So much music!

Yesterday we went to a concert in the evening at the "grand hall" on the University campus. It is a beautiful old church like building with a huge courtyard and small recital halls that are perfect for chamber music concerts. Before the concert we had a lot of fun taking pictures in the courtyard and on the steps outside the building.





The concert opened with a solo performance of a Bach cello suite, then a contemporary piece performed by piano, clarinet, viola and an alto singer. The second half was a Schuman piano quintet (piano, two violins, viola and cello) and was performed by the String quartet, Contempo, who have been leading our orchestra at camp.

So during the concert there was a lady sitting beside me who was obviously very interested in seeing this concert but also very obviously falling asleep. I really wish I could have gotten a picture of her while her head was hanging about an inch away from my shoulder. Then the music would end and the sudden applause would jolt her out of her awkward slumber in she'd sit up very suddenly and vigorously rub her face, cross and uncross her legs and then slowly fall back to sleep with the next piece. So I don't have a picture of her sleeping but Simon took this one...




We have orchestra rehearsal every day at 1:30 and our conductor, Paul, always has this huge clock on the floor beside him so that he knows exactly when to start and when break is and everything. So today Paul looked down to check the time while we were playing a bit of the Dvorak Symphony and couldn't see his clock. So while we were playing he squatted down and started rummaging through all the papers and sheet music on the floor around him trying to find his clock. Eventually he stopped the music and asked if anyone had seen his clock. Meanwhile the principal cellist had a very devious look on his face and as Paul looked closer he saw that the cellist had taken his clock, put it on his own stand and hid it under his music. We all had a good laugh and then Paul discovered that the time was turned forward so that we could all get out of rehearsal early, which unfortunately didn't work. Then when he went to fix the time he found that the batteries were missing. Bogdon, the concert master, then pulled the batteries out of his shirt pocket. Great moment.

More to come!