the road!"