MSO

Hey guys!

So for those of you who live in Montreal, you know hat the MSO is, or should. if you don't it's the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. Some other cities around Canada (that I know of) also have local orchestra.

The MSO had a free concert with conductor Kent Nagano at the Olympic Stadium on the 9th, so technically last night. I went because I've always wanted to go to one of their concerts but wasn't sure if I was into classical music and wasn't going to pay 50$ for something I might end up hating it. So this was a perfect chance to go see them perform, and boy did I love them, they were supposed to play 3 pieces:1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky, Respighi’s Pines of Rome, along with a piece with Japanese Drums (taiko). We were thousands of people, packed outdoors in the rain listening to this concert, and I know it's no Rock or R&B concert with a million screaming people, but I'm glad this was my first concert. It was a beautiful experience, in my opinion, probably better than a million screaming sweaty bodies stuck together. Although I could have gone without the rain.

They started off by playing the Tchaikovsky piece (which included some pyrotechnics, which was really unexpected), then they played the piece with the taiko with Japanese master Eitetsu Hayashi. That piece was my favorite because I felt like it was very moving, the drums made it very interesting, and the strings from the orchestra made it more alive in a sense. Eitetsu Hayashi ended up playing an encore piece, a solo piece without the orchestra. After that, they played the Respighi piece, this piece has some special guest, including a nine year old violinist and the military orchestra who played wind instruments. After this piece, the orchestra played an encore piece. I don't know what the last one was called though. So we were promised 3 pieces, but got 5! What a treat that was for my MSO and first concert.

I'm definitely willing to pay for my next MSO concert, especially if it's indoors and I can sit  :P

So that's all I have to tonight, my next post will be after my New York trip, so hopefully I have soemthing to talk about when I get back :)

-J