On CANNONS!
Yes, the sixth and final concert of the Symphony Under the Sky festival happened this afternoon, complete with the cannons of the 20th Regiment of the Royal Canadian Artillery. Sweet! For me, the 1812 Overture played in Hawrelak Park is the signal that summer's over, and it's time to go back to school or back to work. The last time I heard it was out of context; it was the 4th of July in Boston, and I flipped out partly because summer had just begun, and partly because I was feeling very out of place as a Canadian in the midst of a whole bunch of Americans. Never has a passport made me feel so isolated... but I digress.
Things I enjoyed today: getting to hear Chris Andrew, John Taylor and Brian Thurgood accompany PJ Perry along with the ESO. John Taylor is probably one of the most versatile musicians I know. He was my ear training professor at Grant MacEwan College where he is also the head of the bass department. For those of you who don't know, MacEwan specializes in training musicians for the jazz and contemporary world of music. That John heads up teaching jazz and pop electric and upright bass, and is a solid enough classical player to be the assistant principal bassist in the ESO is absolutely huge. Edmonton, small as it may sometimes seem, really is blessed to have such amazing, talented artists who choose this city as their home.
Things I didn't enjoy today: the Radetzky March! What is it with this piece of music that it keeps cropping up? I don't get what's so special about it. You know, if it hadn't been played as an encore on Friday night, I wouldn't have had a problem with it played on today's program. It was an appropriate piece for a program like today's, but I've been embittered toward it, so it irked me.
MORE TO COME later tonight, I have a family dinner to go to... there are a few more things I definitely want to touch on, though.
EDIT: okay, new stuff. One more thing I definitely liked was the Young Composer project this year. I was the ESO young composer in 2003, and both before and after then I've been really interested in the other young writers to see what would come out of them. I was SO impressed by Roydon Tse's work today! That's probably the best Young Composer piece I can remember hearing in a while... not that the others weren't also awesome, but you know. There was so much subtlety and soul to it. Lucky kid to get to work with John Estacio too! I wasn't sure who had taken over when Allan Gilliland left the post.
Also? HOLY COW were the squirrels all over the place today. I've never seen a squirrel act so ballsy before.
Things I enjoyed today: getting to hear Chris Andrew, John Taylor and Brian Thurgood accompany PJ Perry along with the ESO. John Taylor is probably one of the most versatile musicians I know. He was my ear training professor at Grant MacEwan College where he is also the head of the bass department. For those of you who don't know, MacEwan specializes in training musicians for the jazz and contemporary world of music. That John heads up teaching jazz and pop electric and upright bass, and is a solid enough classical player to be the assistant principal bassist in the ESO is absolutely huge. Edmonton, small as it may sometimes seem, really is blessed to have such amazing, talented artists who choose this city as their home.
Things I didn't enjoy today: the Radetzky March! What is it with this piece of music that it keeps cropping up? I don't get what's so special about it. You know, if it hadn't been played as an encore on Friday night, I wouldn't have had a problem with it played on today's program. It was an appropriate piece for a program like today's, but I've been embittered toward it, so it irked me.
MORE TO COME later tonight, I have a family dinner to go to... there are a few more things I definitely want to touch on, though.
EDIT: okay, new stuff. One more thing I definitely liked was the Young Composer project this year. I was the ESO young composer in 2003, and both before and after then I've been really interested in the other young writers to see what would come out of them. I was SO impressed by Roydon Tse's work today! That's probably the best Young Composer piece I can remember hearing in a while... not that the others weren't also awesome, but you know. There was so much subtlety and soul to it. Lucky kid to get to work with John Estacio too! I wasn't sure who had taken over when Allan Gilliland left the post.
Also? HOLY COW were the squirrels all over the place today. I've never seen a squirrel act so ballsy before.