My symphony...well it's really Joan's symphony as I only play in it quite rarely now, is having a Unique concert. Here's the program:

Mendelssohn: The Hebrides
Davies: An Orkney Wedding and Sunrise
Elvis Costello: Il Sogno

The Mendelssohn is his "Scottish" Symphony and is very easy to listen to. It's classical and quite nice and not an ear-buster at all.

The Davies piece is pretty unusual, but get this....yeah, it's "classical", but it ends with a piper parading through the audience and coming up on stage with the orchestra. I helped find a piper with a set of pipes that actually tune close enough to A440 to allow him to play with the group. Most pipe bands now tune to about A457, in other words, screamingly out-of-tune with any modern orchestra. Look at it this way; one of Dennis Russel Davies better-known pieces is called "Mavis in Las Vegas"....that gives you some sort of an idea what to expect.

And yeah, you read that right... the last piece is a ballet score by Elvis Costello. It's a modern day twist on "A Midsummer NIghts Dream" written for an Italian ballet company several years ago. I've been listening to the CD and it's cool. It's got a screaming, killer saxophone part that I'm dyin, 'cause I'm not playing it. I had to say no 'cause I'd have to miss the dress rehearsal because I'm convening the Clan Tent on Saturday at the Ben Lomond Games.

You can read the scoop by going to the Redwood Symphony Website here:
http://www.redwoodsymphony.org/

The concert is entitled "A Celtic Journey" and tickets are a measly ten bucks. Kids are wlecome, as long as they can sit something like quietly. The date is Sunday October 8th, and it's a matinee. It'll be over in time for a post-concert dinner.

Any X-Markers interested in forming a Kilted Kulture Kontingent and attending the concert, and then an after concert dinner? I'll be there, dressed to the nines in Eton jacket and Kilt, of course! I promise that you get to play groupie with the principal clarinetist....LOL