Uniforms -- Yeah cool, but is he holding a violin?

Last night, I got home from school, picked up a few things from the store, and plopped down in front of my computer for a relaxing night of lazy inefficaciousness.

In the course of a quick Facebook tour, I saw that my friend had posted about having extra tickets for a concert of the Garde Républicaine (The French army band/orchestra). That night. In an hour and a half. I quick sent him a message to which he replied "Hurry!"

So I went. So cool. Not only was it fancy (I love playing dress-up), it was in the fancy military closed courtyard and buildings. Huge. Old school.

The best part was their program. The first half was the concert band playing Bernstein, Gershwin and Respighi (the Calvary band made a guest appearance on the Respighi and I was like 5 yards from them). The Entre acte had a surprise performance of Django Reinhardt by some of the orchestra and three guitarists. I think I drooled. Hearing the Marseillaise improv'ed upon, in the by the French army orchestra in Paris? I can probably die happy now. The second part was music I know better -- Berstein, the Carousel Waltz, My Fair Lady, Hello, Dolly! and an arrangement of West Side Story.

On a funny note, the irony of a French chorus (of men only, mind you) singing America from West Side Story (you know, the one where typically Americans pretend to have a Puerto Rican accent), about wanting to 'be in America,' was not lost on me. Also, hearing them sing 'I Feel Pretty.' BAHAHAHAHAA.

Anyway, the other cool thing was that we were seated in a sort of balcony behind the orchestra (which, given the number of brass instruments on stage, was totally cool with me). We could see the conductor and everything, which made for a funny change. The other night I went to see the opera (in concert format) Genoveva at the Salle Pleyel, which has seating behind the orchestra, and I thought about how much I'd like to try it sometime. Done. Things work out :)

Next thing is to get my subscription for next year's concerts taken care of - if you want to have advance tickets for them you have to book now. Hillary Hahn is coming ...