Evolutionary Plume

Almost SeaFair in Seattle

Last weekned we saw "A Streetcar Named Desire" at the Intiman Theatre in Seattle. Awesome sets. It took me back to my first sight of New Orleans. The cast was equally awesome, performing an intense play with skill. It was my first time seeing it and Stanley and Blanche were memorable characters. The existence of drug abuse and insanity in society really takes an interesting turn depending on who is dealing with it. Also rather shocking was the use of "degenerate"; it hit me as a very old-fashioned and maybe even Southern term. Much fuel for thought in that play about human nature, much heavy emotion, too, but I can't say I necessarily enjoyed it.

A fun add-on to going was several of the SeaFair floats were parked outside the Opera House and several groups were practicing. We experienced more of SeaFair in preparation with the Blue Angels soaring over the West Seattle golf course. Lots of fun -- too bad I only played a 103.

Almost SeaFair in Seattle

Last weekned we saw "A Streetcar Named Desire" at the Intiman Theatre in Seattle. Awesome sets. It took me back to my first sight of New Orleans. The cast was equally awesome, performing an intense play with skill. It was my first time seeing it and Stanley and Blanche were memorable characters. The existence of drug abuse and insanity in society really takes an interesting turn depending on who is dealing with it. Also rather shocking was the use of "degenerate"; it hit me as a very old-fashioned and maybe even Southern term. Much fuel for thought in that play about human nature, much heavy emotion, too, but I can't say I necessarily enjoyed it.

A fun add-on to going was several of the SeaFair floats were parked outside the Opera House and several groups were practicing. We experienced more of SeaFair in preparation with the Blue Angels soaring over the West Seattle golf course. Lots of fun -- too bad I only played a 103.

Horse races, golf, opera, writing, and May Day

May Day Protests: Making U.S. Presidential Candidates Pay Attention

We went down to the waterfront and didn't notice anything special happening, there weren't that many ships in the harbor, trucks were on delivery routes and we managed to miss the parade. We did find the golf courses full--was there a connection? Still, the coming contract negotiations with the economy iffy and the presidential elections makes for fun times. Tonight we're off to see I Puritani at Seattle Opera, more about this later. Yesterday we golfed at Riverbend, my game was okay, not my best. And later today, the exciting results of the Kentucky Derby.

134th Kentucky Derby : How to Pick a Winner From the Field

Season's Greetings

 

Season's Greetings

 

Celebrity Gossip Site--where to find the trendy

I learned about a new website with celebrity pictures and lots of gossip stories that link to the original posting. This site allows you to create an account. Signing up nets you 100 points. If you invite more friends, you earn more points. Members exchange their points for subscriptions to Celebrity Gossip magazines. This site is a fun place to find out about new movies in the making, i.e. Tom Cruise is in Germany filming Valkyrie, which I think sounds pretty interesting subject for a movie. You can also find out that Paris Hilton is turning a new leaf, launching (herself as?) a comic strip. For a writer, the pictures might be the best part—lots of famous people dressed in trendy duds. What better place to find what’s super cool? This is a paid post.

Fourth of July Fireworks over Lake Union, Seattle

Well, we were there. Waited patiently and picnicked. Chatted with friends. Then slowly the sun set over Lake Union, turning Mt. Rainier rosy and the night sky darkening to reveal Venus.

Then the opening launch.

See more here.

Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov at Intiman Theatre in Seattle

I've read several stories and the Cherry Orchard by Chekov, but this was my first experience of one of his plays. Awesome. And a tear jerker. Uncle Vanya played by Mark Nelson and niece Sonya, played by Kristin Flanders stole the show and left me feeling really bad for them because they lost so much they became real people to me. In some ways, the characters in the play came from Chekov's own experience as a land owner, doctor and writer. It has real historical appeal because it caught the angst and heartache of a period in Russian history pre-Revolution and had many of the elements that led to quests for social reform. I loved this play, but somehow I wonder if it would be published now, with such an unhappy ending. We have to continue to live. What a great line.

