The Best Therapy

Last weekend, I went to White Oak Conservation Center. (Last night, I dreamed I went to Manderly again.) It was a great weekend.  I met some wonderful people, we went boating on the St. Mary's river on a gorgeous day, and saw lot of birds, but no reptiles.  I got sunburned--the type that's called a biker tan or T-shirt tan...my arms are burned up to my deltoids, the shoulders milky-white.  It's a great look.

Both evenings, we heard a wonderful  chamber music. The first night was a trio:  piano, violin and cello.  The second, they were joined by a second cellist. The musicians are at Amelia Island for the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival. 

I am pretty ecclectic in my musical taste, but I had feared this would be a snoozer.  My fears were totally unfounded.  The first night, they played Tchaikovski, the second, Handel, Menotti and Schoenfield.  It was totally mesmerizing.  Such wonderful music, such fantastic musicianship, in such a beautiful setting.

The artists were Wendy Chen on the piano, Andres Diaz and Christopher Rex on cello, and Chee-Yun on violin.  To give you an idea of the caliber of these musicians, Chee-Yun played on a Stradivarius that was provided for her by the Samsung Corporation.  Mr. Diaz's cello dated from the 1600's. 

I found myself wondering if the instruments themselves contributed to the beauty of the moment.  I concluded that that was all in my head, and these musicians could make beautiful music given a washtub and a piece of string.  Ms. Chen, who debuted with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Andre Previn at age 15, was playing on a modern Baldwin grand piano, and took a back seat to no one. 

The first photo was taken with my Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ2, the second with my Cingular 8525. Sadly, Ms. Chen's head is behind the music stand.  Turning pages is Margo, a factotum at White Oak.

Comments

[LC]

That's the life!

[kewee]

I am envious, you sure are having a wonderful time.

[l-arginine]

I needed that badly.