“Friday Orange”

Friday
What an amazing evening at Music Hall this evening for another Cincinnati Symphony concert. As we walked in, we could see it was another in their  Friday Orange” series (so called apparently because orange is a hot, passionate and welcoming colour), where they feature some kind of artistic installation in the lobby. This evening’s guest curator was local visual artist Radha Lakshmi, creator of “Sacred Space”.  In the installation, Radha explores themes of ritual, impermanence and mindfulness,  and draws from her South Indian heritage, feauturing prayer flags, some with musical themes, and a mandalum in the centre, created from colored sand, and surrounded with petals. There were bowls full of petals, at the side, and audience members were encouraged to add to the display. She calls it a celebration of music performance art, visual art and ritual art. Looking at her blog later, I could see that she had held workshops, inviting members of the community to go and help create the prints for the flags, so it was truly community participation. Despite my comment yesterday about collages, I felt a collage was the only way to show the full effect!
The concert which followed was likewise fantastic. The guest conductor was Finnish born John Storgards, chief Guest Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic, as well as the Principal Guest conductor of the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, and the program featured all Nordic composers, an overture by Nielsen, “Sieidi”, Concerto for Solo Percussion and Orchestra, and Sibelius Symphony No 5. The percussion concerto was written for virtuoso percussionist Colin Currie, and he was the soloist this evening. The percussion instruments were arranged across the front of the stage, and he began at one end, worked his way across and then back again, beginning and ending with the djembé, a drum of West African origin, moving on to the darabuka, a Middle Eastern drum, with a slightly lighter sound, then on to a set of five Tom Tom drums, the marimba, wood blocks and temple blocks, vibraphone, on which he played a cadenza, and the final instrument being a large tam tam. I found the work, although modern sounding, to be totally absorbing and fascinating to watch, though Roger was less enthusiastic! As we left, we bumped into a friend from our former church, who we’ve seen at several concerts or organ recitals lately. She was there with a friend, and they were the same - one had loved it, the other, whilst appreciating the amazing skills, was less moved by it! The audience as a whole, however, clearly loved it, coming almost immediately to their feet for a standing ovation!

Please check out yesterday's entry, posted a day late, A beautiful place to sit