This play also contains a big section where Doctor Astrov, played by Tim Hopper reveals his sincere horror at the results of deforestation on an area in which he lived, recording the changes over 50 years. A minor weak point comes from the doctor's age and a lack of understanding how he collected the information. No matter. The same message still works. Or perhaps, this is where the adaptations from Craig Lucas come in to play. No matter.

The character of Elena, Sonya's beautiful step-mom played by Samantha Mathis, also paints the portrait of a bored elite who can't imagine wanting to "do" anything, especially work. This is perhaps an socially important casting because how many of us know just such people with no interests?

Overall, the rest of the cast were convincing and well acted--Allen Fitzpatrick as Professor Serebriakov, Lori Larsen as Maria, Todd Jefferson Moore as Telegin otherwise known as Waffles, Paula Nelson as Nanny, etc.

Loss of my favorite prima ballerina and UW World Series

The photos in all the goodbye articles to Patricia Barker all tell of her lyrically beautiful dancing. She retired after many wonderful performances, many of which I attended. Yet one really needs to see a dancer in action to understand how great a dancer can be. Others do the movements, walk through the steps, do the 32 fouettes, but when Patricia Barker danced you forgot that there was a "dance" in the magic of watching her move, seamlessly and with great grace. She did for dance what writers are supposed to do for the reader--make people forget about everything but the character she portrayed.

Meanwhile, we've got our new catalog on the UW World Series at Meany Hall, lots of good performers coming.

Loss of my favorite prima ballerina and UW World Series

The photos in all the goodbye articles to Patricia Barker all tell of her lyrically beautiful dancing. She retired after many wonderful performances, many of which I attended. Yet one really needs to see a dancer in action to understand how great a dancer can be. Others do the movements, walk through the steps, do the 32 fouettes, but when Patricia Barker danced you forgot that there was a "dance" in the magic of watching her move, seamlessly and with great grace. She did for dance what writers are supposed to do for the reader--make people forget about everything but the character she portrayed.

Meanwhile, we've got our new catalog on the UW World Series at Meany Hall, lots of good performers coming.

Rags to Riches a winner, and an invite 7/8/7 Dreamliner

Couldn't help but watch the Belmont Stakes with a filly in the running and Slew's Tizzy and 5 other truly beautiful horses that had that look that they'd go the full stretch. Then "Rags to Riches" wins! What a beautiful gal with Velasquez riding. Fun! Even without a bet on any.

Also got invited to Boeing's 787 rollout July 8th--7/8/07. This will be fun. I saw the first 757 take off across Lake Washington, well, ages ago when I worked in the Decal shop. I will go even though I know it's just a lot of speechifying. Having been a Boeing family member, how could I skip?

Seattle Symphony Musically Speaking a great break

Today, we had tickets to Seattle Symphony's Musically Speaking series, one I have always enjoyed because you can get to town easily without excess traffic problems and the 2:00 start means you can dine in leisure than spend a peaceful heavenly hour or two listening to divine music.

Today, Asher Fisch conducted and provided commentary. He started out by making everyone laugh by explaining the various ways composers have dealt with executions and said it really shouldn't be something we all laughed at, which of course made everyone laugh again. His sweet rendition of Puccini's death of Tosca, followed by the orchestra adlibbing Jack the Ripper, followed by an explanation that the French made everything beautiful even guillotines, was followed by poor Egmont's execution, violins pleading for his life while the horns etc condemned him and a two note death leading into a triumphant spiritual release. Educational. His explanation of Goethe's work on Egmont fit well with what I decided the piece meant, long ago--mainly that after the long battle between melody and rhythm in the Fifth Symphony, these two elements come together triumphantly and sweetly in adagio between two.

Also seen were two pieces that could have learned Beethoven's lesson above, that a little melody really breaks up intellectual tedium however brilliantly and creatively displayed. The writer's equivalent of adding a little emotion into an intellectual debate. Beethoven's Triple Concerto featured three fine soloist, Asher Fisch on piano, Chee-Yun on violin, and Alisa Weilerstein playing a beautiful cello. This piece was followed by Stravinsky's symphony in three movements, a piece that is very modern and interesting. Overall, a lovely day.

