Day 1082: Delgani concert fun
Mar. 7th, 2023 11:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eve_primeI woke up tired today, having gotten a full night's sleep - I assume the problem is allergies - and I wasn't certain I'd be up for going to tonight's Delgani concert in person (the one I'd watched livestreamed on Sunday). I did need to return a book to the university library, so I talked myself into doing that, even though I ended up having to park 8 blocks away. Thankfully there was a break in the rain. Then when it came time for the concert, I decided I'd just go ahead and go; maybe I'd find one of my friends to talk with. Nope, no friends there. So I just sat on my own and read until the concert started then enjoyed the music.
The theme of this concert was Transatlantic Journeys, and it involved four individuals who made their way from Central Europe to the United States. The first was Tomas Svoboda, a Czech who spent his career at Portland State University, and whom the Delgani musicians had gotten to know. He'd passed away in December, so tonight they played his 10th string quartet in his honor. I've now heard it at least four times and it has quite grown on me. The second was Ernest Bloch, a Swiss composer who spent the last years of his life on the Oregon coast. The third was Antonin Dvorak, whose love of the United States is well known. We heard string quintets with piano from both Bloch and Dvorack. The fourth transatlantic journey took place a week ago, when pianist Frank-Immo Zichner flew from Berlin to perform with the Delgani quartet. He'd been a friend of Anthea's (first violin) when she lived in Berlin a few years ago.
Tonight I enjoyed the Svoboda piece and exercised patience with the Bloch piece (very stormy). Then after the intermission I had to exercise patience again with the Dvorak quintet, which is lovely in many ways but 40 minutes long. Then it was done and I collected my things and got ready to head home. I stood up, then said hi to Jannie (second violin) as she passed, then Anthea passed by as well. As soon as she made eye contact, though, she became very excited and started telling me all about the progress on her book project! She's working my agent. They've re-envisioned the project to cover more of Anthea's life story. I think it's going to be awesome! She told me lots of details of what they'd planned for it. Then Immo, the pianist, walked up to let her know that he was driving home (he's staying with her, 40 miles away in Corvallis, but I guess they were driving separately), and she introduced me to him as someone who had been very helpful with her big project! I got to shake his hand!
So I'm definitely glad I went tonight instead of watching from my cozy bed again!
The theme of this concert was Transatlantic Journeys, and it involved four individuals who made their way from Central Europe to the United States. The first was Tomas Svoboda, a Czech who spent his career at Portland State University, and whom the Delgani musicians had gotten to know. He'd passed away in December, so tonight they played his 10th string quartet in his honor. I've now heard it at least four times and it has quite grown on me. The second was Ernest Bloch, a Swiss composer who spent the last years of his life on the Oregon coast. The third was Antonin Dvorak, whose love of the United States is well known. We heard string quintets with piano from both Bloch and Dvorack. The fourth transatlantic journey took place a week ago, when pianist Frank-Immo Zichner flew from Berlin to perform with the Delgani quartet. He'd been a friend of Anthea's (first violin) when she lived in Berlin a few years ago.
Tonight I enjoyed the Svoboda piece and exercised patience with the Bloch piece (very stormy). Then after the intermission I had to exercise patience again with the Dvorak quintet, which is lovely in many ways but 40 minutes long. Then it was done and I collected my things and got ready to head home. I stood up, then said hi to Jannie (second violin) as she passed, then Anthea passed by as well. As soon as she made eye contact, though, she became very excited and started telling me all about the progress on her book project! She's working my agent. They've re-envisioned the project to cover more of Anthea's life story. I think it's going to be awesome! She told me lots of details of what they'd planned for it. Then Immo, the pianist, walked up to let her know that he was driving home (he's staying with her, 40 miles away in Corvallis, but I guess they were driving separately), and she introduced me to him as someone who had been very helpful with her big project! I got to shake his hand!
So I'm definitely glad I went tonight instead of watching from my cozy bed again!