PIMF Winter Faculty/Super Bowl Concert
For most Americans, February 3rd is the hallowed “Super Bowl Sunday” – a day set apart for pulling out all the party stops – vegging out, with not so many vegetables, alongside all your friends as you enjoy commercials, the half time show, and maybe some championship football if you’re into that! We here at PIMF were careful to schedule the concert early enough to allow for a properly awesome afternoon of both Franck AND football, but we also wanted to share some thoughts on concert attendance in general.
Live performance is the lifeblood of classical music. No shining assembly of audiophile-quality wares can possibly substitute for the sensory thrill of in-person performance. Add to that the visual component of watching the physical language of music – the cues that coordinate players, the gestures of phrasing, the technical movements of sound production – and the communal energy in being a part of an engaged audience, and you have yourself a riveting and unique experience. Here in Philadelphia we are fortunate to have one of the finest orchestras in the world. Although we are graced with numerous opportunities to see and hear the ensemble perform as a whole, it is not as often that we get to hear these world-class musicians in more intimate and exposed settings. The forthcoming PIMF Winter Faculty – featuring Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Second Violin, Kimberly Fisher and Philadelphia Orchestra cellist, John Koen, amongst others – is an exceptional opportunity to experience musical mastery in a pared down setting.
Music meets us where we are; it is simultaneously cathartic and inquisitive. It characterizes and inspires moods, but it also makes us draw on our memory and being as we go on the listening journey. The old adage “You are what you eat!” has a wider reaching relevancy than the glorious spread of finger foods available at your friend’s Super Bowl Party. Everything we put into our bodies – nutritionally, ideologically, artistically – nourishes and informs our being. The works by Franck and Brahms programmed for the Winter Faculty Concert are masterpieces you will be connecting to in deeper and more varied ways throughout your life. When you strengthen your familiarity with works like these and make observations about the individuality other musicians bring to them, you are also developing and investing in your own musicianship.
Concerts are events through which we as musicians and music lovers build and celebrate community. For younger aspiring players, the musicians you meet in ensembles, at performances, and at summer orchestra camps will inevitably become your colleagues later on down the road. For amateurs, patrons, and enthusiasts, concerts like this one are great opportunities to see world class orchestral players in the recital hall. Showing up is a muscle that one is best-off strengthening to a degree of habit – and you are cordially invited to flex that muscle at the PIMF Winter Faculty Concert at Bryn Mawr College in the Goodhart Music Room on Sunday, February 3rd at 2:00 PM!
Look for additional articles about the PIMF Winter Faculty/Super Bowl Concert (and the wonderful music and musicians that will be showcased there) in the upcoming days!