Seattle Symphony Musically Speaking a great break

Today, we had tickets to Seattle Symphony's Musically Speaking series, one I have always enjoyed because you can get to town easily without excess traffic problems and the 2:00 start means you can dine in leisure than spend a peaceful heavenly hour or two listening to divine music.

Today, Asher Fisch conducted and provided commentary. He started out by making everyone laugh by explaining the various ways composers have dealt with executions and said it really shouldn't be something we all laughed at, which of course made everyone laugh again. His sweet rendition of Puccini's death of Tosca, followed by the orchestra adlibbing Jack the Ripper, followed by an explanation that the French made everything beautiful even guillotines, was followed by poor Egmont's execution, violins pleading for his life while the horns etc condemned him and a two note death leading into a triumphant spiritual release. Educational. His explanation of Goethe's work on Egmont fit well with what I decided the piece meant, long ago--mainly that after the long battle between melody and rhythm in the Fifth Symphony, these two elements come together triumphantly and sweetly in adagio between two.

Also seen were two pieces that could have learned Beethoven's lesson above, that a little melody really breaks up intellectual tedium however brilliantly and creatively displayed. The writer's equivalent of adding a little emotion into an intellectual debate. Beethoven's Triple Concerto featured three fine soloist, Asher Fisch on piano, Chee-Yun on violin, and Alisa Weilerstein playing a beautiful cello. This piece was followed by Stravinsky's symphony in three movements, a piece that is very modern and interesting. Overall, a lovely day.

Mad Forest, presented by the UW School of Drama

Wednesday, my husband and I attended a performance by the UW School of Drama of a play by Caryl Churchill, titled "Mad Forest". An excellent play that was superbly acted by the cast, all of which had a fairly strenous evening, many playing multiple characters. The play enacts events that occurred during the 1989 Romanian Revolution from the perspective of those that lived through the events and found their lives changed but also not changed. The theme related to the release of people from the fear they lived in during a dictatorship. The style of the play was intriguing to watch, it presented a series of dramatic moments, one after another, swapping in various story lines about a set of families joined by the love relationships of their children. It highlighted many of the racial and economic tensions that led up to the events and continued to a lesser degree afterward. The play ran from February 25-March 11. Bravo!

Mad Forest, presented by the UW School of Drama

Wednesday, my husband and I attended a performance by the UW School of Drama of a play by Caryl Churchill, titled "Mad Forest". An excellent play that was superbly acted by the cast, all of which had a fairly strenous evening, many playing multiple characters. The play enacts events that occurred during the 1989 Romanian Revolution from the perspective of those that lived through the events and found their lives changed but also not changed. The theme related to the release of people from the fear they lived in during a dictatorship. The style of the play was intriguing to watch, it presented a series of dramatic moments, one after another, swapping in various story lines about a set of families joined by the love relationships of their children. It highlighted many of the racial and economic tensions that led up to the events and continued to a lesser degree afterward. The play ran from February 25-March 11. Bravo!

Chamber Dance Company at Meany Hall, UW, Seattle for three more nights

Tonight we saw a fantastic program by the Chamber Dance Company, a local modern dance company. They are performing another three nights and then again in October. The repetoire could rightly be called an introduction to a history of modern dance with pieces from 1936, 1953, 1962 and 1996.

The piece I enjoyed most was a reconstruction of Dore Hoyer's  "Affectos Humanos" set to music by Dimitri Wiatowitsch. Soloist's danced sketches on Vanity, Desire/Greed, Hate, Fear/Anxiety, and Love. The movements were dramatic, strong leg work, with much use and focus on the hands. It made for a very different look and feel to the dance that was almost Asian. The control required for the mostly slow piece showcased the dancer's abilities really well.

Center My Heart, choreographed by Doug Elkins opened the program with a Turkish slave girl look that allowed the fun of break dancing to play out to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's "Allah Hoo Allah Hoo". Colorful, rhythmic, the piece moved quickly and was fun to watch.

Tensile Involvement, nicknamed 'the Web', by Alvin Nikolais' choreography and music, was brilliantly staged and had the dancers working with huge wide lengths of ribbons. The effect was very dramatic, the dancing interesting but somewhat upstaged. Overall, quite a fun piece.

