Holst's Planets Suite Beneath the Stars

I believe I'm mentioned before that one of our favorite summer traditions is the Summerfest concert series.  Summerfest is an annual concert series by the North Carolina Symphony held at Koko Booth Amphitheater, which is a mostly outdoors/uncovered performance space.  We go with another family that we've been friends with since our boys were in a playgroup together over 10 years ago.  We bring lawn chairs and a picnic (including wine, which is allowed for this series), and usually hang out for a couple of hours before the concert starts at 7:30.  It is a perfect place for children to begin their classical music education, because it is affordable (kids under 12 are free!) and they can eat and run around and such in addition to listening to the music.  Plus, the concert themes are often geared to family interests--for example, a couple of years ago they did a whole concert on pirates music!

This past Saturday, the keystone of the concert was The Planets Suite by Gustav Holst.  However, in addition to hearing the entire suite played live by the Symphony (with some unusual additions, like the celestra, the instrument most famous for the opening tones of the Harry Potter theme song, but which means "heavenly" in French and thus is perfect for this music), they were projecting high-resolution images from NASA of the planets in the music.  And, of course, we were under the open heavens ourselves, on a beautiful warm North Carolina night (that part of the concert didn't start until 9:00 PM).

I have to say, it was one of the most powerful concerts I have ever attended.  The transporting music, the compelling images, and the wonderful atmosphere all came together to make it really a magical experience.

So while I can't reproduce the sensations for you, below I have included some videos of the London Symphony, who apparently recorded the Planets Suite using the same images we saw.  Even without being in the night sky, they are still pretty powerful.  Enjoy!

Starlight Concert Series: Craicdown

Last night we went to another of the free Friday night concerts in downtown Cary.   This is probably the last one we can see of this series, but we certainly went out on a high note!

First, it has been a bit cooler (compared to the over 100 degrees weather of the previous week), so the evening weather was very pleasant.  It was probably in the seventies (once the sun went behind the tree line), with a slight breeze and no bugs.  So what a great night to listen to music!

Secondly, we ran into three other families from our homeschooling group who were at the concert.  It always makes it fun to share the experience with other families.

Thirdly, the group--Craicdown--was great!  All the musicians were so talented--everyone played at least two or three distinct instruments.  The music they played traversed the world.  They started with a zydeco piece (influenced by music from New Orleans), then did some accordian songs, then...well, I forget the order now, but it included Celtic, Cajun, US Country, Mediteranean/Greek?, Opera, Folk, Tango, Brazilian, some other South American, and I've probably forgotten a few.  But you get the idea--they were were multi-national and multi-talented.

So I can recommend them both--both the Starlight concert series at the Page Walker in Cary and this wonderful world music band, Craicdown.

Starlight Concert Series: Moment's Notice

As I've said before, I particularly try to take advantage of all the cheap or free art and cultural activities we have in this area during the summer.  Last night we went to a concert of another free outdoors concert series--the Starlight Concerts held in the greens by the herb garden at the Page Walker Building here in Cary.

The Starlight Concerts are a set of eight free concerts that include a diverse set of music.  This year, the concerts will include bluegrass, classical, Middle Eastern, and Latin, among others.  They run from 7:00-9:00 PM, and people are welcome to bring chairs and picnic blankets and food and drink (but not alcohol, unfortunately--it is nice to enjoy some wine as you listen to the music).  And a particularly wonderful feature for us is that it is within walking distance from our house (although I wasn't thinking that was such an asset last night as I was pulling who know how many pounds of chairs and snacks and drinks for about a mile when the weather was still 84 degrees...not all uphill, but there were definitely hills).

But once we got there and settled in within a stone's throw of the performers, that all faded away and we were just glad to be there on a lovely summer's night.

The band was Moment's Notice from Raleigh, which is primarily a jazz band.  They played some jazz classics, like "Autumn Leaves" and "God Bless The Child" and some others that my two brothers who are jazz aficionados would probably recognize, but I didn't.  But they also did at least one blues number, and a latin jazz, and a couple of R&B numbers--Al Green's "Let's Stay Together," which I love, and Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On?".

Anyway, they were really good.  The crowd had some families, but it was mostly an older audience, and everyone was really appreciating the music.  The evening cooled off, the bugs stayed away, the birds seemed to be dancing in the air as they zipped around above the musicians, and the snacks tasted better accompanied by live music.  Our friend, the Hula Lady (she shows up at these concerts with bunches of huge hula hoops and stands by the side, hula-ing to the music, and eventually drawing over some other concert-goers who give the hulas a try) was gracefully rotating her colorful hulas on the sideline.  And I thought to myself, "This is just so nice.  What could be better than this?"

Almost immediately after I thought that, the band played their version of "It's a Wonderful World."  In that moment in time, I agreed 100%

Everyone was having such a good time that the band kept going past 9:00 (in part because some technical difficulties got they started late).  So the music didn't end until 9:30, which meant that we got to walk home with our tons of junk in the dark.  But it was worth it.  It was almost dark during the final song, but the Hula Lady has hulas that light up, and she created a rainbow to accompany the fireflies flitting across the darkness.