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Health & Fitness

Week 8: Symphony Seduction

I close my eyes for a moment and pretend I am at the Great Hall in Vienna listening to the beautiful sounds flowing from the orchestra’s instruments. Today, the audience is easily transported to such a lovely setting while enjoying the music played during San Diego Symphony’s New Year’s Day Annual Salute to Vienna.


What better way to spend New Year’s Day than listening to such uplifting performances to get your soul ready for a new year. I had never been to the symphony before, and attending one was on my 50 weeks list. By chance, during our New Year’s Eve conversations, our hosts Sharon and Joe were talking about the next day’s plans and mentioned that they had tickets to the symphony. Joe was, let’s say, not jumping at the chance to attend and offered the tickets to anyone willing. Well, I mentioned that I had never been to a symphony performance and Joe was most eager to help with my 50 weeks journey. So it was decided that I would be Sharon’s date for the show.


And what a special performance for my first time! The Salute to Vienna concert is in its 19th year touring the U.S. Now, I have been to Vienna. My maternal grandparents took me there when I was in high school, as part of a grand tour of Europe. But we didn’t listen to classical music while there. We did eat our way through every city, and I remember the wonderful breads and pastries of Austria! Oh, sorry, I digress. See the music has already transported me to Vienna.


The concerts’ conductor András Deák, soprano Alexandra Reinprecht, and tenor Martin Piskorski are part of the Strauss Symphony of America. For bonus entertainment, there were performers from the Kiev-Aniko Ballet of Ukraine and the International Champion Ballroom Dancers. Not only did I get to enjoy the symphony, but I had never been to an opera either, so it was a welcome surprise to get some operetta selections thrown in there.

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It’s not that I don’t enjoy the performing arts. I have been to a number of musical productions, on Broadway in New York City, at the Pantages in Hollywood, all those Las Vegas show versions, and even our local small theatre productions. But never to the symphony or to the opera, and I’m not counting the band performances my son was in during elementary school, or my own orchestra days in junior high. (Yes, I played the flute and once made first chair!)


I do like live music. Piano bars, small music venues, concerts -- I just don’t get around to attending as often as I would like. And quite frankly, never really had an interest in classical music. Maybe that’s why I do so horrible in answering those types of categories on Jeopardy.

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But I had put down attending a symphony and/or opera on my 50 weeks list because, well, isn’t attending such things a sign of maturity? There’s something grown-up about getting a little dressed up (I actually wore heels), to listen to classical music.


Once the conductor raised his baton to start the orchestra, I was captivated.

To read more, go to: http://jemmasamala.com/2014/01/07/week-8-symphony-seduction/

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