The last piece by Matha Graham titled "Chronicle" using excerpts "Steps in the Street" and "Prelude to Action" was wonderfully danced and could aptly be titled 1936. We saw the machine work of artists like Diego Riviera come to life in intense, rhythmic motion. The only problem with the piece was it was over far to quickly.

Ticket prices at $10 a piece made it a show not to be missed. 

Chamber Dance Company at Meany Hall, UW, Seattle for three more nights

Tonight we saw a fantastic program by the Chamber Dance Company, a local modern dance company. They are performing another three nights and then again in October. The repetoire could rightly be called an introduction to a history of modern dance with pieces from 1936, 1953, 1962 and 1996.

The piece I enjoyed most was a reconstruction of Dore Hoyer's  "Affectos Humanos" set to music by Dimitri Wiatowitsch. Soloist's danced sketches on Vanity, Desire/Greed, Hate, Fear/Anxiety, and Love. The movements were dramatic, strong leg work, with much use and focus on the hands. It made for a very different look and feel to the dance that was almost Asian. The control required for the mostly slow piece showcased the dancer's abilities really well.

Center My Heart, choreographed by Doug Elkins opened the program with a Turkish slave girl look that allowed the fun of break dancing to play out to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's "Allah Hoo Allah Hoo". Colorful, rhythmic, the piece moved quickly and was fun to watch.

Tensile Involvement, nicknamed 'the Web', by Alvin Nikolais' choreography and music, was brilliantly staged and had the dancers working with huge wide lengths of ribbons. The effect was very dramatic, the dancing interesting but somewhat upstaged. Overall, quite a fun piece.

The last piece by Matha Graham titled "Chronicle" using excerpts "Steps in the Street" and "Prelude to Action" was wonderfully danced and could aptly be titled 1936. We saw the machine work of artists like Diego Riviera come to life in intense, rhythmic motion. The only problem with the piece was it was over far to quickly.

Ticket prices at $10 a piece made it a show not to be missed. 

Shen Wei is awesome dance company, still one more day at UW Meany Theater, Seattle

Shen Wei is an awesome dance company and still has one more performance at Meany Theater at the University of WA.

Dancer, choreographer Shen Wei is native born to China but living in the US when not traveling world wide. Trained in Chinese Opera from the age of 7, Shen Wei's dances are beautifully imaginative--eye candy for the soul.

We saw two performances tonight, one set to Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" choreographed in 2003, features dancers in grey and white on a checkerboard dance floor swirled with cloud formations. I was amazed at the control the dancers showed in performing to this difficult piece of music. The ideas set off in my brain were fantastic--almost a statement on entropy, with dancers shuffling about like atoms bumping others off and yet, having their own life spin, almost like electrons or mini-whirl winds or flowing together like breezes. Fun.

Then we saw his earlier design, 2000, of "Foldings" set to music by John Taverner and Tibetan Buddhist chant, you enter a fantasy world, where red clad buddhist monks scurry up a mountain through fog and then magically turn into carp swimming in a pond and later anemones beneath the sea, but before long, two headed creatures arrive like Neptune on a snail, or old man mountains making love, and then a devilish star fish rolls past, and then the entire school of fish stare off toward where they can see out of the pond, looking longingly up and then evolve up and out.

It's a pricey  performance with tickets set at $42 each, but well worth seeing such a highly trained world class dance company. You rarely see dancers so able to articulate at every joint with strong gestures and move so seamlessly that you rarely question their ability to hold a stance or flip over. Bravo!

In a Q/A session following the performance, Shen Wei made a number of points. 1) He has an idea for a production and keeps tight control over what occurs from staging, costumes, choreography, music, even though he takes some input from dancers, etc. about their capabilities. He wants to see his vision come to life. 2) He believed it important to travel extensively and seek different ideas from nature and history and cultures world wide 3) His dancers are trained in his methods 4) He believes he's a different person since coming to the US, able to explore and learn much more extensively than he thought possible. He said in terms of dance, there was only a few tough rules in China, like having the males chest's bared during the dance--Folding was created for a Chinese dance company.

