The season-opening for the arts in San Francisco has brought plenty of excitement in layers of likes and preferences to the patrons of the arts.
Hallways of the Symphony Hall were filled with well-dressed men and women eager to welcome the spectacular yet in the new format performance. The New format was inspired by the economies needed to deliver the season with the best artists on stage and less socializing during the evening by eliminating the intermission and second performance segment from the program. Some welcomed the early night to bed, others felt it took away from their whole experience of the opening of the season. The dresses and suits were elegant expensive and very well thought through to bring about the feeling of the special opening night. Many pink silk satin suites men wore, and many ornate dresses were adorned by men and women alike. The Barbie influence was ever so bright among the patrons and audience.
The conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen opened the night’s performance with Richard Strauss’s Don Juan, Opus 20 from an 1889 composition. The perfection of the orchestra was felt throughout the body. Some Compositions extend beyond time and place to reach us in powerful ways so we come back to experience. This is part of the human soul to feel the emotions in the music written for our experience and to remind us that feeling love, longing, care and concern is our range to feel without shyness.
This is the nature of patrons supporting the arts to be able to late to the frequency and tones that symphony performers with perfection for the experience to be shared among the audience.
The following performance delivered Gustav Mahler’s Songs of Wayfare written in 1883 with titles such as On My Love’s Wedding Day, This Morning I Walked across the Field I Have a Burning Knife and My Love’s Blue Eyes.
With all the flow of these emotions, we were prepared for the surprise!
Curious surprise was part of the program performed by Kev Choice and Anthony Veneziale bringing for the first time in Symphony Hall history Rap on the stage performance. We were now listening to the RAP! Yes, Rap at the Symphony. The patrons are being exposed and indoctrinated into a world of experience they do not know. The Big surprise to all. Some were shocked some were curious and very surprised. The end impression is not clear as there was no opportunity to share the thoughts without the intermission for the evening and the ability to socialize and share thoughts.
The performance was delivered on the high note of BOlero composed by Maurice Ravel in 1928.
Absolut High Light of the Gala night.
