Monday, November 21, 2016

WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT

Excellent film starring (among several other outstanding actors) Tina Fay as Kim Barker, a reporter for CNN covering Afghanistan during the early and middle phases of the US war there.  I recommend it highly.

BOOK SIGNING, November 26.

I'll be signing books and conversing with mystery fiction fans from 11 to 2 at Book World, in Viking Plaza, Alexandria, Minnesota. Hope to meet you there!

Thursday, November 03, 2016

COFFEE CONCERT BY MINN ORCHESTRA HITS HOME RUN

Our subscription to Minnesota Orchestra day-time coffee concerts for this season just kicked in. We drive half-a-mile to Rosedale Shopping Center where we park and board a comfortable bus. The bus brings us downtown Minneapolis to Orchestra Hall. We disembark, are greeted by smiling staff and make our way to the upper lobby. There we find tables laden with doughnuts, punch and coffee. Plus places to sit and socialize. After a while we wander into the concert hall and  find our seats. This concert is sold out.

Osmo Vanska conducts our world-class orchestra in a nice and  varied program. First, Aaron Copland's Lincoln Portrait. The music is interesting and the narration is voiced by a retired judge of the Minnesota Supreme Court. His name is Alan Page. Yes, THAT Alan Page.

Next up a spectacular violinist, Esther Yoo. She wears an intensely bright red ball gown, contrasting nicely with the black suits of the orchestra members. Unlike many guest soloists, this young woman connects energetically, first with her music, then with the audience and with the orchestra as well. She performed Max Bruch's Concerto no. 1 in G minor. I had never heard of this composer and it turns out he is not well-known, having composed only this single piece. It's a very pleasant concerto, well-performed by orchestra and soloist.

After intermission the orchestra offered up Antonin Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 from the New World.
It is a stirring, marvelous composition, well-known throughout the New World. The orchestra sounded excellent, played with enthusiasm  and the audience responded in kind/

Then we boarded the bus and were deposited back in the Rosedale parking lot, six car-lengths from our own vehicle. We then drove  home under intense blue skies and a radiant sun