Back to the Music

It's Opening Niiiiight!!!!

I've been working at Carnegie Hall since May. At first I got to see several concerts for free - which was my favorite part of the job. Well, summer came and the season ended. We had a couple of JVC Jazz things that came through in early summer, but it's been pretty dry since then. Actually, completely dry. Drought kind of dry. They were doing some renovations on the building, so nobody was there except the workers and of course us in the rat-race of marketing/sales, etc...

Anyway - I am excited because tonight the season opens! From now until next summer the hall will be "alive, with the sound of music." Tonight I am going to hear the San Fransisco Symphony with a bunch of all-stars like Yo-Yo Ma performing a concert of music by Leonard Bernstein. Bring it on.

I did get a little preview of music seasons starting yesterday. Last night I saw half of a concert in Bryant Park. Musicians from the NY Philharmonic played the Mozart Clarinet Quintet. This is the last year for the principal clarinetist of the philharmonic, so they are featuring him. Not only is this his final year, but it is also his 60th year. SIXTY years with the orchestra. Wow. He was appointed when he was only 19 years old by Bernstein himself. What a life. Anyway, after hearing some clarinet I jetted back to Carnegie Hall to hear a solo violin recital by Philippe Quint. This guy left his Stradavarius violin in a Newark cab a while back. Ooops! Luckily he got it back and gave comp tickets to last nights performance to the driver who returned the instrument and his family. The encore was even dedicated to the cabbie. What a story! The performance was really nice. Solo violin music can be so fun and flashy, plus this guy added a touch of Russian schmooze, which I tend to fall for, so fun was had. Hearing all of this great music makes me itch to practice. That's definitely not a bad thing.