Who knew?

[rivka]

Sunday night my friend Megary and I went to a "chamber music by candlelight" concert in a local church. The music was interesting - Poulenc, Faure, some film music for cello and piano written by Charlie Chaplin, and the premiere of a piece written for trombone and percussion and set to a John Donne poem. (I know, I know, but it was actually pretty good. Or at least, I liked it.) The church was absolutely lovely, with a very spare classical style. And the concert was free.

What's more, it became clear from the literature table that there are dozens and dozens of free concerts in Baltimore. I had no idea. In November alone, there's going to be a string quartet from Julliard performing a work commemorating 9/11; another "chamber music by candlelight" concert featuring Beethoven, Mozart, and Dvorak; Bach's Cantata 127 with full choir and orchestra; chamber singers performing Brahms, Barber, and Copland; an orchestral concert of assorted modern compositions; the Amherst Saxophone Quartet; and - last but not least - a performance featuring music written for the baryton, "the Prince of Instruments and Instrument of Princes," which I did not even know existed.

I had no idea that all of this was available, and all of it free. (It's certainly not very well publicized, except, apparently, at the actual concerts.) I like classical music - I grew up listening to it at home and going to symphony concerts with my parents. But since my early graduate school years, when I bought a short-season ticket to concerts sponsored by the university and promptly fell asleep in concert after concert because of grad-student sleep deprivation, I haven't had much contact with classical music. I've looked at Baltimore Symphony concerts, but tickets are pretty expensive and I've just never gotten around to going.

I think I'm going to try to get to at least one of these concerts per month. It'll be nice to expand the cultural horizons of my daily life, and this one, at least, was peaceful and relaxing.

Comments

[eeyorerin]

A lot of the local colleges offer free/cheap music series as well (having gone to undergrad at one of them, she says, and hoping it hasn't changed in five years).

[minnaleigh.livejournal.com]

I like that kind of thing, too. And it really can be relaxing. They have monthly performances here of classical music and I made it down with Trina for one of them. It was really nice to sit in a room for half an hour in the middle of the work day and listen to a string quartet play. I, too, could use that kind of thing more often in my life. Maybe next year.

Upcoming music in Balto --

[jonsinger.livejournal.com]

Wow! If it's okay, I would like to email you for particulars on some of these. (The choral stuff and the Baryton, in particular, sound pretty interesting.)

Also still interested in a dim-sum run, possibly Northern style, after I get clear of this wretched gut-crud.

Best --
jon

Re: Upcoming music in Balto --

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Absolutely! And it would be nice to see you - we live so close together that it's kind of funny to only meet at Minicon. You can e-mail me at rivka5@verizon.net .