Staying focused on Measure for Measure

Dear family and friends,

Yesterday's photo: to see it clearly and fully, click on it to enlarge it. Use the scroll bar at its bottom edge to move across the room. Let me know if this does not work for you.

Saturday, we didn't go out until evening, when we went to Tilles again to listen to the London Philharmonic, guests of Sophie and Brendan. Sophie is on the Board, having been asked because of her high energy and creative ideas. She is also on the Board of NeMLA, the Northeast Modern Language Association.

Our seats were fantastic: the soloist and conductor stood exactly in front of where we sat in the 10th row. The concert was to benefit the Tilles Center Endowment Fund, and well-dressed people abounded. People of all ages, too, including young folks from youth orchestras. Great to see more hair colors than grey.

The program was perfect: Beethoven's Concerto in D major for Violin and Orchestra, Opus 61, and Brahms's Concerto No. 2 in D, Opus 73. Vladimir Jurowski was the conductor, and Yossif Ivanov, a 23-year-old, was the solo violinist for the Beethoven. Wow! The Beethoven was a little slower and chunkier than the versions we have (several), but the slim, young conductor clearly had something in mind and used finger twitches of all kinds as well as arm and body movements to convey his desires. The war horse got some new fittings. The violinist and conductor seemed connected to each other in some mystical way.

Lovely too to be with Sophie and Brendan two days in a row! We saw the Dzens there, but didn't really get a chance to talk. Sophie and I reminisced about Teddy Bookman's Friends of the Arts, which she built up from scratch. When we returned home, I emailed Teddy about the apartment next door to ours on 40th St. which is for sale. She wants to leave Atlanta and return to the City.

Merwin made me transparencies for the talk next Friday. I can't show too many of them, because of time constraints, but I can flash a few, and he is making more than I can use from which I can make a selection, as necessary. I like a bit of spontaneity. He is suffering from his cracked (probably) rib. My similar injury took exactly 5 weeks to go from agony to normal. He's a fast healer, and not as good a patient, so he will force himself to heal quickly.

Lovely sunshine this morning, and I hope to enjoy a nice day in the City with Rick at Measure for Measure.

Love to all,
Bernice