Day 127 and 128: Weekend of Concerts

The conservatory here is incredible. As a conservatory student, I am able to go to hundreds of concerts, recitals, performances, etc. for little or no cost. This weekend and even Thursday I dived into a variety of types of music. On Thursday, I saw the final dress rehearsal of Green Day's American Idiot. This was my quota of rock and roll for the semester. It's definitely not my style but I'm trying to broaden my horizons. On Friday, I was transported back to the age of jazz and big band music at the jazz ensemble concert. I really felt like I was in a jazz club in the 30s; it was so real that they even had those jazz boxes in the front for music to sit on. One of the pianists is this blind jazz piano major who is so talented that he is literally the new Ray Charles. The concert celebrated the music of Sammy Nestico. The concert, as I said on Facebook, was badazz. On Saturday, I went to the first symphony concert of the conservatory. They played the Rachmoninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor. It featured pianist Vanessa Perez. The second half of the concert was the orchestra playing a Shostakovich symphony no. 5. I'm not a fan of classical music generally but after the concerto I turned to my neighbor who I was talking to before the concert and said well that was invigorating. I saw so many of my talented friends and heard some great music. Then, to top off the music weekend, I heard the first World of the Piano concert today by world-famous pianist Antonio Pompo-Baldi. He's providing a masterclass in the morning as well. His concert made me want to practice because it was so inspiring. He played twelve Chopin etudes Op. 10. Also, he played several Liszt pieces or pieces that were in memory or in the style of Liszt. Last weekend I saw a moving play called In the Red and Brown Water and next weekend I"m going to see four concerts one of which is seeing the National Symphony Orchestra with organist Paul Jones. Have I mentioned lately that I love it here.!!!