Hey everyone,
I hope you had a nice weekend so far.
It is raining here in Wellington so I have a lot of time for my blog this weekend. It is perfect, just what I need at the moment as I am limiting my social activities to prepare for my upcoming trip to Argentina in just 11 days. How exciting!!!
As I don't have anything interesting to do this weekend, I would love to share with you about my last weekend. It has been long since I didn't have a good weekend like the last one with nice weather and great activities for my soul.
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Playlist - From one side of the galaxy to the other...
Around two weeks ago my partner discovered that there was a three-day festival with over 100 classical music performances from 22nd to the 24th of July. We decided right away to book the start performance by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in Michael Fower Centre, Wellington with conductor Hamish McKeich and pianist Benjamin Carter performing the biggest hits of classical music, including the very first piano concerto recorded in 1909.
The entrance of Michael Fowler Centre
On our way to get tickets before getting in
Still had enough time for me to take some photos of the place
It looks empty but trust me, this consider a 'big' event for Wellington standard
To be honest, I was always stress when going to classical music events. Growing up, I was surrounded by Vietnamese and Korean pop music characterized by catchy, repetitive rhythms. I listen to this trendy music because other friends also do. So when it comes to classical music, I found it quite hard to understand and during the performance I would very often asking myself what's good about it. Until this time, I sorted of know and finally stopped asking that question.
The show started with a performace about the sunrise of mankind, followed by the young talented pianist Benjamin. I didn't know anything about him but I could tell he is a good player by the way he played and how the crowd applaused him. Anyway, I hadn't got impressed yet until the fourth performance started to play.
I couldn't catch the name of the masterpiece but the minutes they started to play, it was like magical things happened in my head. I started seeing sunlight shining on my face, flowers blooming in colours and a gentle touch of the wind on my face. Looking around, I was standing in a greenland with moutains in the background. I could see dandelion flying in the wind around me and then somehow I feel that my body was so light and I just fly with them. Slowly then fast and then we are becoming one.
People often talk about how they feel when they hear a good performance and they told me: You don't need to understand it, just let yourself emerge in them. It was so hard for me before. I just didn't know how or probably the performances I watched before weren't exactly talking to my soul.
The last repertoires were - Ride of the Valkyries - influenced by astronomy and the universe and the scores from John Williams (Star Wars). I didn't have much impression about them.
For me, this concert was amazing because it was my first time to discover a spark moment with classical music. Best of all, we only paid $10 NZD per person for an hour show. On my upcoming trip to Buenos Aires, my partner and I will go to a concert performed by a great pianist in the world. I will let you know more about her on that post. Thank you for stopping by and have a lovely weekend. Cheers, Dora.
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