Edmonton Symphony Orchestra Blog Night
Gilliland - Dreaming of the Masters II
During the intermission we were honored to be visited by two of the orchestra members Charles Pilon (the coolest guy to ever set foot in the Winspear) and Aaron Au (who turns out to be a buddy of my good friend Rachel’s). I think they were curious about the people in the cubicle writing about them. They shared some snacks and stories with us before they had to leave to prepare for part II. They play viola and 1st violin and page turner, respectively. We discussed the idea of digital music sheets that turn themselves or by a tap of the foot. Aaron seemed keen on that, but Charles preferred the more traditional method of paper. At any rate, we were pleased they dropped in.
We are currently experiencing some technical difficulties, no sound in our booth. But . . . we do have wine! Albeit not very good wine. Winspear and Citadel - take note please. Patrons paying good money for tickets want GOOD wine!
We can see that a huge grand piano has been placed front and center and Mr. Eddins has taken to playing it along with his conducting duties. He is truly talented, this is multi-tasking at its finest.
My giant symbol and percussionist have disappeared. The xylophonist seems segregated now.
The music itself is very “broadway interlude” like to me. I feel it is leading up to something, yet to be revealed. Hmm, a thought of Carnegie Hall comes to mind. I’d love to see something - anything - there. And the Metropolitan opera in NYC. Rob - put that on our list please!
Aha, there is our buddy Aaron faithfully turning those pages. And there’s Charles. Playing in the section with 3 women, he’s outnumbered! Somehow from our brief conversation I take it that is not a problem for him. Wonder what the ratio of male/female is in the ESO - allow me a quick look. 31 men, 26 women is my count. Almost even, 50/50. I wonder how that compares to 20, 50 or 100 years ago?
We’ve come to the end of the piece. Truly amazing, Mr. Eddins played the entire piece from memory, no sheet music. Can’t say it was my favorite piece of music ever, a bit rambling for my taste. But wonderfully played.
On to the last piece of the evening. Tchaikovsky with a twist.
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2 Responses to “Edmonton Symphony Orchestra Blog Night”
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Dear Ms. Hildebrandt,
Recently, I was interviewing for an Executive Director position with an orchestra and in my interview I brought up the subject of blogging. I had read that the San Fransico Symphony had organized a “Bloggers Night” in an attempt to spread awareness of the orchestra. I read one of the blogs and I was intrigued. I have to say that I’m not a blogging or Face Book enthusiast but I want to learn more about how these forms of communication are effecting how an audience relates to and experiences orchestral music. If you have a moment I would be interested in your thoughts on the ESO blogging experience.
On a different topic; Your comment on not watching TV hit a nerve. For a long time I didn’t watch much TV, just too busy. But lately, I have been bemoaning the fact that there is very little worth watching, not busy enough I guess. Time to change that.
I loved the picture of the old lady, each wrinkle spoke of a thousand experiences.
Dave
Dave
Thanks for your comment. The experience blogging was great, I would do it again. Only drawback is that we were in a soundproof room away from the main concert hall (like a baby’s crying room) and the music was piped in through speakers. So we didn’t get the full on experience of the BIG symphony sound.