New Concert Seasons!

A yearly (daily/monthly/hourly...) resolution is to patronize more concerts. I just got a glimpse of the Cal Performances season brochure and am now REALLY excited about the possibility of upcoming concert seasons. I'm a big fan of universities as performing arts venues. Concert calendars for Cal Performances and Stanford Lively Arts get me really excited. Performing arts and higher education together - ah *sigh* a BEAUTIFUL thing.

Since college, I've been hearing about world famous sitar player, Ravi Shankar (also the father of Nora Jones, but that shouldn't be his main claim to fame). Truth is, he is one of the last classically trained sitar masters in the world! Those who are not particularly a fan of world or Indian music leave his concert mesmerized and changed. Mr. Shankar is in his 80's! So, if I am to see him in concert, I need to see him SOON. He is playing on April 29, 2007 in Berkeley and... my calendar is booked with a concert of my own. I have a feeling my concert will be posponed or cancelled, and I will be at home on a perfectly good Sunday evening, when I could be in Berekely at a sold-out-once-in-a-lifetime show. Am sad. :(

Ravi! Hang on, buddy.... I'll see you soon.

Another performer I would like to see in concert is soprano, Kiri Te Kanawa, who will also be performing at Cal Performances at the end of September. I'm going to think about this one over the weekend, and possibly purchase tickets early next week. She is doing a joint concert with mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, so it will be a VERY popular concert, selling out very quickly. I figure if any of the low-end $48 tickets are still available next Tuesday - it was meant to be.

One group I tend to see almost every year is Bay Area based Chanticleer men's chorus. Truly amazing! They perform yearly at the Santa Clara Mission, so they are right in my neighborhood in a very large venue. Chanticleer frequents the Bay Area but they travel all over the world. My roommate's friend from college became a member of the group this year. Very cool.

As many know, I attend all concerts for the San Jose based Choral Project from which I receive a different type of artistic stimulation. Again this holiday season, CP will perform yet again with the San Jose Chamber Orchestra. This was my favorite CP concert last year. No one else seemed to enjoy J.S. Bach's "Singet dem Herrn" as much as I did. There's just something about continuo that makes me giddy.