IN FOR A SURPRISE

This past Sunday Cliff and I attended a concert held at the Los Gatos High School.  This is the Community Concert series, for which I bought season tickets.  Amalie and I attended for many years before she passed away, as the association brings in some fascinating entertainers year after year.

The performers for this one was the Carpe Diem String Quartet, and I was a bit leery of this.  Sounded somewhat stuffy to me.  Whooo Boy, was I in for a surprise!

From the program notes:  “Carpe Diem String Quartet, in residence at Ohio Wesleyan University, is an exciting ensemble that has captured the imagination of audiences, the respect of critics, and is one of the most versatile quartets of their generation.  The group’s musical passion has led them down the paths of gypsy, tango, folk, pop, rock, and jazz inspired music, but the quartet is equally at home with the traditional string quartet repertoire.”

About the only kind of music they did not play that day was rock; nonetheless, they made that auditorium rock!  And they seemed to have a lot of fun in the process!  Additionally, they explained in language we could understand, what the pieces were about, and what to listen for.  That really added to the enjoyment.

One of the pieces, entitled Fiddle Suite Montana, was written by Korine Fujiwara, one member of the quartet.  She is the brunette in the photo.  While she does not look the least Japanese, she explained that her grandfather was half Japanese, so of course her father is part Japanese.

One final note -- today one of the aides at Avenidas had asked me what I’d done over the weekend.  When I told her, and mentioned the name of the quartet, she said that carpe diem meant seize the day, and then a bit later someone told me that was Latin.  Learn something new every day.


Cartoon --

But Officer, I was only going one way!