The EMF is plugging along and I have to say it’s great to be a spectator without any responsibility or obligations. However, Marta is working very hard, so my job right now is to be her secretary, chef, masseuse, chaffeur (On a completely unrelated note, how come so many service words are French?) or whatever else she needs. I don’t mind any of it in the least and am enjoying the chance to catch up on some “fun” reading and composing that I’ve been putting off for quite some time.

Saturday night was the second (of six) Eastern Philharmonic Orchestra concerts over the course of the five week festival. (The EPO is the excellent faculty orchestra conducted by Gerard Schwarz.) The first concert featured Johann Strauss’ Fledermaus Overture, Mozart Symphony No. 39, and finally the world premiere of Billy Joel’s Piano Concerto. (No, really, I’m not kidding…) The concerto was entertaining, flashy, and a fascinating amalgam of Liszt, Rachmaninov, and Chopin. In other words, I didn’t care for it at all.

The concert this past Saturday featured the Sibelius Violin Concerto with Joshua Bell, Richard Strauss’ Suite from Der Rosenkavalier and Aaron Jay Kernis’ string orchestra version of his Pulitzer Prize winning Musica Celestis. It was a sold out concert, and since I’m a cheapskate, I went to the free dress rehearsal in the morning. The orchestra began the rehearsal at 10am with the Strauss and in the beginning of the rehearsal I was among a handful of spectators. As the first hour wore on however, the hall began to fill up with more and more people eager to hear (see?) Joshua Bell, most of them EMF students. When Bell finally did arrive, shortly after the orchestra’s break, the hall was packed and hearts were aflutter. The best moment of the rehearsal was when Bell stopped the orchestra to retune his fiddle and the woman next to me leaned over and sighed dramatically, whispering “It’s simply exquisite!” I almost gagged trying to stifle a laugh.

Now comes my usual indignant rant: As soon as the Sibelius ended, the entire hall emptied out in less than five minutes, which was a crying shame because all of those students missed the Kernis, which is a remarkably subtle and sublime piece of music and one that in my opinion, reflects all that is positive about the prevailing trend in modern concert music.