Shen Wei is awesome dance company, still one more day at UW Meany Theater, Seattle

Shen Wei is an awesome dance company and still has one more performance at Meany Theater at the University of WA.

Dancer, choreographer Shen Wei is native born to China but living in the US when not traveling world wide. Trained in Chinese Opera from the age of 7, Shen Wei's dances are beautifully imaginative--eye candy for the soul.

We saw two performances tonight, one set to Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" choreographed in 2003, features dancers in grey and white on a checkerboard dance floor swirled with cloud formations. I was amazed at the control the dancers showed in performing to this difficult piece of music. The ideas set off in my brain were fantastic--almost a statement on entropy, with dancers shuffling about like atoms bumping others off and yet, having their own life spin, almost like electrons or mini-whirl winds or flowing together like breezes. Fun.

Then we saw his earlier design, 2000, of "Foldings" set to music by John Taverner and Tibetan Buddhist chant, you enter a fantasy world, where red clad buddhist monks scurry up a mountain through fog and then magically turn into carp swimming in a pond and later anemones beneath the sea, but before long, two headed creatures arrive like Neptune on a snail, or old man mountains making love, and then a devilish star fish rolls past, and then the entire school of fish stare off toward where they can see out of the pond, looking longingly up and then evolve up and out.

It's a pricey  performance with tickets set at $42 each, but well worth seeing such a highly trained world class dance company. You rarely see dancers so able to articulate at every joint with strong gestures and move so seamlessly that you rarely question their ability to hold a stance or flip over. Bravo!

In a Q/A session following the performance, Shen Wei made a number of points. 1) He has an idea for a production and keeps tight control over what occurs from staging, costumes, choreography, music, even though he takes some input from dancers, etc. about their capabilities. He wants to see his vision come to life. 2) He believed it important to travel extensively and seek different ideas from nature and history and cultures world wide 3) His dancers are trained in his methods 4) He believes he's a different person since coming to the US, able to explore and learn much more extensively than he thought possible. He said in terms of dance, there was only a few tough rules in China, like having the males chest's bared during the dance--Folding was created for a Chinese dance company.

UW Lecture for Alumni

Last night Bob and I were guests of friends at a UW Lecture for Alumni held at the Center for Urban Horticulture. Side note--what a terrific place. Side note--donate enough to the UW and you get invited to such events. We were served snacks and wine, cool. Speaking at the event were Toby Bradshaw, Professor of Biology and Andrew Light, Associate Professor of Philosophy. Both have written a number of books on the subject of genetics and related issues. The discussion for the night centered on the issues behind Genetically Modified foods. I was surprised to learn the Prince Charles was adamantly opposed, but Bob explained that he had been a pioneer in organic foods in the UK.

Both laughed at the idea of "what nature wants", explaining that there is little natural about any of our foods, just by cultivating them for 7000 years, we've reduced biodiversity and tamed many plants, effectively selectively breeding them. They made the point that we've irradiated foods i.e. bombarded plants with neutrons to make them mutate in order to give us different plants. The genetic modifications people talk about have resulted primarily from the fact that a bacterium was found by the Prof. Bradshaw etal. at the UW that "naturally" inserted proteins into plant cell DNA. This particular finding wasn't copyrighted, but subsequent techniques have been by a few large companies.

The discussion ran the gamut from what is safe, what is risky, who should evaluate the risks and how and when they should be evaluated, various attempts at genetic modifications, control over the plants, potentials for needy areas such as sub-saharan Africa, the bombing of Prof. Bradshaw's office by terrorists, and various "yuck" factors that different people have over their food.

UW Dance Program Faculty Dance Concert

UW Dance Program Faculty Dance Concert

By: Sheri Fresonke Harper

Category: Opinion > Other

Read the article on Judy's Book.

