good news

I'm waiting for him to give me more specifics, but it appears that my brother Sean, a professional cellist, has snagged the opportunity to perform a multi-city tour, sponsored by the US State Department, with the chamber orchestra he recently founded. This arrangement is the outgrowth of a performance put on by Sean's group and several other performers for Pakistani flood relief, which took place at Pakistan's embassy in DC.

The upcoming tour will cover a few major American cities with a significant Pakistani presence (New York, Boston, and Chicago among them, if I'm not mistaken). While I won't be so crass as to tell you what the State Department is planning to pay the musicians, let's just say that, in terms of per-person hourly pay, it dwarfs the fee of a typical high-end psychotherapist (and is probably more therapeutic to boot!). Along with that, there's the generous per diem for food, plus the free travel and lodging. All in all, this is an undeniably sweet gig, not to mention yet another networking opportunity for my brother. I applaud his hard work and achievements, and can't help feeling proud of him.


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