Westminster Bell Choir Concert

I went to the holiday concert of the Westminster Bell Choir this afternoon.  It was great, as always.  And I found a large parking lot behind the college, so I needn't have arrived so early in order to find parking.  I'll try to remember for next time.  Leaving home at 2:45 for a 4:00 concert is plenty of time to get a good seat.

Another Concert at NJPAC

We heard the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra play

• Mozart's Jupiter Symphony
• A Mozart Horn Concerto
• Beethoven's Symphony #7

We stopped at Ponte Vecchio restaurant in Old Bridge for dinner.

A Very Busy Day

We started yesterday with another excellent talk at 55PLUS in Princeton.  The speaker was David Redlawsk, chair of the department of Political Science at the University of Delaware and until recently director of the Eagleton Center at Rutgers.  His talk was "A Post-mortem on the 2016 Presidential Election."  It was very informative.
After the lecture we had lunch at our favorite spot nearby in Kingston, then walked on the tow path for about 3 miles.
Then we drove back into Princeton, parked the car, and didn't leave again until about 10:30 at night.  We explored the art museum on campus, checked out the library which we discovered you can't use without a Princeton ID, and looked around the bookstore.
We had an early dinner then went to a lecture by Linda Greenhouse on "The Evolving Dialogue Between Courts and Legislature."  It was somewhat arcane, but interesting, and it was neat seeing her in person.
Then off to Richardson Theater for a concert by the Takacs String Quartet.  They are playing all the Beethoven quartets over a period of several months.  We'll attend two more of their concerts early next year.

Chamber Music Concert

Another great concert in the Red Bank Chamber Music series.  The New York Woodwind Quintet played music by Samuel Barber, Carl Nielsen, Claudio Monteverdi, and Felix Mendelssohn.  The last two pieces were transcribed for wind quintet by the group's French horn player.

NJSO Concert

We really enjoyed the concert today.  It was Xian Zhang's debut as music director and it was in NJPAC, which has much better acoustics than the other venues.  It was an hour's drive to get to the 1:30 concert and parking was tight.
The program was all Tchaikovsky, which seems fairly ordinary, but she is such a dynamic conductor and hearing it live really makes a difference.

• Polonaise from Eugene Onegin
• Piano Concerto No 1 with fantastic pianist Simon Trpceski.  Not sure we've ever heard a Macedonian musician before.
• Symphony No 5

Another Great Concert

We drove to Princeton today for another great concert.  It was part of the Westminster Conservatory at Nassau series which showcases folks from Westminster Choir College.  The musicians were faculty from Westminster playing oboe, clarinet and bassoon performing the following pieces.
Rustiques pour tri d'anches by Joseph Canteloube
La Traviata by Verdi, transcribed for reed trio

Red Bank Chamber Music

Today's performance by the Omni Piano Quartet was wonderful as always.  They played
Mozart - Piano Quartet in G minor
Joaquin Turina - Piano Quartet in A minor
Camille Saint-Saens - Piano Quartet in B-flat

Hill and Hollow Concert

I just returned from a wonderful concert at the Saranac United Methodist Church.  It was worth the 1 1/3 hour drive each way.  The players were the Olympus Piano Trio, who had spent the last week doing concentrated rehearsing as part of the Hill and Hollow program.  The program included

• Rachmaninoff Trio No 1 in G Minor
• Brahms Trio No 2 in C Major
• Tchaikovsky Piano Trio in A Minor

Final Sinfonietta Concert

We heard another great concert last evening.  This is the final one for us this year since we are going back to NJ for a visit later in the week.

• Coriolan Overture by Beethoven
• Overture to "La Gassa Ladra" by Rossini
• First movement of Serenade No 1 by Brahms
• Five Easy Pieces from Suites No. 1 and 2 for Small Orchestra by Stravinsky
• Humoresques 1 and 2 for Violin and Orchestra by Sibelius with more gorgeous playing by concertmaster Daniel Szasz
• Classical Symphony by Prokofiev

Lake Placid Sinfonietta - Concert 4

Last evening's concert was great.

• An excerpt from "Acis and Galatea" by Handel and sung by Hannah Harrow, the daughter of Anne Harrow, the Sinfonietta's fabulous flautist
• Die Tageszeiten by Telemann
• Eine Kleine Nachtmusik by Mozart

The second half consisted of pieces written or orchestrated in 1917, the year the Sinfonietta was founded.  These have been recorded and will be released as part of the Sinfonietta's 100th birthday celebration next year.

• Ancient Airs and Dances Suite I by Respighi
• Romanian Folk Dances by Bartok
• Le Tombeau de Couperin by Ravel

Lake Placid Sinfonietta - Concert 3

With guest conductor and pianist William Eddins.  He was very entertaining.  Neat comments about the pieces and fun to watch.

• Serenade for Strings by Dag Wiren - very nice.
• Concerto Grosso No 1 by Ernest Bloch with Eddins conducting from the piano - another nice piece
• Symphony No 4 by Beethoven

Lake Placid Sinfonietta - Concert 2

• Brandenburg Concerto No 6 by Bach
• Divertimento Concertante for Double Bass and Orchestra by Giovanni Nino Rota - a fun piece starring the Sinfonietta's double bassist
• Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis by Vaughan Williams
• Symphony No 60 by Haydn

Lake Placid Sinfonietta - Concert 1

We look forward to our Sinfonietta subscription every summer.  Yesterday's concert included

• Calm Sees and Prosperous Voyage by Mendelssohn
• Three German Dances by Mozart
• Voyage for Flute and String Orchestra by Corigliano
• Three Latin American Sketches by Copland
• Requiem by Faure with the Northern Lights Choir.  They were competent but not very exciting.  I hope our chorus sounds better.

NJSO Concert

I have decided to start keeping a record of the concerts we go to.  There are so many great ones and it would be good to be able to go back and look up favorite artists, etc.

Last night we drove to NJPAC in Newark for an NJSO concert.  The program was

• Mendelssohn "Hebrides Overture"
• Tchaikovsky "Violin Concerto in D Major" with soloist Augustin Hadelich, who was absolutely amazing.
• Brahms "Serenade No 1 in D Major"