Beethoven's Birthday

 
Before we get back to the Philadelphia Flower Show, I really have to share about the concert we went to on Saturday night. Rachel sings in the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia. For this concert they celebrated Beethoven's 250th birthday by singing the Mass in C, and Fantasia for Piano, Choir, and Orchestra.

The event was held at Holy Trinity Church in Philadelphia. Just being there was an adventure in elegance.



The choir and orchestra filled every inch of the stage space.



This shows some of the orchestra and some of the soloists.



Mass in C is all in Latin. Some of the phrases are familiar, but I was glad there was a translation in the program. Then they took a break and did Fantasia which is supposed to be a precursor to the famous 9th Symphony, sometimes known as Ode to Joy. I know this because I read the program. But you could certainly hear the similarities. These words are in German, and again, the translation was very helpful to understand the meaning- a celebration of spring.

Here is Rachel singing. It's hard to get pictures of people singing that don't look dumb, but at least this one is not too weird.



Finally, I made the family pose for a picture, but big mistake, it was at the end of that non-stop Saturday. Everyone was dressed nicely, but you can tell that they are all beat. David is like my extra son, Rachel is his wife, and by extension, Anja and Mia are sort of my pretend grandkids. Well, tired or not, they are all very special to me.



In today's news: I worked on volunteer stuff, then got ready for writers' group, did shopping, bell choir, writers' group, and wished for a nap. Hope I'm back to full energy tomorrow.

See Last Day in Philly

Kids and Classical Music

 
Lots going on here at David and Rachael's, (Marie's son, but my "extra" son) but with the girls in Jr and Sr High, and them both working, life is a little crazy.

Nevertheless, their church is sponsoring a series of concerts that are free to local school classes.

Today, the pianist was a man named Destiny Battles. He's local to Philadelphia, but has played concerts worldwide.



He interacted with the kids really well, playing short pieces and then asking them questions about how the music made them feel, or the differences between the selections. He told things about the composers, too. The overall message was, "never give up."



I think there were five different classes there. I was amazed at how attentive they were to a type of music that most elementary school children these days probably don't hear too often.





Lots of cooking and other chores going on. It's always a little nuts with six people in a very small house, but good times.

	See Pre Flower Show
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Don Wyrtzen Concert and Memories

 
About two weeks ago, I heard about a concert being given nearby by a well-known pianist. I couldn't figure out why he was giving a concert in such a small church, but I knew I was going to go, and go early enough to get a good seat.

The musician is Don Wyrtzen. I knew the program would be good, but not only is he a great pianist, he's a good teacher, and he is funny.

Here he is explaining how playing music involves your whole body-- eyes, ears, muscles and emotions. That is why music is so powerful.



My camera was on the wrong setting, so I didn't get a single good picture of him actually playing. This is the best of a bunch of bad ones.



Probably his most familiar piece is a worship song, "Worthy is the Lamb."

I found out why he was playing at that church. He's friends with the pastor's family. The pastor's mother is an accomplished pianist herself (playing with Wyrtzen on a couple of pieces), and the pastor's sister is an opera singer. She did two of Wyrtzen's songs as part of the concert. Excellent all around.

He was gracious enough to let people take pictures.



Now for the memories part. Don Wyrtzen's father is Jack Wyrtzen, the founder of Word of Life Ministries. They operated camps in the Adirondacks, and I got to go to the "Ranch" one summer. I was just young enough to squeak in, which was exactly what I wanted. The "Island" was for teens. Although I was a teen, I preferred to do things like ride horses, shoot rifles (yes- and I earned Junior Marksman), paddle canoes, and stuff like that. This is probably not a great surprise to you.

That time at the Ranch set in motion vectors which determined a number of things in my life. My counselor in the Wagon Wheel cabin was a girl, also named Joan, nicknamed Pinky (center in the picture- I must have taken it since I'm not in it). She and I remained friends and wrote letters throughout my high school years. The fall after camp, she was headed for Taylor University as a freshman. Three years later, I went to Taylor, where I met Om, and the rest... well you know the saying.



It was a pretty special evening.

In other news: I got out and cleared the last mile of my trail that Cathy and I didn't get to on Friday.

	See Trail Work Day
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West Shore Concert Choir

One should never plan ahead too much, ya know? I AM telling you about the Christmas concert, and I got to see it yesterday. The "plan" was that I was going to see it again tonight, at a really pretty church. I went yesterday with my friend, Loren. Her husband, Dave, was one of the singers. Then I found out that the date for the next concert is tomorrow, not today, and I'm busy tomorrow night. But, I did get to see it once.

Today was not an ideal day. The paper route thing caught up with me and I felt awful, all day. That means tomorrow should be better!

Now, for the concert- There was a mixture of sacred and secular music. The director was Becky Sopha, who also directed the Flash Mob Hallelujah Chorus last year.



There was a good amount of variety for a choir event. One of the pieces was accompanied by an oboe, another of my favorite instruments.



A couple of smaller sub-groups of the choir sang, including these four ladies who call themselves "The Four Flakes."



I can't imagine that pictures of people standing still and singing are really engaging when you don't know the people and have no auditory memory of what they sang, so I'll stop with the images.

But you can be assured that I had a very good time, and am sorry that I can't catch the group a second time. Yes, it was that good.

I also liked spending the time with Dave and Loren. They are generally hiking friends, but we've done a few concerts and things together too.

OK... I'm taking my fuzzy head and weird stomach and going to bed.

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