Wednesday night the
Birdfoot Chamber Music Festival kicked off, and David and I attended the first event: an interactive rehearsal.
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| Musicians and audience milling around at the end . |
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| Sherry |
The festival's artistic director, Jenna Sherry, introduced snippets of each movement to Benjamin Britten's String quartet no.3, Op.94. The rehearsal was very interactive, with different members adding in their opinions and thoughts, and the audience was free to ask questions. At the end they played the entire piece. I loved this format: I don't really like modern compositions as a rule, but having the scene set for us by the musicians made me appreciate the piece more.
An interesting note: the first violin, Kristopher Tong, played using a macbook air instead of paper music. He had a scanned pdf score (he plays from the entire score, not just his part!) and uses a foot pedal to turn pages. The Borromeo quartet in which he plays uses this technique.
This year we have a packed week planned (thanks to all the birthdays in May!) but maybe next year I can make time for other events in the festival. I have a soft spot for chamber music!
Oh yeah. And tonight's event was FREE!
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Amazing the role technology plays in everything! Very cool event.
ReplyDeleteI played violin for many many years and chamber music was my favorite. :) Sounds way fun!!
ReplyDeleteOoo, I like the foot pumping page turner! Wish I had that for my piano! Ok, probably don't need one but it would be cool. Sounds like a cool experience!!
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