concerti

watched and listened to two other musicians and a family friend play an organ accompanied by different string, brass, wind instruments and timpani. she is an accomplished musician studying for her doctorate and she has been playing since she was a young child. it was absolutely amazing to witness and to hear. it was a very small room and a pretty large, beautiful pipe organ...they have someone standing beside them throughout the concert to turn the pages of their music and to pull the stops on the organ in order to change the sounds it can produce. her back was facing the audience and the other musicians, and she has to watch the conductor through a mirror attached to the organ on her right; so she also has to interpret the conductor's direction in reverse whereas the other musicians are facing the conductor. at one point, she even played the organ using both of her feet only, and no hands! she was moving from left to right across the bench she was sitting on and her feet were flying...she was so involved in her performance that it was not only acoustically entertaining but it was visually entertaining as well. after the concerti, she told us that she had practiced for one month to play everything! i am not sure if that is a long time or not, but i know it would have taken me 25 years to learn!

i really enjoyed the performance by another musician of a recently discovered Antonio Salieri concerto that was actually missing its second movement (as they only recovered its first and third), and our family friend played a new concerto by american composer Margaret Sandresky. Sandresky was actually in the audience and worked with this young woman...it was only the second time the concerto was performed and it was very special because Sandresky wrote it specifically for the organ in that music hall.

so much practice, so much skill, so much energy, so much love for the music they are playing...a beautiful treat on a sunday afternoon...always in awe of the multitude of talents humans possess and how we share that with each other...what are your hidden talents or what will you discover?