a cold sunday filled with music

 congregation beit simchat torah moved today from their home in westbeth, where they had been since 1973. new york magazine has a very nice story about them that you can read here. they're a gay synagogue that began with an ad in the village voice, and their old home in westbeth was a small room in which they couldn't see out and no one could see in. now they have grown into a storefront in midtown's garment district with enough financial help to have architects turn the space into a lovely sanctuary with a basement social space.

they had a very cold and windy day to move! but you can see that the cold hasn't dampened their happiness and their enthusiasm. it was fun and inspiring to watch.

 in the afternoon chanda and i headed out to meet our friend to attend another friend's choral concert at carnegie hall.

oops . . we were a bit late and she had gone ahead!

 we still arrived before her, however, as she had taken the wrong train and had to back track . . !

 the concert was haZamir: the international jewish high school choir. there were four hundred young people on stage! our friend was on the left, third row from the back. this time i remembered our opera glasses so we were able to see her, but we also had good seats being in the first row of the dress circle. the singing was beautiful. our favorites were: dayenu, miriam's song, halleluyah, and psalm 96 (put to music by a young talented musician who was just beginning studies at julliard--click here for a nytimes article about him when he was nine years old).

afterwards, we had dinner together at a thai restaurant a few blocks from the theatre. it was so nice to sit and talk with old homeschool friends.

der weg der verheissung or the road of promise

chanda's violin teacher sang in a concert at carnegie hall this evening and since it began at 8 pm, after chanda's ballet lesson ended, we were able to go.

der weg der verheissung began rehearsals in salzburg in 1934 with max reinhardt directing, music by kurt weill and libretto by franz werfel. it sounds like it was an enormous undertaking with many clashing personalities and egos and too much money being spent. however, it did come to new york in 1937 as the eternal road and was a huge success with the public and the critics.

chanda's violin teacher sang with the collegiate chorale (a very large group as you can see in the first photo) and was happy to be singled out to sing "second angel." i think he's been with this group for a year or two now. we had missed a concert in the winter, so we were pleased it worked out to see this one. it was very beautiful and the audience was enthusiastic.

into brooklyn and a concert at carnegie hall

chanda and i drove into brooklyn this morning to pick up korrina and go shopping at the coop together.

 it was a lot of fun driving through different neighborhoods. brooklyn is so vast! she lives on a lovely street with big beautiful trees and pretty houses and apartment buildings. going from neighborhood to neighborhood as we drove to the coop was incredibly interesting and fun; especially as we neared our old neighborhood and began recognizing the streets we always passed returning from being out of town. they planted trees on vanderbilt avenue down the center of the two lanes. it really looks nice. we did a quick (and large!) shop at the coop and then we dropped korrina off at her job interview. she trailed at a restaurant in cobble hill in the kitchen. we found out this evening that she liked it so much she accepted their job offer and will start work on tuesday. she'll first work for two more weeks at her old place every sunday and monday, and then be full time at . . . (drum roll please) . . van horn.

on the way, along flushing avenue, we passed this church amidst mechanic shops and industrial work buildings. all the residential buildings are along the streets branching off. i researched online and found out that it's all saint's parish of brooklyn built in 1894 for a german immigrant community that had been together since 1868. the windows now depict the site in tepeyac, mexico where many believe st. juan domingo met the virgin of guadalupe, reflecting the new immigrant population that has replaced the old. it's nice that the congregation has continued.

in the evening we attended morgana's guitar orchestra concert in the weill recital hall at carnegie hall. it was a very nice concert, but i'm still confused as to who sponsored it and how her music school, third street, was connected with the sponsoring organization. there were original student compositions played by the faculty, and original compositions by dina koston and harold meltzer (who was there). i think someone was connected with the dina koston young artists program and third street and decided to get the students together. what's funny is that i can't find any information about what the dina koston young artist's program is. hmmmmmm . .  i guess i'd like to know whose idea it was and how he or she got everyone together . . just . . . curious!

----

eva just found a website that explains more about dina koston and the young artists program which is dedicated to enriching the rehearsal and performance experience in a young musician's life. dina named the sponsoring fund after her husband, roger shapiro. you can read about it here.

 inside the weill recital hall . . 

 morgana has always wanted to play in an "orchestra" so this was special for her.

the pieces they performed were electric counterpoint by steve reich, and cuban landscape with rain by leo brouwer.

here's a video they sent out to promote the "sheer pluck orchestra:"

a dusting of snow for sunday

it was nice to wake to snow on the ground, though it wasn't very much!!

i think this is the third light dusting of snow we've had.

i took chanda uptown to a special concert at carnegie hall with the west eastern divan orchestra, comprised of youth from the middle east of egyptian, israeli, jordanian, palestinian, iranian, lebanese, syrian and spanish backgrounds. her school had free tickets for its students. she said it was an incredibly beautiful concert. they played two beethoven pieces.

on the way home, we passed central park on our way to the train.

 

here is the artisans' gate.

and here are the horses waiting to ferry tourists (or natives) through the park.