Last night we attended the UW Faculty Dance Concert at the Meany Hall Studio theatre. The program provides a showcase for the faculty's choreographic skills as well as their students dance skills. It was definitely worth going, in fact, this is our second time going. This year, guest instructor Dominique Gabella choreographed a dance called "La Valse" to a piece by Sibelius, and also danced it with Betsy Cooper. Totally lovely, so much it brought tears to my eyes as it showed an elderly woman remember her youth. The other pieces were well done, too. "Parade" by Mark Haim was eerie at first and grew into a powerful statement when danced to "Don't Rain on my Parade". "No Man's Land" by Fritha Pengelly introduced me to the lovely music by PJ Harvey and neat lighting, and a changing dance landscape. "Fissures" by Jim Hansen was like the earth splitting up. "Reverb" by Jurg Koch a geometric piece where dancers plucked each other and revolved in time to Philip Glass. Neat all around. Great dancing.

UW Dance Program Faculty Dance Concert

UW Dance Program Faculty Dance Concert

By: Sheri Fresonke Harper

Category: Opinion > Other

Read the article on Judy's Book.

Last night we attended the UW Faculty Dance Concert at the Meany Hall Studio theatre. The program provides a showcase for the faculty's choreographic skills as well as their students dance skills. It was definitely worth going, in fact, this is our second time going. This year, guest instructor Dominique Gabella choreographed a dance called "La Valse" to a piece by Sibelius, and also danced it with Betsy Cooper. Totally lovely, so much it brought tears to my eyes as it showed an elderly woman remember her youth. The other pieces were well done, too. "Parade" by Mark Haim was eerie at first and grew into a powerful statement when danced to "Don't Rain on my Parade". "No Man's Land" by Fritha Pengelly introduced me to the lovely music by PJ Harvey and neat lighting, and a changing dance landscape. "Fissures" by Jim Hansen was like the earth splitting up. "Reverb" by Jurg Koch a geometric piece where dancers plucked each other and revolved in time to Philip Glass. Neat all around. Great dancing.

Renton Coulon Rumbel and Tingstad Free Concert in the Park

Renton Coulon Rumbel and Tingstad Free Concert in the Park

By: Sheri Fresonke Harper

Category: Opinion > Other

Read the article on Judy's Book.

Tonight was wonderful, the sun setting over south lake WA at Coulon Park. The rich tones of Eric Tingstad's guitar that he strokes and rings and beats. Nancy Rumbel's fantastic virtuosity on oboe, ocarino and more. Plus a bass guitarist and drummer. Sounded great most the time except for the poorly tuned cigar boat that took forever to cast off. Folks nodding their heads and beating out the rhythm or knitting or lounging or dining on Ivar's fish and chips or burgers from Kidd Valley. Tiny tots doing free form dance -- incredibly funny to watch. Definitely a nice night out, followed by a walk up the beach while the Olympics came out into grayed backdrop, seagulls diving and calling. A hotshot kayakist doing twirls and tricks and capsizing in a short chopped off one I'd never seen before. Definitely eye candy and worth doing again. Next time Rumbel and Tingstad are in Renton is Jan 16th at the IKEA performance hall -- sounds like a post-XMAS treat!

Renton Coulon Rumbel and Tingstad Free Concert in the Park

Renton Coulon Rumbel and Tingstad Free Concert in the Park

By: Sheri Fresonke Harper

Category: Opinion > Other

Read the article on Judy's Book.

Tonight was wonderful, the sun setting over south lake WA at Coulon Park. The rich tones of Eric Tingstad's guitar that he strokes and rings and beats. Nancy Rumbel's fantastic virtuosity on oboe, ocarino and more. Plus a bass guitarist and drummer. Sounded great most the time except for the poorly tuned cigar boat that took forever to cast off. Folks nodding their heads and beating out the rhythm or knitting or lounging or dining on Ivar's fish and chips or burgers from Kidd Valley. Tiny tots doing free form dance -- incredibly funny to watch. Definitely a nice night out, followed by a walk up the beach while the Olympics came out into grayed backdrop, seagulls diving and calling. A hotshot kayakist doing twirls and tricks and capsizing in a short chopped off one I'd never seen before. Definitely eye candy and worth doing again. Next time Rumbel and Tingstad are in Renton is Jan 16th at the IKEA performance hall -- sounds like a post-XMAS treat!

Seattle Opera's Der Rosenkavilier ends to bravos, with laughter and tears along the way.

