Category: everyday life

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!

MCA

I almost never make it to the Museum of Contemporary Art, and it’s hard to tell why – there are other museums which are not close to my office, and harder to get to. If anything, the MCA is between my work and my home, and not far from the Chicago Red Line stop. And, because I tend to consume too much information about what’s going on in the city, I learned that they have free admission on Tuesday evenings for all Illinois residents, so I decided to check it out (sort of “getting out of a familiar routine”). I went there on Tuesday when I had a midday doctor appointment, and worked from home, which is also not my typical way of going to the museums.

“The Trophy” by Marlene Dumos

From Firelei Báez exhibition:

City in a Garden: Queer Art and Activism in Chicago Exhibit:

And I didn’t know these facts about the Montrose Harbor:

I was slightly disappointed that the permanent collection is not on view, and overall, there are fewer things on view than I expected. I am going to hold off getting one more membership: now that I know it’s not so difficult to get there (and it a purely physological thing that I flelt this museum was not on my way), I am happy to see all new exhibits during these free Tuesday evenings.

Other Weekend Activities

As I’ve mentioned many times, I love it when Lena visits me because we like the same things, and I can have a perfect weekend with her, engaging in all my favorite activities.

I always try to make her feel a little bit “on holiday” when she visits me, and she does the same when I visit her. That said, I cooked her favorite dishes, made tiramisu, and showed her some hidden treasures in Rogers Park. She also went on early morning walks and explored the neighborhood (as seen in the pictures below)

At the Chicago border

We talked for hours. We didn’t solve all world’s problems, but we definitely registered consensus over them:). Also, with Lena’s blessings, I aquired one more orchid:

How The Long Weekend Was Spent

I can’t say I didn’t have fun this weekend. I had a pottery class with Nadia, I saw Salome, and I biked. Still, most of my time was my non-work work.

I finally finished my presentation slides for SCaLE and got an idea of how I will be presenting this new topic. Besides that, there was a lot of emailing on different aspects of PG DATA. We got one more Community Sponsor, and a Lanyard Sponsor, and for the first time ever, we are seriously talking about an Academic Partnership with one of the Universities.

On Friday, when I was walking to the Union Station after work, I looked up at the sunset and thought that, despite all complications, setbacks, and time-consuming discussions, things are going the right way! I invested so much of my soul intot his conference, and it is turning out great (knock on wood :)).

A Couple Of Sunny Days, And Morning Biking

I know it’s not spring yet, just a couple of warm days in the middle of winter, but I am so thankful for them!

I got on the bike both Sunday and Monday, and saw the sunrise over the lake!

Pottery Class

I gave a Pottery Class Christmas gift to Nadia and Kira, but Kira got sick the morning of the day I was going to pick both of them up in Milwaukee. After discussion with Anna, we decided that I will still take Nadia for that class, and figure out something else for Kira.

Looks like it was for the better, since the class turned out to be way more advanced than advertised. Although no previous experience was needed, there were a lot of instructions, which Kira probably wouldn’t like :).

Nadia and I had a great time, though!


Nadia’s bowl
My orchid pot

After the class, we went to Ryo Sushi, then to Amorino gelato, and spent some time at the Art Institute Ryan Center on some crafts. As Nadia put it, “it gives her an inspiration.”

Time well spent :). Also, Nadia made a Valentine for me:

I Will Never Stop Admiring…

Three Morning Commutes

Since public transportation ridership is rapidly returning to pre-pandemic levels (I know many doubt this, but I experience it every day :)), I had to switch to the earliest commuting wave. When I started my current job, I used to take the 7:15 or 7:30 train, and occasionally the 7:00 AM train. However, these days, there is no chance to find an open seat on eitgher of them, so I switched to 6:30 AM, which was luckily added about a year and a half ago, When it was just added, there were barely five people waiting for it on the platform, but now there is a small crowd, and I have to rush in to find an open seat. And if, for whatever reason, I am not making this train, I am taking the L.

On Monday, I took a day off because I needed to do several conference-related and mom-related things, and I left the house at an uncharacteristic 7:45 AM. A CTA attendant at Jarvis station was visibly surprised to see me at the wrong time :). It was very interesting to observe the crowd on later trains, especially closer to the Loop. Early morning is for service workers, people working shifts and some occasional crazy IT like me, or contractors all all kinds, trying to start their billable hours as early as possible. Later, it’s a time for traders and the rest of the IT, especially working parents, who have no choice of commute time. And an hour later felt like students and freelancers commute. I was surprised to see that L-trains were even more crowded that an hour earlier, and I think it’s the Metra/CTA difference. Metra is officially out of the rush hour by 8:30, but the CTA rush hour continues. That’s the loudest and the friendlies crowd of all, with the least smarphone usage during commute, if you can believe it. They actually talk!

Mom’s Updates

Mom’s God-given case manager L. visited her on Friday. She texted me an apology that she might be 15 minutes delayed, ended up being on time, and texted me again that she would wait for me to come. Pure angel.

Gave both of us a million hugs, told me how to talk to the agency, and increased mom’s help hours to 83/month. Mom finally started to realize that this is going to be a huge assistance for her, so now, instead of blaming me for “I didn’t react properly” on her fainting episode, she tells me that “I didn’t explain to her” what I was planning to do.

On Monday, I took her to her doctor for the check-up. I was not surprised that he didn’t find anything wrong with her in general, but I was surprised that there was nothing visibly wrong with her left leg. All neurological reactions were fine. He said that, obviously, fainting is not normal, but three weeks later, it’s hard to tell what was wrong.

Mom was very happy with the results of this visit and immediately went on a long walk with her caregiver. The good part about her ordeal is that she came to turms we needing more help, and hopefully she won’t be getting out of the house on her own.

The CheckOut Piano Series

The Checkout is our new “local” venue. I’ve been there twice already (here is one of the posts), and when they announced the Sunday Matinee Piano series, I decided to take my mom there, hoping it would be less stressful for her than going to the CSO.

The concert was brilliant! Same as during my previous visit, I enjoy the unique opportunity to hear an exceptional performer in a very intimate setting. The performer, Feiyi Liao, is a doctoral student at Northwestern, and he performs not only with exceptional techniques but also with a heart and soul.

The program was “classic” (Mozart, Gershwin, and Franz Liszt), but each piece sounded like “for the first time”. I chose the seats so that my mom could see the performer’s fingers over the keyboard (if that’s not the case, the concert is lost for her). She liked it :).

This Yamaha concert grand was donated to the CheckOut by Piano Forte. Beautiful sound, and the primary reason for the Solo Piano Series