Last night I went to the University of Maryland to see their orchestra concert. Professor Mark Wilson invited me and got me a ticket. We sat in the spot that he thought had the best acoustics, and had a chance to talk about the school, my goals, the people I should meet, etc. That made it start to sink in - I'm really going to school again in the fall.
I'll talk about the second half of the program first - Mahler 2. What an emotional workout. The orchestra and chorus were so wonderful - so much so that I feel like I can't really talk about it. I can't put into words the emotions I felt. (I can say, though, that it was fun to watch various brass players and percussionists run off stage now and then to play the offstage sections. They got a bit of a workout.)
The first half of the program was Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune. It was listed in the program like this:
CLAUDE DEBUSSY
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
Liz Lerman, movement designer
with Keith Thompson assisting.
... Movement designer? Were they having dancers? Awesome!
The stage was empty except for the harps and a few stools. Then the pre-recorded Kojo Nnamdi pre-performance speech began. The orchestra walked on with their instruments - wearing green shirts of different shades, some in khaki pants, some black pants, different shades of neutral skirts, and most barefoot. Then the stage went dark.
When the lights came back up, the most of the orchestra were lying on the stage, "sleeping." The "conductor" (who only rarely conducted) walked on, and was shortly followed by the flutist. She began to play and walk around. The orchestra "woke up" to play their parts - wandered around the stage, formed little circles of solo instruments when just one small group was playing, walked in circles - the bassists even lifted their basses over their heads, mimicking a balletic lift. At first I was wondering if this was going to seem a little hokey, but it really worked. It was a great performance, it was fun and interesting to watch,
And that was that time I watched an orchestra dance while they played.
I'll talk about the second half of the program first - Mahler 2. What an emotional workout. The orchestra and chorus were so wonderful - so much so that I feel like I can't really talk about it. I can't put into words the emotions I felt. (I can say, though, that it was fun to watch various brass players and percussionists run off stage now and then to play the offstage sections. They got a bit of a workout.)
The first half of the program was Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune. It was listed in the program like this:
CLAUDE DEBUSSY
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
Liz Lerman, movement designer
with Keith Thompson assisting.
... Movement designer? Were they having dancers? Awesome!
The stage was empty except for the harps and a few stools. Then the pre-recorded Kojo Nnamdi pre-performance speech began. The orchestra walked on with their instruments - wearing green shirts of different shades, some in khaki pants, some black pants, different shades of neutral skirts, and most barefoot. Then the stage went dark.
When the lights came back up, the most of the orchestra were lying on the stage, "sleeping." The "conductor" (who only rarely conducted) walked on, and was shortly followed by the flutist. She began to play and walk around. The orchestra "woke up" to play their parts - wandered around the stage, formed little circles of solo instruments when just one small group was playing, walked in circles - the bassists even lifted their basses over their heads, mimicking a balletic lift. At first I was wondering if this was going to seem a little hokey, but it really worked. It was a great performance, it was fun and interesting to watch,
And that was that time I watched an orchestra dance while they played.
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