More than a week ago I was able to attend a collage concert in Ann Arbor; a concert that celebrated the entire Music and Theater departments at the University of Michigan.  Bits and pieces of all the works done in the departments were presented one after another with no applause between.  The lighting moved rapidly from place to place on the stage and always where the spotlight fell groups of artists or a single performer began to share their talents with us.   A concert band, jazz ensembles, a single cello player, a saxophone quartet, the cast of Evita, modern dancers, Shakespearean actors, the university symphony, a chamber choir, a group of woodwind players dressed in big hats and giant bow ties, three marimba players.  It went on and on yet it seemed to only last a moment.  A minute of this, three minutes of that, classical followed immediately by popular.  Talent flowing everywhere.

My favorites?  The slim woman who made magic while playing Rachmaninov on a grand piano.  The audience gave a collective sigh when she finished.  And for sheer fun, the four euphonium players who did a piece in the pitch black of a stage without light.  At first I, and probably everyone, thought the lighting people had made a mistake when music began and no light illuminated the players.  I worried that they had the beginning memorized but would have to wind down as the seconds passed and still no light appeared.  Eventually it became obvious this had been planned to be presented without light.  Still I couldn’t relax, worried that somehow this was not right! But before it ended I realized what a gift it was to listen to music in the dark with no distractions from sight.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to go back to Ann Arbor and listen to the Ann Arbor Symphony play.  It was the tenth anniversary of the symphony’s maestro and a celebration  of Mozart.  I learn something each time I attend an Ann Arbor Symphony performance.  I learned this week that Mozart wrote music for smaller numbers of musicians, so on this evening the symphony was much smaller, more intimate.  As usual they played wonderfully, from the first piece, Divertimento No. 1 for Strings in D Major, which was written when Mozart was sixteen to the third and last piece written, but not completed by Mozart because he died before it was finished, Requiem in D minor.

I have to say I enjoyed the first piece the most; it was light and airy and fun and I could envision a young Mozart throwing it together as a kid, proving his genius.  I also enjoyed the second movement of the second piece, Horn Concerto No. 3 in E-flat Major, a piece Mozart wrote for a friend who played French Horn.  The second movement is so melodic, and was done beautifully by the guest soloist Andrew Pelletier.   I was not looking forward to the Requiem, it’s not my favorite piece.  But I have to say I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the choir assembled for the performance.  Three choirs, all from high schools sang together.   I counted over 130 members and the sound just soared in the acoustically perfect Hill Auditorium.  The kids were amazing and the packed 5,000 seat auditorium was transfixed.

Two events filled with talent.  You have to have hope for the future when you are priviledged  to listen to such beauty.