Seattle Opera's Der Rosenkavilier ends to bravos, with laughter and tears along the way. For some reason, I found the Marschellina's premonition of the future more heartbreaking than the end -- she, part sung by Carol Vaness, stole the show along with Baron Och, who delighted in horrifying us all with his behavior while singing a lovely to kill for waltz. The Italian tenor in the first act had the best line -- the torment is so sweet, although the end was wonderfully cynical.  I thought the Seattle audience a little stick in the mud-ish, they didn't laugh until the third act, whereas I started laughing with the arrival of the silver rose. I guess gallantry is far lost in our time.

Sleeping Beauty and more

Pacific Northwest Ballet's Sleeping Beauty was gorgeous, well staged, and rather long. I'm not sure what I liked best, all the little princesses running and jumping and waving tiara's, wands and dragging dolls, or the ballet. Which show was which? I was very pleased with the dreamy staging, the costumes a rich blend of color and purpose splashing against scenic props. Good forest. All the children were so well behaved for such a long performance, I think they were entranced with the magic. I loved seeing the corps work so well together, their heads perfectly flopping feathers was so well down. I think my favorites were Puss and Boots and his white cat and the rose dances. Definitely worth seeing.

Seattle Sympony tonight at Benaroya -- Vivaldi, Bach and two great sopranos

I liked tonight's Vivaldi Gloria much better than the two Bach pieces, or even the Purcell suite from The Fairy Queen, the latter which I thought must surely have been planned for me especially. In addition, we were treated to Bach's Fantasia in G, which I didn't much like even though extremely well played, and I got to witness the organ in use, wonderful. The reason for the treat was an homage to recently deceased Milton Katims, director of the orchestra for 22 years. Julianne Gearhart was delightful  in Bach's Cantata 51, which seemed to be a soprano blending with David Gordon on trumpet, then with the first violin, then with bass, and winning. I also liked her little aria in the Vivaldi where she sang with the oboe in a lovely melodic bit. Carolyn Kahl sang the deeper arias in the Gloria as well trained and moving. A fun night in which one got to experience bits and pieces from various soloists, and I almost forgot, the Seattle Symphony Chorale was terrific, too.

Seattle Sympony tonight at Benaroya -- Vivaldi, Bach and two great sopranos

I liked tonight's Vivaldi Gloria much better than the two Bach pieces, or even the Purcell suite from The Fairy Queen, the latter which I thought must surely have been planned for me especially. In addition, we were treated to Bach's Fantasia in G, which I didn't much like even though extremely well played, and I got to witness the organ in use, wonderful. The reason for the treat was an homage to recently deceased Milton Katims, director of the orchestra for 22 years. Julianne Gearhart was delightful  in Bach's Cantata 51, which seemed to be a soprano blending with David Gordon on trumpet, then with the first violin, then with bass, and winning. I also liked her little aria in the Vivaldi where she sang with the oboe in a lovely melodic bit. Carolyn Kahl sang the deeper arias in the Gloria as well trained and moving. A fun night in which one got to experience bits and pieces from various soloists, and I almost forgot, the Seattle Symphony Chorale was terrific, too.

UW World Series -- Imani Winds

Our friends gifted us with tickets tonight since they had to miss. There were very talented youngsters in this quintet. I learned some new/modern era composers that I liked -- Arturo Marquez, Lalo Schifrin, Astor Piazzolla, and also the group's flutist -- Valerie Coleman. They were fun to watch because they enjoyed themselves thoroughly. That fact seemed impossible to me since I would never be caught in a heel, but the ladies looked fine in very appealing costumes.  They have a new CD out, see www.imaniwinds.com.

UW World Series -- Imani Winds

Our friends gifted us with tickets tonight since they had to miss. There were very talented youngsters in this quintet. I learned some new/modern era composers that I liked -- Arturo Marquez, Lalo Schifrin, Astor Piazzolla, and also the group's flutist -- Valerie Coleman. They were fun to watch because they enjoyed themselves thoroughly. That fact seemed impossible to me since I would never be caught in a heel, but the ladies looked fine in very appealing costumes.  They have a new CD out, see www.imaniwinds.com.