Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows is finally here! Happy reading! :-)

Spectacular performance of Carmina Burana at the Seattle Symphony

Last weekend we attended the season finale for the Seattle Symphony, a lively performance of Carl Orff's lusty Carmina Burana, at Benaroya Hall with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and Chorale, plus the Northwest Boychoir, all led by assistant conductor Carolyn Kuan. The soloists included silvery-voiced soprano Maureen McKay, whimsical tenor Stanford Olsen and larger than life baritone Lucas Meachem.

The concert started with Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto and an amazing performance by young guest soloist Joan Kwuon. Then we proceeded to the fabulous Carmina Burana, beginning with a rousing rendition of the stunning and unmistakable O Fortuna!, followed by numerous playful, whimsical and progressively more lust-filled choral pieces, based on risque medieval texts.

It is no wonder that such a spectacular piece of music continues to have a lasting appeal:

The subject matter covered in Carmina stays pretty basic: love, lust, the pleasures of drinking and the heightened moods evoked by springtime. These primitive and persistently relevant themes are nicely camouflaged by the Latin and old German texts, so the listener can actually feign ignorance while listening to virtually X-rated lyrics. (Veni Veni Venias! Come, come come now!)

The music itself toggles between huge forces and a single voice, juxtaposing majesty and intimacy with ease. At its largest, Carmina employs a chorus of 200 or more voices, an orchestra of 100 players and a children's choir of 50 or more, plus three soloists (soprano, tenor and baritone).

This magnificent choral piece is one of my absolute favorites in the entire cannon of classical music! Hearing this piece on a half decent sound system is spectacular enough (with volume blasting, of course!) but hearing it performed live is truly an amazing experience. The following review in Seattle Times takes the words right out of my mouth, as far as capturing the intensity and atmosphere of the performance at the Seattle Symphony's Benaroya Hall.

I love Montréal!

I just got back from the fabulous city of Montréal, where Guy Carpenter held a bi-annual Instrat Rendezvous. After we had to cancel our visit to New York earlier this year, my parents decided to drive up from Ithaca and we spent a day strolling around and catching up after ten months apart. It was fun to see them again, especially in such a nice setting. Photos here.

It was also great to see old friends from the New York office. We had a full schedule of meetings and sessions over the three days but it wasn't all work. We took part in a scavenger hunt (a team-building activity) and a dinner cruise with a splendid view of fireworks. In the evenings we got a chance to further explore the city and have fun! My favorites certainly were the outings to dance clubs on Crescent Street near McGill University.

Looks like we're in for a Happy 4th of July! :-)

Ratatouille is great fun!


We enjoyed seeing Ratatouille last night! It is by far among the most enjoyable movies I've ever seen. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. It was thoroughly enjoyable and I highly recommend it.

Visit to Los Angeles and a short vacation in Santa Barbara

Last week we took some time off for a short trip to Southern California. All three of us visited Hoon's mom and brother in Los Angeles and drove up to Santa Barbara for a weekend get away.

Kiki was very good during our two hour flight in each direction and was very excited to see grandma! :-) She was a little confused with all the running around in the new places. It was funny to see her "drop dead" with exhaustion every evening and sleep like a log.

Santa Barbara is gorgeous! It's not known as the "American Riviera" for nothing. The city is beautiful and the beaches are amazing! We stayed in a small oceanfront town called Carpinteria and loved the gentle sloping beaches and enjoyable small town atmosphere. We had a great time walking around Santa Barbara and enjoying the city, in particular the Court House, the Summer Solstice Parade and the old Mission. We were lucky to catch a phenomenal street performance of Roni Benise and walked away with a copy of his Mediterranea CD. I've been listening to it over and over and absolutely love it - Santa Barbara being my favorite song (you can hear and see a short video of it from the street performance at Hoon's picasa webpage).

In addition to swimming and having fun in Carpinteria and Santa Barbara, we took a little excursion to Santa Ynes valley and did some wine tasting in Los Olivos, but thanks to the movie Sideways and the town's rise in popularity it was impossible to sit down anywhere for lunch. We also had a fun one day visit in Solvang, CA.

In Los Angeles we had some amazing Korean food - ahh... the yummy naeng myun! We had a great time visiting the J. Paul Getty Museum and truly enjoyed their amazing collection, the spectacular location and the beautiful architecture. The museum buildings are as beautiful and fascinating as the impressive collection of art they hold. I was ecstatic to have a chance to see Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Bergère currently on loan from from the Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery in London.

For pictures visit Hoon's picasa webpage.