Category: events

Helsinki Music Center

On Friday evening, we went to one more concert. Once again, it was in the Helsinki Music Center, which I first visited last time, and loved it. This time, it was Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. The concert was titled “I Want to Be Alive”, and that was the name of the piece which was performed after the intermission, and was composed by Daníel Bjarnason. OK, I know it sounds confusing, so let me say it again. Daníel Bjarnason was conducting, but the first part featured Wagner and Szymanowski, and in the second part, the orchestra performed the piece composed by Bjarnason, which was called “I Want to Be Alive.” And that’s also how the whole concert was called.

Once again, I love this venue!

Once again, sitting on the side when there is a soloist, is a bad idea. Boris said he remembered I said so, but he got the tickets on the side again, and it was a bad idea again/ The orchestra sounds great. The soloist when there is no orchestra, also sounds great. But not together. You have to face both the orchestra and the soloist to get a good sound.

And one more, completely unexpected! We saw Esa-Pekka Salonen in the foye!!! First I thought: no, it’s impossible; it’s just someone looking like him, because otherwise, there would be a big crowd around, and he is just talking with a couple of people. But later, when we passed by one more time, I realized that Finns were just being polite, because other people were turning their heads back after they passed this group :).

Below is some interesting art on display in the foye, and a sculpture in front of the Music Center.

An exhibit in the foye

… and yes, a million years ago, there was such a thing as an ice-cream after going to the movies, right?

Madama Butterfly At Lyric

OMG, what a beautiful performance it was! I read all about it before coming (except for reviews, of course), so I knew that it is set like Pinkerton being a modern life gamer, and he plays the story in virtual reality. And when he gets to the next level, he has to choose whether he is staying with his American wife or with Chio-Chio-san, and he chooses the former, and then the tragedy unfolds.

It’s so beautifully done! Everyone is so real! My neighbor said it’s the best she’s ever seen at Lyrics. She says this often :), but the performance was great, indeed.

A Piano Recital At The Fine Arts Building

I was there on Sunday, because my friend Y started to take piano lessons there, and she really wanted me to come, and I promised her I would.

To say I was impressed with her teacher is not enough. She works with such a diverse student body and has so much patience and love, and offers endless encouragement and support. And all this in that amazing building, where the walls speak of history and great artists of the past!

I deeply regretted that I couldn’t stay after the recital for a small reception, but that weekend, my time didn’t belong to me; I had way too many things to complete. Even today, I feel very bad that I had to leave, because this teacher is doing God’s work, and I should have told her that in person, not through my friend Y.

I will definitely come to the next recital, and I already told Y that she should stay with this teacher and never quit 🙂

DePaul Industry Night

On Wednesday, March 11, our non-profit Pairie Postgres participated in the  Business & Data Analytics Industry Night at DePaul University as a resource for students. I was pleasantly surprised that our communications with DePaul are deepening, and they actually do all they can to include us in any events we might be interested in. It was great to talk with students directly. Yes, it might feel like a very modest outcome: one student registered for our June conference, and one student emailed us to tell us he wants to volunteer, but it’s so much better than nothing (which we had before!).

Carlos, the only local Board member except for me, was able to join me, and another organization member, Robert, also joined us. We had a great time at the event and appreciate the opportunity to connect with students and share that learning about databases can benefit their future careers.

I saved the last copy of our book from being silently taken 🙂

Mr. Nobody Against Putin

Just watched it at the Siskel Center – the theater was packed, and a significant part of the audience was not Russian-speaking. The English subtitles were OK – some nuances were definitely missing, but still quite accurate. They should have run the subtitles in the end, when they play a recording of “Broad and vast is our mighty country” – it’s not like every English speaker knows this song, and I think it’s important that during the time of a tightening oppressive regime they play “where man is gloriously free.”

The documentary is unimaginably depressing. Not only because of what exactly it shows, not only because the audience physically feels the pressure of the Russian propaganda machine, but also because of how Pasha chooses to be blind even after he left Russia: everything was fine before February 2022, and then all of a sudden…

As always, I didn’t read any reviews before watching, and now I see some interviews with Pasha, and I am oging to try to watch at least some of them (I have no idea when I find time, but…)

Daylight Time Change After a Sleepless Night

I had an overnight flight from LA, and it was also a day of switching to DST, which resulted in a 3-hour time change. With the flight lasting less than four hours, I slept so little that my Apple watch didn’t even scream at me, but made a sad face: bad nights happen!

Also, I didn’t realize that the CTA was doing something on the Red Line Lake station, so when I exited the Blue Line at Washington, and walked to the Red Line, I found everything closed and a CTA worker explaining to me that I needed to return to the Blue Line exit, get out to the street and walk to Wabash where the Red Line was rerouted for a day. And if I knew, I could just get off at the previous stop and transfer! Another 30 min without breakfast 😂

Finally, I got home, ate breakfast at 9:30 AM, started laundry, talked to Boris, visited my Mom, and went for a short bike ride. Yea, I know!!! But that was not it!

I had a ticket to the Drowsy Chaperone at Theo that night, and I was going to go there with my friend MaryAnn, so there was no question of not going.

