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Phil MUSICIANS

mountain range, or just simply went out for walks
or jogs around the city. We think these activities
have greatly helped us deal with the anxiety and
uncertainty of these times. We have also had more
time to practice (laughs) and explore more cooking
recipes…

You recently launched a travel blog:

what inspired this project?

Before the pandemic, we enjoyed
taking some time off once or twice
a year to visit a new destination.
it a step further and start a chamber music group in For us, traveling provides a much
2014. We named it the Mirage Violin Duo, based on needed perspective which in turn
a concept presented to us by our former BU mentors helps us find the inspiration and freshness we need
Dana and Yuri Mazurkevich. Since then, we have in our work as musicians, as well as makes us
been very fortunate to perform in various wonderful appreciate more the things we have in common as
places in the city, but also abroad. human beings, rather than the things which separate
us.
A few years ago we completed our first tour of China
as a duo, performing in 22 cities in just 26 days! We For our blog, called the Mirage Dwellers (www.
also perform whenever possible in the community for miragedwellers.com) we chose to describe some of
our delightful senior audiences in retirement homes, our most memorable trips which we’ve taken purely
places of worship, town libraries and concert halls. for our own enjoyment, but also some taken as a
Recently, we performed live on Facebook for our result of our musical engagements. The process
student audience at the Luzerne Music Center in of both remembering and writing about our travels
upstate New York. proves to be very therapeutic in dealing with life
under travel restrictions, as it helps us rebuild our
What has life during the pandemic confidence and hope for a better future world, open

been like for you? and virus-free, and ready to be explored once again!

We have been trying to do our part in helping prevent What are your plans for the future,
the spread of the virus and maintain a healthy, musically or otherwise?
disciplined approach to keeping ourselves and
others safe during this time. Musically, we can only hope the concert halls will
slowly open their doors once again and our job for
Life under quarantine presents its challenges but now is to make sure we are ready when they do! We
also offers new possibilities. To that end, we have want to stay in touch with our colleagues, mentors
used some of this time to get outside as often as and friends in the music community and support
possible and explore different parts of the city one another during these trying times. On a more
and the state. We have enjoyed long, quiet walks personal note, we are super excited and anxiously
through the sand dunes of Provincetown, Cape Cod, waiting for our baby girl to arrive sometime in the
explored beautiful rocky shores on the North Shore, next few weeks, just in time for Valentine’s Day!
went on several hikes in the central Massachusetts

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