The first two aren't really videos, so don't bother waiting for the picture to change. The third video is a lot of fun. If you watch it, pay special attention to the conductor, who is a riot. The Wiener Philharmoniker plays it, and that is fun to watch/listen to. When we played that one, the audience had a similar reaction to the one you probably did. All the texting and giggling stopped and everyone's eyes went wide, which was great.
This picture is of some of my friends and me in front of Abravanel Hall. It was a wonderful experience to play there, because it is really big and fancy, and the acoustics are mind-blowing. Plus, I got to miss all of school.
Later in the day I also had a recital for my private teacher. I played a Dvorak sonatina, but I don't really like the piece so I am not going to post a video of me or anyone playing it. It went really well, though, and I didn't do any weird skipping around in the piece or forget anything, which I was worried about doing because it is pretty repetitive which makes memorization tricky.
Though it's not quite the Junior Iditarod, it was a great day -- though tiring -- and well worth the early morning. Also, for anyone who will be in town or interested, UVYSO has another performance on March 26 at the Covey Center in Provo. We will be playing more cool stuff.
Please indulge a bit of bragging about Gwen, but her Monday was just the conclusion of a brilliant weekend. On Sunday she gave a fabulous talk in Sacrament Meeting. She received rave reviews from the entire congregation (including Roger Porter, a Harvard professor of Government and former White House advisor, who wrote Gwen a note after the meeting encouraging her to apply to Harvard!) I'm trying to convince Gwen to post her talk on "Grandpa's Musings," but I'm not sure if that site is operational yet. Then she came home and wrote a paper on Stuart Sutcliff, John Lennon's art school friend, comparing Sutcliff's Expressionism to Beatles music.
ReplyDeleteWe are very proud of ALL our grandchildren who are above average and trying very hard to do good things. Chelsea's success in the race, Mia's desire to do well in school and surviving wisdom tooth extraction, Gwen's making it into the top high school orchestra and the UTah Valley Youth Symphony Orchestra (conductor is Britton Davis who, with his family were in Salzburg with us. Incidently, Britton's father was both Grandma's and Grandpa's high school and junior high school choir director. What goes round comes round.) are just 3 examples of their goodness and effort to excel in what they are doing. We would love to hear more examples.
ReplyDeleteWhoa, Gwen! Awesome! I'm glad you get to play in UVYSO--such a fun experience. I think you should use your Expressionism and Beatles music paper for your Harvard application. Sounds like the Three Little Maids version 2.0 are showing us up. Quick, someone brag about Annika, Nora and me! Just kidding. Love you all.
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