I opted against going to the warm-ups this morning and it’s a good thing I did. I heard at the adult amateur ensemble session that the warm-ups were brutal. Full 4 octave range across all keys for starters. Most of the people that attended the warm-ups had some trouble playing in the ensemble. I always thought that the idea of warm-ups was to warm-up, not to kill the day before it even starts.
The amateur ensemble went well. The conductor upped the tempo to performance level and I still kept up and played well. Phew. We will be performing on Sunday evening.
The rest of the day was loaded with performances, almost all of them fantastic. Jan Boen performed several excellent pieces by Jan Bach. He really played brilliantly. (See the description on this CD about the pieces Jan Boen played.) Jacek Muzyk performed the Suite for Cello in G Major by J. S. Bach. Mr. Muzyk is technically excellent but I found the musicality a bit lacking. I felt his performance to be quite robotic.
The evening concert began with The Four Hornsmen of the Apocalypse quartet. They were a delight to listen to and they interjected a lot of humor into their performance which kept us laughing. Annamia Larsson (popularly known for her You Tube performance of the Siegfried Long Call) and Jeff Nelson were the featured artists for tonight’s concert. Both were amazing. Between the two of them they played for well over an hour individually and together. My chops hurt just watching them. IMHO, this was the best evening concert so far.
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