Changwon Philharmonic - and living in a bubble

So on Thursday night it was The Orchestra. And, amazingly, it was free.

Most civic buildings here are fairly new and the auditorium was certainly equipped with some very comfortable seats - even headrests - which in my case is asking for trouble.

It started with a woman coming on and talking for a bit - the only words I understood were "Thank you"
The orchestra were already seated and when the conductor came on the applause seemed very half-hearted. It became clearer with what then followed. They launched into some slow sad music and on a massive screen behind they showed images on the Korean Navy ship that had been sunk - and then they showed photos of all those who had died. It was quite moving.
We had also had a silence at school at 10am so it must have been a special Memorial Day for them. Apparently the funerals were to be held this weekend - one mass funeral - the mind boggles.

It got me thinking about my living in a bubble. I don't watch TV here and the main news I read daily is either business or my Telstra Clear homepage - which is mostly about car crashes and violence in NZ.
I do get The Guardian Weekly - which is good for world coverage but by the time I read it I'm a week or two behind. What I'm lacking is the blanket coverage I was getting at home when I would listen to the radio a lot and also watch the TV news every night. So that when some catastrophe occurs you get the story over and over and over.  Needless to say I don't miss it for one bit.

So, back to the orchestra. It was all Dvorak I think. They played an Overture 'Karneval' and a violin concerto. All the orchestra were dressed in white shirts and suits - the women all in trousers. Then the guest violinist came on - and he had a black shirt. I fell asleep - this always happens to me when I go listen to music - and woke towards the end of it. The guest violinist played two encores solo and then the lights came up. I thought - oh goody - home time. But it turned out to be intermission.

The second half was Symphony No 9 - I stayed awake right through.  I thought the orchestra was pretty good, they sounded very polished - but in truth I know nothing. Someone later said they thought the wind and brass were not so good and struggling to hit notes. This is a country where it's common to learn piano or stringed instrument but not so for brass and woodwind. I was still pleased that I went.