MAY 18 Sabbatical Update - music and other events

In addition to the beauty of nature that we have enjoyed, we have also had the opportunity to FEAST on numerous experiences of "human-created" beauty - most of these in the musical area.

On my April 28 update, I posted about the "Sounds of the Mountains" music and storytelling festival, and also going to the symphony concert. Since that time we have experienced several other events, and I will give you a quick update on those.

Conversations with Thomas Jefferson - this took place at Jefferson's retreat house called Poplar Forest. We toured the house, and enjoyed this two person presentation by two actors. One portrayed Thomas Jefferson, and one portrayed a contemporary of Jefferson's, Charles Willson Peal. CLICK HERE for more info.

Mill Mountain Ringers - this is a community handbell group, and they gave their "end of season" concert. Wow - Betsy is the handbell expert - and her jaw was dropping as she saw and heard their presentation. It was amazing. They even did a medley of music from Phantom of the Opera.

Roanoke Valley Choral Society - this is a community choral group, and they did a concert of Broadway show tunes. Since we sing in the Austin County Civic Chorale, it was fun to hear a comparable group. This concert was presented in the gorgeous sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church. Despite its elegant setting in a wealthy neighborhood, I was surprised to learn it is actually smaller in numbers than BUMC. CLICK HERE for info on the chorale. CLICK HERE for a picture of the church.

Southern Routes - this was a concert of traditional Appalachian music, presented by two GREAT musicians - two guys in their 40s who have known each other for many years - Riley Baugus and Dirk Powell. They both played and sang - swapping and retuning instruments during this 2+ hour concert - they played banjo, fiddle, guitar and accordion. These guys were involved in the music for the movie Cold Mountain (which we have not yet seen). The concert took place at the Jefferson Center, part of their Appalachian Jams series - the Jeff Center has a huge, beautiful concert hall, but the concert was in a small recital hall - a very intimate setting which made the presentation very enjoyable. The music is amazing. CLICK HERE for a Youtube video of these two guys performing back in 2008 in another setting.

Local Colors - this is an annual festival in downtown Roanoke featuring various international cultural groups - we stopped by for a short while and sat on the hill and took in some singing and dancing by groups from China, Japan, India, etc. Local Colors also does educational work to promote international understanding. CLICK HERE for info on Local Colors.

Double Organ Concert - the downtown UM church hosts a fine arts series, and for this concert they used the church's pipe organ, and installed a brand new (never been played) electronic organ, and had two Juilliard organists from NYC do a double organ concert. Wow. We arrived 15 minutes before the hour, and barely got a seat. I am so used to sacred organ music, so it was quite a switch to hear double organs performing, among other things, selections from the Nutcracker and Peter and the Wolf. The audience greatly appreciated this. The organists' names were Daniel Sullivan and Isabelle Diemers. CLICK HERE for the flyer about this concert. CLICK HERE for some pics of Greene Memorial UMC. (This is another church that, despite its prominent history and elegant downtown sanctuary, is actually smaller in numbers than BUMC.)

WOW - it sounds like all we have done is soak up music and culture. One of the nice things we like about this city, is that it is very compact, surrounded by natural attractions (mountains, trails, etc.), easy to get around (15 minutes to anywhere!) but large enough to have a huge number of cultural options. It is great to have both an appreciation for fine classical music as well as an appreciation for the traditional Appalachian styles.

Well that is enough for now. It actually got a little warm last weekend (over 80 degrees, that is), but a cold front came through yesterday, and this week looks to be really nice, with 66 for the high today, and a low tonight of 41. We miss you all, and we appreciate your prayers as we reach the halfway point of our sabbatical.