Welcome to the September Newsletter. Wow, we are almost halfway through Spring. The guinea pigs and I are going well. I’m still recovering from the operation in August, I’m finding it very frustrating. The guinea pigs still don’t like me but they are happy to eat the food I give them. In exciting news I’ve sold my unit with a few stressful moments, settlement is at the end of October. Otherwise, I’m still dealing with insurance companies and the flood. No fun at all. So now on with the fun stuff that I have enjoyed this month.
Concerts
Cocktail Hour
I love cocktail hour. I have so much fun and the access to the musicians is awesome. Mara and I went off to the Utzon Room to see Windwind Reflections. Highlighting a selection of the musicians from the orchestra performing Maurice Ravel’s (arranged by Mason Jones) Le Tombeau de Couperin, Carl Nielsen’s Wind Quintet and Richard Strauss’ (arranged by Franz Hasenöhrl) Till Eulenspiegel – lustige Streiche! (einmal anders!) Check out more info in the program or listen to my playlist on Spotify.
Tea & the Symphony
Went to my first concert in the renovated concert hall at the Opera House for my traditional Friday morning Tea and the Symphony. The concert was Yeol Eum Son performs Mozart. They performed three pieces, the first was Luminifera – Wild Light for Orchestra by Andrew Howes as part of the 50 Fanfares project. The second was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.20 in D minor performed by Yeol Eum Son. The last was Johannes Brahms’ Variations on a theme by Haydn. Unfortunately, I didn’t really get into the concert. I spent the Mozart analysing how to reproduce all the ladies in the orchestra’s tops. The Howes was interesting and the Brahms was OK. I’d love to hear what you think of the music, check out SSO’s playlist on Spotify or mine. The program is available here. Though I wasn’t so into the concert I did get to see a seal on the opera house steps, Benny the Seal. He was very beautiful and a lot bigger than the photos in the article.
Thursday afternoon
This was my first Thursday afternoon concert, Debussy, Copeland and Elgar, by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra that I have attended and it was beautiful. There was a late change to the program and conductor. So instead of Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No 5 conducted by Donald Runnicles, we were blessed with the whole of Elgar’s Variations on an Original Theme, Enigma conducted by Asher Fisch. So the program ended up as
- Claude Debussy’s La Mer,
- Aaron Copland’s Clarinet Concerto which was written for Benny Goodwin
- Joseph Twist‘s Ancient Lights, Mystic Sky which was written as part of the 50 Fanfares project
- Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations
It was amazing from start to finish. I loved every moment. Then afterwards I even got to meet Joe Twist the composer and congratulate him on the performance of his composition. He was pretty stoked and really nice. Read more about it in the program. Check out my playlist of the concert on Spotify.
Postmodern Jukebox
The last concert I attended was Postmodern Jukebox. We were so lucky to be sitting in the second row in front of the tap dancer. The concert was epic. So much fun. Great music, great musicians and great music. Check out some of the tracks that we got to hear in this YouTube playlist, the first 4 singers were the ones we had for the night. If you haven’t heard of them, they take songs from the last 40 years and redo them in styles from the 20s-60s. Here is their YouTube Channel and on Spotify.
Cool things from around the internet
Tea-Making Alarm Clock
Goblin Teasmade tea-making alarm clocks. They are built with an alarm clock, kettle and teapot These were awesome why don’t they still exist? Maybe I could build one now that I’m retired. I’m sure a Raspberry Pi would do the trick.
For the Love of Peas
I love peas so was very excited when this article popped up from SBS with a whole list of pea recipes and puns. Can’t wait to try the all the recipes. My favourite pun though was “All we are saying is give peas a chance…”
Have you checked your quotes lately?
There are so many misquotes out there as parts of lists and images so before you share one next time use the Quote Investigator to check it is by who you think it is.
Tech, Hugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll
In my dreams I would be going to this event Tech, Hugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll in Trondheim, Norway. It does say Fall 2022 so that suggests it might be on in Spring as well. So fingers crossed for next year.
Cute Bears
Polar Bears in Summer Nothing more to say. Just enjoy.
Visual Art Stuff
Mindfulness at the Museum of Contemporary Art
As a day out with the girls we went to the Museum of Contemporary Art and participated in Art flow: a wellbeing experience. A trial program that they are running for the rest of the year. We got to meditate and explore feelings about ‘A World Undone by Nicholas Mangan. I was very happy with this (I’ve previously been a little bit traumatised by some contemporary artworks). It was amazing to hear what other people were feeling and seeing in the work. I was laughing, yes this was unusual, I just saw The Slow Mo Guys work in the work. I was then planning how you would set up the shot to get the artwork. I even wrote a poem.
It begins with the setup
Full of anticipation
Waiting for the impact
Hopeful that it works
Then amusement and amazement
Laughs and giggles
followed by new beginnings
Always renewal
Always hopeful
Always amused
An escape
A moment in time captured close to the end
I didn’t realise it but I was actually correct in the artwork being a full slow-mo video. I would completely recommend going. It was a great event. We also had lunch upstairs in the MCA Cafe which has yummy food looking at the harbour.
Artworks to play with or read about
Just a short list full of amazing things that I found this month
Books
Pride and Premeditation
I really enjoyed the retelling of Pride and Prejudice by Tirzah Price. Pride and Premeditation place our favourite characters in a very different setup. Lizzie wants to be a lawyer in her Dad’s firm, Longbourn and Sons (the irony). She has to prove herself so she takes on the investigation into the murder of Mr Hurst, Mr Bingley’s brother-in-law. Unfortunately, Fitzwilliam Darcy has already been engaged as the lawyer. He works for the big Pemberley Associates law firm. All my favourite characters are there and the twists are awesome. It was a hoot. Completely unrealistic but we can always dream that Lizzie could have had this opportunity. Looking forward to reading Sense and Second-Degree Murder.
Anyway, that’s enough for this month. It’s taken me long enough to get to this point. Tomorrow I’m off to my first rehearsal with the Lawyer’s Orchestra. We are preparing for a concert at 2:30 at Glebe Town Hall on the 30th of October. The program is Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony and Brahm’s Symphony No.2.
Have fun
Big hugs
