Wow
Wow WOW!
Extraordinary!
Fabulous!
Incredible!
I
had no idea what I was getting into last night. We were invited to a
concert on the beach. I was not that excited about going because it
was going to be so late and it was a 45 minute drive in each
direction. The concert was scheduled to start at 10pm. I thought
there would be a few boards thrown on the beach for a small group of
musicians and there would be a bunch of people sitting on blankets or
in chairs eating their picnic.
Boy
was I surprised when we arrived at the beach. There was a huge stage
with 2 huge screens with a mountain of speakers on each side of the
stage. The stage was all lit up and had chairs for a full orchestra
which would arrive later. We got there about 8pm, found an open spot
on the beach, that was already fast becoming full and set up our
picnic. The weather was perfect with a little sun, no wind and we
had a great time talking and eating.
After
eating, Anne and I walked around a bit and then we were ready for the
start of the concert. Oh my gosh we were absolutely blown away with the music. The orchestra was fantastic and the venue couldn't have been better. Below is the link to the website describing our event. If you scroll to July 22nd that will be the concert we saw. Be sure and look at the stage to get an idea of what we were experiencing.
You
can get a translation on the website to English if you don't speak
french!!!
In
addition to the orchestra, they had special musicians to play and
dance as well. There was a violin player, named Nemanja Radulovic
who absolutely charmed the crowd. He began his career at age 10.
played a 15 minute solo demonstrating high and low pitches and all
sorts of different sounds. You could tell he and his instrument
were one and he had a real passion for the violin. All the
performers did. You could feel the vibration of excitement and love
of their art. The magnificence of his expression on his instrument
was amazing.
Mieko
Miyazaki, a Japanese lady, played an instrument I've never seen
called a Koto. It was very long and had strings and some frets. It
had a very oriental sound and she made it come to life also
demonstrating many different uses of the instrument. She was spell
binding. She also sang with it too. Check out her website:
http://www.miekomiyazaki.com/home.html
Tchaikowski's
Swan Lake was performed with a ballet entourage of three performers.
The ballerina Alice Renavand performed with 2 other men. Totally
awesome. Julie Fuchs did some amazing solo work and there was also a
medley of American musicals or movies that was wonderful as well.
Near the end of the concert they played a piece that had a surprise
at the end. They choreographed fireworks to finish the song. It was
so cool. It was midnight by now and Anne and I thought the fireworks
was the finale. However, they kept on playing bringing back the
violin player to entice us to stay. The natives knowing the terrible
traffic jam that would soon ensue, started ushering us out of the
crowd and we walked on the backside of the grand stand where there
were also speakers and a screen. So we got to enjoy a little more as
we walked to the car. This concert really did entertain a lot of
people.
We
had such a wonderful time with music from Brahams, Rachmaninoff, a
Cuban composer and many others in the company of good friends. My
head is still swimming from the experience. I hope you take the time
to listen to a little of the music by the violin player and Japanese
lady. They were my favorite!
http://www.violonsurlesable.com/les-artistes-present-violon-sur-le-sable-royan.html
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