A few days ago, we finished the first of our two recording sessions.

We spent three days, January 14-16, recording in the sanctuary of Christ Presbyterian Church in New Haven, CT. It’s intense work, to be sure, but so gratifying. We are thrilled to be working with Mateusz Zechowski of Studio Teo, who provides keen musical insight in addition to his recording engineering expertise. During these January sessions, we recorded Russell Nadel’s Orchard Sunset, Michael Weinstein-Reiman’s Roland, Aaron Price’s Amber Veil, Naftali Schindler’s Chants, Pastorals, and Antiphons of the New Moon, and our transcription of Erik Satie’s Gnossienne Nos. 2 and 4. In all, we laid down about 2/3 of the music for the album.

When we weren’t recording, photographer Courtney Potter was snapping pictures of us in various spots around New Haven, including Union Station and the elegant New Haven Lawn Club. Thanks to her stellar work, we have beautiful photography for our album packaging, plus many more photos. We’re giving sneak peaks of the photos on our Facebook page, so be sure to like Apple Orange Pair to see them all! Here’s a really cool one:

We are back from an extended December break, during which we played a collective bunch of Nutcrackers, orchestra concerts, and church jobs in Virginia and New England. Whew! In between, Colleen got to experience the travails of transportation problems, and is now equipped with a shiny red new station wagon for continued road fun with the harp.

We’re hitting the recording studio starting January 14, and are excited to be working with renowned sound engineer and oboist Mateusz Zechowski in New Haven. We are even more excited to (probably) be recording in our old performance venue, Christ Presbyterian Church, at which we have so many fans and friends. Our experiences at this church, musically and otherwise, have been increasingly meaningful to us both over the course of 8+ years (even before we started playing together!). We are glad to be able to acknowledge the wonderful people there, and the church’s lovely sanctuary, by using it for our first recording.

During our time together in January, we will be recording at least 2/3 of our CD (the remainder to be done in February when Colleen is back for Eastern CT Symphony); meeting with graphic designers; and having amazing photo shoots with the talented Courtney Potter Cook, a photographer from North Carolina. We are looking forward to her creative assistance in fashioning a unique image for our CD, poster, and other recording-related items!