CPO with Blaise

I took Blaise to his first orchestral performance a couple weeks ago. It was an earlier and shorter performance, a part of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra's Rush Hour Series, so it worked well for a young lad.

I had to get there early as the parking was about 4 blocks from the Jack Singer Hall and Blaise would have to walk the distance. Once we found our seats - close to the rear, but right in the centre - we figured it would be a good idea to go use the bathrooms before the concert began after I explained Blaise how moving around and talking was not allowed while the orchestra played.

I propped Blaise up on our stack of jackets as people moved into the seats in front of us, but it still didn't give him the view he wanted. Blaise accepted my offer to sit on my knee and that's where he stayed for most of the concert.

The concert was entitled The Red Violin, a title from the film by the same name. The composer of this suite is an American and so they designed the concert as one from American composers:

• Copland: Fanfare for the Common Man 
• Kernis:  Too Hot Toccata
• Corigliano:  Suite from The Red Violin
• Bernstein:  Three Dance Episodes from On the Town 

Donovan Seidle, a local violinist/composer, was the soloist for The Red Violin and as an encore, he played some ridiculously fast piece that blew Blaise away. I thought Copland's trumpets or Bernstein's English horn or Kernis's double basses would be Blaise's favorites. Instead, the violin captivated him as you can see from his journal entry the next day: