More friends visiting....Reunions
Two summers ago, Kirsten D. came by to visit me while she was presenting a conference at Chatham University. This fall, Linda I., Charles, William, and I had a mini-Marietta reunion (it was great fun, by the way). This spring Jenny (Grace and Jason's niece from the West Coast) will visit, followed by Stephan, whom I haven't seen from a month before the Berlin Wall was taken down. There has been a run of reunions. And I hope for many more, with many more friends.
Charles and I have noted that as our world gets bigger, it really gets smaller (because you meet new people who know others whom you already know). "My world is imploding on itself!" I caught myself exclaiming to a friend. "And Pittsburgh---it's the ultimate vortex: It sucks you in." I know of people who have tried to leave, but keep coming back!
Labels: California, celebration, Chatham College, dreams, excited, family, friends, international culture, Marietta, Pittsburgh, reunion
Music PM
Maureen, Jose, Karina, and I arrived at Chatham University in the frigid cold yesterday during the first piece of Fabiola's concert. I enjoyed the first piece of the concert, and Karina and I commented about how she often played so that it sounded like more than two hands playing!
She played these pieces for the concert as part of the Chatham global series focusing on Brazil:
Tento do Segundo Tom (17th C.) (Pedro de Araujo, Portugal)
Sonata op. 53, "Poem of Ectasy" (1907) (A. Scriabin, Russia)
Three Prophecies in Etude Form (1988) (J. Almeida Prado, Brazil)
I. Resonance Etude (Zacharias, 6:1)
II. Rhythmic Etude (Baruch, 4:36)
III.Etude for legato chords, tremule, repeated notes, trill (Isaiah, 35:8)
Allegro in B minor, op. 8 (1831) (Robert Schumann, Germany)
Sonata, Sz 80 (1926) (Bela Bartok, Hungary)
I. Allegro moderato
II. Sostenuto e pesante
III.Allegro molto
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We had just missed the 5:15 Mass when we decided to stop at Fabiola's to let her change. We sat outside her building when Mom called with an offer for PSO tickets from their neighbors. All of the ladies decided we would take advantage of the tickets, Jose would be seeing the PSO tomorrow night with Fabiola.
We had a quick dinner at Gullifty's, headed to Mom and Dad's to pick up the concert tickets, and we headed to the concert at Heinz Hall. Fabiola and I ran into Mike (I asked him how Joyce was doing), and we all greatly enjoyed the strong, expressive voices of the opera singers performing excerpts from Act I and II, and the whole of Act III of Nixon in China. The Communists were at stage left, the Republicans at stage right (how appropriate!) for the opera. John Adams, the composer, conducted the PSO for the whole evening.
After a brief intermission, the symphonic version of Dr. Atomic (based on Oppenheimer's Manhattan Project work) was performed. Early in the piece there was use of a one-story-high sheet metal piece that made thunder-like noises. The second part of it featured the strings in a harried, frenetic movement. Later in the piece there was a French horn acting to "bark out orders."
Fabiola and the rest of my orchestra-seated row were absolutely, irrevocably entranced.
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We left, arriving at about eleven thirty at Gullifty's (again) to enjoy more music and desserts. I enjoyed a pina colada smoothie.
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I found my back door's lock frozen shut, and Maureen drove me 'round to the other side of the building....Waow! What a musically-inclined afternoon and evening!
Labels: Chatham College, dining, Faith, friends, international culture, music, PSO
Chatham College Choir, University of Virginia Glee Club
Saturday I purchased shoe traction devices for walking in the snow and ice. Mom, Dad, and I babysat Beatrice, and in the evening I donned the traction devices on my Doc Martens and took a bus to Chatham College. I met up with my friend and we made the snowy trek up the hill to Campbell Memorial Chapel. There, we enjoyed the sounds of the University of Virginia Glee Club (who sang, among other pieces, Biebl's Ave Maria for men's voices), followed by the Chatham College Choir (who sang less densely layered-voice pieces). After intermission, the combined choruses sang Poulenc's Gloria, and sounded glorious, considering that they had practiced merely one day together.
My friend and I enjoyed the music, and we saw Richard Teaster at the concert, too, with several of his choristers.
I spotted--and was subsequently surprised by--a vole in the cold, wintry snow on the way to the bus stop.
Labels: Chatham College, Choir, traction
