Violins and the Rose Bowl
Turning the corner, cutting hard around the outside, just past the first violin, and there were the roses! What a night! Hands so fast and quick, conducting all with ease, comfort, and a deliberate command of his team.No, I don’t mean Vince Young. It was Dimitri (or whatever his name was), a great conductor. He was conducting the Russian National Orchestra. And I was at the new Dongguan Cultural Center. Beautiful place, albeit still a little Chinese in style and function. But here I was center balcony listening to Romeo & Juliet and Bach and Beethoven in China! What an amazing world.
Tony had pointed out the construction of this building about six months ago as being a new center for culture and arts in the efforts of Dongguan to be more than just an industrial center. He referred to it as an Opera House. Well, here we were during the Grand Opening festivities. Tony got tickets for about 20 of us to see the Russian National Orchestra on the first Thursday.
The building is spectacular. Very nice white rounded steel and glass. The white marble steps inside wind up along the outer glass walls to each level. Inside you are met by deep rich wood. Wood everywhere, even the floor. Okay, it might have been better if the floor was not wood. It was a little slick for walking up the steep steps and added a little unneeded extra bounce to the acoustics. I was impressed with how each row and each seat had a lighted number in the floor. And each wood rimmed seat had the number individually monogrammed neatly into the upper left corner of each back. Pretty impressive.
The neatly dressed attendants ushered us to our seats. The place was huge. A recent article listed it as one of the biggest in China with 1600 seats. Our seats were in the wide balcony. As the second set started, Masha, to my right mentioned it was Bach. I was impressed by her knowledge. We didn’t have programs. As the next started, her and Ms. Fung to my left both simultaneously said “Romeo & Juliet”. Huh? How did they do that? Suddenly I realized what was going on. Above the stage was a wide electronic bulletin screen. It was posting the next song at the start of each. Of course, these were in Chinese characters. I just figured it was an announcement to be quiet. …. Now I knew better. This was how they knew each new song. A simple program might have been nicer though
The orchestra was great. They did a wonderful mix of music. They first performed some very Russian tunes to let you know their heritage. The over 40 string instruments were strong. Then they threw in four traditional, popular Chinese songs to the delight of the crowd. The conductor did get presented with two beautiful bouquets of roses.
After the two-hour affair, our group then made its way to the Green Restaurant for a late night snack. I was torn on joining them, but opted to go to the bar to catch the replay of the Rose Bowl. Richard and I had stayed tune to the game over the internet radio and gamecast during the morning hours here. But we were at lunch during the fourth quarter, and missed that exciting period. But I made it to The Thirsty Dog after the orchestra just in time to catch the ESPN replay of the fourth! What a game!
I got to see the Russian National Orchestra get roses, and then saw Vince Young’s run for the Roses! Congratulations Longhorns!
posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 12:36 PM
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