I went to the Tuesday, June 16th, free, late-morning rehearsal of Hayden’s Military Symphony in anticipation of possible bad weather for the next evening’s concert, which did provide the advantage of sitting wherever I wanted and moving around at will, which I took the opportunity to do, checking out the acoustics everywhere and moving in and out of the sun, but restraining myself from standing in the center aisle, jumping up and down and waving my arms trying to distract the musicians. I have too much class for that (and can’t jump) – but it sounds like fun, right?

As rain always seems to be forecast for Wednesdays, I went to rehearsal again on Tuesday June 23. Unfortunately, though I listened to two of the selections, I couldn’t stay for the Barber violin concerto, thereby forcing me to risk the weather the next evening, which held off long enough, but just, for me to see William Hagen perform brilliantly before the heavens opened up and the concert closed down.

Attending the rehearsal on Thursday, June 26, not out of fear of the forecast, but rather because it was outside and the performance itself was to be inside the next two evenings (more of a winter activity for me), I was treated to Sara Davis Buechner exuberantly playing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1. It was interesting to observe her interaction with the conductor when he wanted the orchestra to repeat a section of the music. Shockingly, though she knew the music by heart, she had not committed the corresponding 1,625 measure numbers to memory (unlike prisoners telling jokes). Also, it allowed me, that evening, to watch the White Sox win 22-1 (what?!).