Erin Vang [Home]

Here’s where to find more than you could possibly want to know about me:

Consulting

Classical music

  • I am principal horn in the Helena Symphony Orchestra in Montana.
  • I’m a freelance orchestral horn player. I love the symphonic and operatic literature, as well as chamber orchestra, chamber music, and way out there modern music projects.
  • I play horn (aka “french horn”) as well as Wagnertube. I can double on trumpet, flügelhorn, and tuba.
  • I even play didgeridoo and shofar! (Yes, I know all the t’qiahs and sequences for Rosh HaShanah, and I would love an excuse to buy tallit.)
  • I’m available for weddings, but memorial services and funerals are even better; I know, that might seem strange, but people have no trouble being joyous at weddings, with or without music, but musicians have a lot to offer in times of loss, and I consider a privilege to serve in this capacity. (Have you heard my Kaddish?)
  • Alicia Telford and I own a matched set of historic Alexander Wagnertuben that are available for rental, with or without expert performers.

Kaddish collaboration

  • Mira Z. Amiras and I  pursued a yearlong collaboration called “kaddish in two-part harmony,” exploring themes of death and dying, mourning, ritual; the dynamics between text, music, composer, musician, listener; how a Kaddish changes during the year and a day of daily repetition dictated by Jewish bereavement tradition and by the rules of our engagement. Each day for a year and a day, I played Lev Kogan’s “Kaddish” for solo horn, recording it in one unedited take for a daily podcast. Each day Mira and others who choose to join our virtual minyan listen to the recording. We both write on a joint blog and in private exchanges, and at the end of the year, the whole enterprise makes a public appearance. Read more here, join the minyan here, follow us here…

Personal

  • “So you think… [you want to remodel your kitchen]?” is the blog I started in 2004 when my kitchen was torn down to the studs and I had to camp in my house while Jon turned it into a thing of great beauty and utility. Since 2004 I have been trying to prove that I deserved a better kitchen in the first place, so you’ll see lots of recipes. I’m also an orchestral horn player, a dance musician, an opera-goer, a political news junkie, a labrador retriever’s mom, three Siamese cats’ mom, a home brewer, an amateur mixologist, a wimpy sea kayaker, a crossword addict, a Mac bigot, and so on, so there’s no telling what you might find here. In Montana I’ll be living outside city limits for the first time in my life, so this blog is likely to confront the messy and confusing realities of a city woman adapting to rural life, as I figure out how to live with things like a septic system, a  well, a propane tank, composting, hauling my own trash and recycling (in a state that doesn’t do nearly as much of it as California), and further perils I’ve yet to discover.
  • I bore my friends with trivial musings having little or nothing to do with my professional lives on Facebook. If you’ve met me in the real world and would like to join the inanity, please send me a friend request—and if it’s been a while, I’d appreciate a hint. If you haven’t met me but still want to be Fbriends, then please include a note explaining why.