Life takes so many turns

Last night I attended a wonderful and awe inspiring concert, the National Youth Orchestra of Canada at Roy Thompson Hall. The program they played was extremely challenging and impressive ! Schubert, Rosamunde: Overture,Bartok,The Miraculous Mandarin (Suite)Mahler's Symphony no. 5.

I was the most impressed with 2 amazing young stars! the First Horn, Stephen Cameron, from Nova Scotia, this man is quite a talent and I predict he will have won an orchestral audition with in the year ! also I was very impressed at the amazaing talent of the 1st Trumpet, Luise Heyerhoff, from Ontario. As you may know or may not know, the opening of Mahler's 5th symphony starts with a very difficult Trumpet solo, all on your own, as 1st trumpet you set the tone of the whole work!! and Luise did that and to boot too !! then comes the famous horn solo in the 3rd movement, Cameron played it so tastefully and sounded like a very polished professional player, capable of comparing to any principal horn in any Canadian Orchestra today !

As I read a Quote from Today's Toronto Star reviewing last night concert it is equally as enthusiastic - "Youth orchestra tames massive Mahler" - "The centrepiece of the evening was the massive, daunting Mahler Symphony No. 5, a work to stretch and challenge even the most experienced orchestras; It opens with a brass-filled funeral march"... "You also need an outstanding brass section and this is one of the undoubted strengths of this year's orchestra. There is some wonderful talent here..."


Attending a concert like this is so important for all middle age professional players like myself.. why.. because it reminds you of the PASSION you once had when you where that age. You played because you loved it, it was your passion... you didn't play to make some money to pay your bills, many middle aged professional players have unfortunately lost sight of what really stimulated them to practise for hours a day when all your other friends were outside playing baseball or something.

I'm glad I went to this concert, not only was I able to enjoy wonderful music making but experience the feeling of being young again !

Now off I go to practise my self, in preparation of my many wonderful musical experiences that I will be passionately experiencing this year in and around the Toronto Music scene...