Don’t take me wrong, I liked the show, it was something very unexpected, and very well done, but MaryAnn was crazy about the show, and kept telling me how much she liked it. And I was happy that she was happy 🙂

Unfortunately (and as always!), they do not have any pictures and videos from the show yet, because it was just a preview weekend, but I will update this post later!

The Day Iceland Stood Still

There was a free screening for the Gene Siskel Center members of this incredible movie, The Day Iceland Stood Still. I was in yet another work emergency, and would opt to skip if I didn’t have prior plans to go with a friend.

This documentary is so timely in many ways! It is yet another proof that everyone has to fight for their right, and that a good fight pays off :). Looking at Iceland nowadays, youwould never imagine that it was lagging in women’s rights until fairly recently! And what beautiful people all these women are! It was such a delight to listen to them share the memories of this day fifty years ago!

A documentary about women, made by women, and a message to all of us!

Vlad In Chicago

Vlad made a surprise visit to Chicago, and immediately, Illinois and all neighboring states knew! My weekend ended up being completely upside down, but it also presented an opportunity to take a picture with all my children, which hadn’t happened for more than two years.

Vlad was doing a pop up in the Lilac Tiger bar:

I asked Vlad to make minis for me, so that I could try more than one 🙂

Also, I asked him to visit my mom, which he did on Saturday. I went there with him because, at this point, my mom needed an interpreter. We had not more than twenty minutes one-on-one, but overall, visiting my mom with Vlad, and coming to his event today, significantly altered my plans, and I have no idea how and when I will catch up with the rest of my life. And no, I am not complaining 🙂

Joffrey: American Icons

Yesterday, my neighobor and I attended yet another amazing Joffrey ballet performance. The “American Icons” showcases the works by several choreographers who contributed to Joffrey ballet through the seventy years of it’s existance.

Here is what Sun-Times wrote about this program:

The Joffrey Ballet’s early years have been enshrined in American legend, as the small troupe toured the country in a station wagon full of entrepreneurial postwar spirit and youthful enthusiasm.

Founded in 1956 by Robert Joffrey, son of a Pashtun father and an Italian mother, and second-generation Italian immigrant Gerald Arpino, the 70-year-old company continues to draw exceptional dancers from around the world to Chicago.

The Joffrey is, quintessentially, a company of immigrants in an American city powered by immigration.

The Joffrey’s “American Icons” program, running through March 1 at the Lyric, is, appropriately, a melting pot, too. Showcasing work by Joffrey and Arpino, plus dances by founding company dancer Glen Tetley and iconic modern choreographer Martha Graham, the evening’s collection evokes Old Vienna, Ancient Greece, Belle Époque Paris and the Catholic Church.

Collectively, the works communicate a modern American perspective on the Old World, and they represent an essential Americanness even while expressing the statelessness of dance.

I throughtly enjoyed avery moment of this performance, and at some point in the middle of it I realized that I have been smiling all the time. Each movement was impecable. The pictures can convey only that much of the beauty…

And the only photo taken by me:

CSO Backstage Tour

Since last year, I purchased two tickets for a Millennium Park concert, which was considered a fundraiser, I officially became a “CSO donor” (I think, my subscription is not expensive enough to qualify). With that, I started to receive some exclusive invitations. I know that invitations to the open rehearsals are issued to all subscribers, but I believe that for a backstage tour invitation, you need a higher level. Or maybe they just started to offer them. Whatever the case, this season was the first time I started receiving these invites, and I was sad I couldn’t choose any tour time that worked for me. Finally, a couple of weeks ago, I spotted one time that could work and still had openings (it was a last-minute addition). The time loosely corresponded to my lunch break :). I immediately grabbed two tickets and told my neighbor about this opportunity.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay for the whole tour, because it ended up being longer than one hour (as it was advertised). But funny enough, the last and the best part of the tour – the backstage – was less important for me because I saw it as a part of the CSO for Kids Ambassador tour with Nadia, so it was OK; I just felt bad that I had to ask an usher to escort me out.

The curator who led the tour was exceptionally knowledgeable, and she told us all about the history of the building and the orchestra. I knew some pieces of it: how Theodor Tomas agreed to move to Chicago in 1890 for the promise to have a permanent orchestra (“I will move to hell for that!”). How the orchestra first performed in the Auditorium, and how Daniel Burnham volunteered to design the new orchestra’s home.

I didn’t know that Theodor Thomas specifically wanted to have a ballroom in the building for more intimate gatherings, and that it’s because of him we have Grainger Ballroom.

The Rotunda was a later addition, similar to the Arcade, and was built to house the CSO offices, the libarary and the archive
Another thing we learnde on the tour: the first female member joined the orchestra in 1940, and out of all instruments you would imagine, she played a French horn!
I didn’t know that the ceiling can be moved up and down to create a different effect, depending on who is on stage (the full orchestra, the Chamber orchestra, or a soloist)

Backstage:

The harpsichord (I remember seeing Melody Lord playing it)

As I said, I didn’t take a lot of pictures backstage because I took them on a previous tour. My friend messaged me later that it was a very special experience, and she loved it. She was able to sty till the end, and I had to run back to work!