The New York Phil's Opening Night

Last night was the New York Philharmonic's Opening Night concert. And I got to watch it. Granted, it was on PBS, not in person, but it was still fabulous. They played a program of pieces all by Dvorak (for the uninitiated, it's pronounced "de-vor-zhak". It should have a little upside down ^ symbol above the r, but I don't know the keyboard command to do that. Anyway, he was Czech, thus the odd pronunciation.) It was great. Yo-yo Ma played the Dvorak Cello Concerto, and, of course, played wonderfully. I was in awe. The broadcast started at 8:00 pm and didn't get done until 10:00, so I stayed up too late. 5:45 comes quickly when you're not in bed early enough. Despite that, it was a wonderful close to the evening. After work I was able to make dinner quickly (it's amazing how remembering to thaw the chicken ahead of time speeds up cooking times), then I practiced for about an hour. It's wonderful to be playing again. I'd missed it more than I realized. The five grad school rejections in quick succession were just too much for me, I guess. That's really why I stopped playing for so long. Now that I am playing again, it makes me miss Boston and the opportunities that I didn't take advantage of while I was there. At least I'm playing and teaching again. And I still get to hear some of the best orchestras in the world, just on PBS rather than in person.