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When we moved to Amarillo a year and a half ago I was somewhat stoked that I could finally go see a symphony again. I used to catch the one in Wichita when I lived there years ago and it made for an enjoyable afternoon. I checked on getting tickets here and lo and behold they had all the performances for the the 2005-6 season sold to season ticket holders. So, I put my name on the waiting list for one particular violin concerto performance without any real hopes of getting a ticket. Got a call thur. afternoon from the boxoffice wanting to know if I wanted some tickets since I was first on the list. So of course I jumped on them and took the wife who has never been. I'm not an afficianodo of classical, and I couldn't tell you who wrote one piece or another, but I do enjoy listening to it live. My wife never listens to classical unless it happens to be what I'm playing at the time. Needless to say, when it was over, she asked if it would be possible to get season tickets! Our seats were pretty decent for $28 each. We were about 5 rows back, aisle seats, center section. Just high enough to be eye level with the musicians in the new building they put up this year. Gonna have to give a call monday to put my name on the seaon ticket list (they go to previous holders first).
Shane; excellent work. Kudo's to your wife. So what was it you saw?
Here's the itnerary: Finish Line - Cindy McTee : This was a piece commisioned by the Amarillo Symphony and was played for the first time that night. Violin Concerto in D Major, Op.35 -- Erich Korngold : This was the piece that vituoso Stephanie Chase played on. She was very, very good! Prelude and Love-Death from "Tristan and Isolde" -- Wagner : They put the beinning and end of the opera together. Very nice melding of the two. Kamarinskya -- Glinka Ride of the Valkyries -- Wagner (0f course). This was also the last performance for the ConcertMaster (1st violin) who had been with the symphony for 9 years. She was very good and I think I actually prefered her sound to Chase's. Her tone was more full and warm than Chase's was. Very pleasant to listen to.
What my wife and I found somewhat unsettling at first was that there were probably only 20 people or so that we could tell that were our age, I'm 36 and my wife is almost 33. Most were 50+ out of the 500-700 people there (I'm guessing at total numbers, but I suspect that at least 500 were there).
Nice repretoir'; and you got to hear the "Ride". How great is that! I started going to the local symphony about two years ago and you know I really like it better than the rock concerts now. It is just so involving. ( And comfortable on the old back.)