Oh my goodness. Going to the symphony tonight was magical.
There's a program you can enroll in once you turn 15 called Soundcheck. I had Kate sign up last year as soon as she could and we've been to a couple of concerts. When I saw that The Planets were on deck I told Kate we should go, that she should look for tickets, and she was excited.
When she first got a notice that there were tickets we didn't move fast enough and we missed them. She was so upset. I didn't realize how badly she wanted to go. I was a little bit not excited because it was a school night and I don't like being tired. So when a few more seats became available, we bought two and goodness am I ever glad we did.
The first two performances were works by Thomas Ades, a British born composer. I enjoyed the first piece, more than the second, a piano concerto. It wasn't until I looked at the program a little more that I realized that the man conducting the orchestra was in fact the composer!
The second half of the program was The Planets. I've listened to the whole work before but I'm most familiar with Mars and Jupiter. When the music started I was so happy that we were there. By the time we got to Jupiter I shed a few tears. But the end of the performance did me in.
Neptune is the end. And the end is a choir off stage that slowly fades into silence. The conductor held his arms up in the air for so long. He kept us there in the magic of the sound of the silence as the music faded into oblivion. It was transcendent.
I am so thankful for music, for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and for getting to go tonight with my favourite 16 year old.
