Listen... the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra is playing

http://www.edmontonsymphony.com/

Friday, July 24, 2009

Now booked for the 2010/11 Season...


This has been all over the internet the last few days, so you've probably seen it already. But just in case:



Something about the piece makes me think of the slow movements from Rachmaninoff's piano concertos. I think it's the intervals from about 1:46 to 2:05.

An interesting sidenote, this performance is by the Klaipeda Chamber Orchestra, and I happened to spend 9 months in Klaipeda when I was in Grade 9. But that's, like, a lifetime ago in cat years.

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Wednesday, July 22, 2009

You can do that with a carrot??

So waaaaaaay back in September I linked to a post about the vegetable orchestra, and only now do I find this fascinating video of an actual performance... I love the pepper mute about 5 minutes in.


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Friday, July 17, 2009

Treble on Wheels


Treble on Wheels 5
Originally uploaded by edmontonsymphony

On June 27 & 28 the ESO team "Treble on Wheels" participated in the Ride to Conquer Cancer, raising over $25,000 for cancer research in Alberta. The total ride had 1742 participants and raised $6.9 Million dollars!

A few more photos can be found here.


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Wednesday, July 15, 2009

You should have been there

First off, thank you to Pamela for taking care of the blog during my vacation-related absence. Let's hope she keeps posting regularly, as I really enjoy what she has to say!

I came across or was sent a few different things to post about in the last little while. This one is going back a couple of weeks, but the Globe and Mail published an article about the live music experience.
Everyone has a story about a great concert. It's impossible to say how much burnishing is done in memory, and it doesn't matter anyway. But I tend to distrust any recollection of a famous or momentous event – Woodstock, say, or Vladimir Horowitz's last recital. History's finger seems to press a little too heavily on the scale. My own favourite concert experiences are mainly fragments, this song or that opera scene. But for many people, it's most satisfying to point to a whole event, to have that feeling of remembered fullness from one magic night, and to say, “You should have been there.”

We asked musicians, artists, music mavens and committed fans to recall their favourite show and to say what rang the cosmic bell for them.
Then follows a list of fascinating stories from the likes of Anton Kuerti to Ron MacLean. Orchestras tend to put on so many shows each year, it's easy to forget that any one of them could be that magical memory for someone...
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Thursday, July 9, 2009

Take Me Out To The Symphony?

When you think of baseball, little may come to mind as to if and how there is any relationship whatsoever with making music... Besides, perhaps, the tuneful Take Me Out To The Ballgame that fans alike look forward to (or not), during the 7th inning stretch of an uneventful ball game with a soccer-like score. In my own experiences at MLB games, I usually spend more time thinking about how lonely it must be for the solitary guy in the far outfield, patiently waiting for a stitched, leather item to fall into his glove.

Recently, I came across a story of a non-baseball player who really knocked one out of the park. National Symphony Orchestra violinist Glenn Donnellan thought it would be cool to make a violin out of… wait for it… a baseball bat! Yes, that’s right, a Louisville Slugger bat. Who could of possibly known such a piece of sporting equipment could bring forth a sound as respectable to that of a baseball hitting the sweet spot. Have a listen… before long, you may just start to hear “Cracker Jack, HERE!” at orchestral concerts.


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Thursday, July 2, 2009

The Train Station is alive...

... with The Sound of Music.

This is awesome. One of those videos that just gives you warm fuzzies, or shall I say, "drops of golden sun" ... Enjoy!


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