Boston Symphony Orchestra

Saw the Boston Symphony Orchestra last night...amazing as always!

With a program like Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet (something everyone knows), a Bernstein violin piece played by Josh Bell (celebrity crush?), and Dvorak's Symphony No. 8 (good memories from playing principle clarinet my freshman year at NEC), you can't go wrong. Not to mention that the person I was sitting next to is my favorite <3

The Tchaik, same conductor from last night, different orchestra :)

The soloist:

Joshua Bell 

And my favorite part of the symphony (last movement):

We had a great meal in Kendall Square beforehand at Eastern Standard: we started with cocktails and raw oysters, then we had pork chops (me) and a ribeye steak (Adam), and then we shared a dessert wine flight, topped off with some bread pudding. Delicious.

It's a perfect start to my birthday weekend<3

The Boston Symphony Orchestra is one of America's best orchestras (obviously). During the fall/winter/spring they play in Symphony Hall, an aesthetically and acoustically gorgeous hall. I've actually um...performed a few concerts there too :-D
During the summer, they perform out in Lenox, MA at the Tanglewood music festival in the Koussevitzky music shed...that I...may have performed in as well.
Up until recently, they were conducted by James Levine...who may have heard me play once...
I love Boston.

This ties in to this month's challenge, because Boston is such a culturally rich city, with amazing orchestra, incredible art museums, and lots of theatre. They play in a beautiful hall, and my favorite thing about it is the homage to Beethoven. Here is a picture I took last night:

As you can see, up at the top-middle of the picture there is an oval with an ornamentation around it. Inside that oval it says "Beethoven". Why Beethoven? The short version is that he reinvented and saved the symphony. He's also the most bad-ass composer too, but that's debatable.

Music = Magic

As for not pressing the snooze button...that's not going so well. I tried to wake up at 7:45 today...got out of bed around 9:30, and now it's almost noon, I'm wrapped in my awesome penguin blanket, eating some powdered donuts, watching a movie, and blogging. Hey, it's basically my birthday. Give me a break.