Eli goes to ELIJAH

Last week, the Phoenix Symphony performed Mendelssohn's Elijah. We had rehearsals Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, with concerts Thursday, Saturday and Sunday! Whew! It was totally wonderful and exhausting.

I thought it would be appropriate to invite Eli to his first Symphony concert, considering the material. We prepped him with the Old Testament story of Elijah the Prophet, so he would know when to jeer at the prophets of Baal. Happily, we sang it in English and there were supertitles as well. They also featured artwork illustrating the music throughout the entire work. It was really a wonderful introduction to the Symphony!

If that wasn't enough to keep him entertained, there's always the seeing-eye dog who sits onstage at every concert, in the very front with its owner, a half-blind second violinist. Rumor has it that once the dog got up and walked around the stage during a concert. I never saw it myself. But I bet that dog is cultured! Too bad it can't write the reviews, he might do a better job than the guy who wrote ours last weekend.

Before the concert, Eli played on the strange downtown Arizona sculptures. That's my EliBug! :)

Improvising an obbligato

Studies have Proven...

10 1/2 years ago, we were given the "Baby Mozart" video as a baby gift to Lizzie. Well. As many of the mothers of young children will confirm with me, this 30-minute video is a Life Saver. When nothing else would calm little Baby Lizzie, I would pop that VHS in and she'd be zoned out in a matter of seconds! With no adverse side affects!

I happen to believe it has more to do with the hypnotic toys they feature than with Mozart's genius music: pendulums and perpetual motion type games, alternated with lava lamps and puppets bouncing by: The true genius is that it is GUILT-FREE TV for mothers, because the video says that your baby will be smarter for watching it. Not surprisingly, the Baby Einstein company founder is now a millionaire.

The good mother that I am, I made sure Baby Lizzie, as well as all subsequent Stewart babies watched, or do currently watch, the Baby Mozart video at least once a day.

As you know, last week we took 10-year-old Lizzie to Mozart's The Magic Flute. Imagine my pride when we got home and told me - Mom! I've heard "Papageno's Wish" {a.k.a "Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen"} before - it's on Baby Mozart!" And as Oliver was taking his daily dose of Mozart, Lizzie and Eli started singing to the synthesized music, "...is Papageno's wish!" and she was right! There it was, right there, waiting all those years to be recognized.

See. There you go. Ten years of prepping, and we receive our reward!
Keep watching, Oliver, you'll be singing Mozart in no time!

Tucson Song

I brought my nanny with me to a conference in Tucson this weekend. heehee.

That's Whitney! She came down from SLC to visit, and I put her to work watching the baby while I went to the American Choral Director's Association conference. I loved every minute, and Whitney and I got to do a roadtrip together.

Masses of Children

Today, our choir combined with musicians from around the valley to perform John Rutter's Mass of the Children. It is gorgeous music, similar to his Requiem in sound and style. Here's some pics from our dress rehearsal yesterday. What a fun concert!



Weston Noble of Luther College guest conducted:
Break Time!

Conductor Mommies:

This is from the concert today, right after the applause:

2 excerpts from concert weekend:

Eli's moment of Glory:

group shot:

more later...!

I have re-assumed my position behind the kitchen sink

I'm back! After a way fun weekend of wearing earrings and heels and red lipstick and eating out, I am back home.

A little weekend wrap-up:
Oh, how I miss these gorgeous mountains! On Friday, we drove to Heber for a rehearsal with our accompanist. At least, that was our excuse.


Dad took us to Asian Star - so delish.

On Saturday night, I attended my mom's Salt Lake Symphony concert. They had a cimbulom soloist. I've always wanted to hear a cimbulomist!!. . . Actually, I didn't know what it was. It's kind of like they took the inside of a grand piano and handed the guy (his name was Igor - Igor the Cimbulominst) some mallets, and he just went wild. The resulting sound was surprisingly lovely. I love the cimbulom, don't you?
Outside Libby Gardner Hall, they have a new picture of my dear old voice teacher, Betty Jeanne Chipman. She wasn't able to come to the concert because she contracted bronchitis from a student! She's like a grandmother to me.

Since the Assembly Hall would not allow any recording of any kind, we got together on Sunday night and recorded the whole concert.

My mom and Anne have been friends for almost 30 years. Do you know how they met? When my family moved from Boston to Philadelphia, they had an extra refrigerator. So, they put an ad in the paper to try to sell it - in this little paper called The Philadelpia Inquirer. Who was the first person to see the ad and call about the fridge? Anne Woodard, that's who. While talking on the phone, they realized they were both from Utah and had both recently moved to the area. Then they started playing together, and the rest is history. She ended up moving to Heber City a few years ago. But she never bought that fridge.

What an honor it was to perform with these musical giants! They are amazing women and I'm lucky to have had the chance to work with them. Let's do it again sometime, ladies!

Tonight...was the night of night-the night of nights tonight!

Go, Erin, Go!!

My sister Erin Morley, has made it to the Final 4 in the Wigmore International Song Competition in London! They are streaming the video live at http://www.plushmusic.tv/channels/D8Y/wigmore-hall-international-song-competitions-channel.html where you can also hear the four Finalists' performances.

If you have a chance to check it out, enjoy it! :) Good luck, Erin!


Watch Erin Morley - Im Frühling: Delphine (Schubert) on Plushmusic

Sept. 25 Assembly Hall Concert

Hello Readers!

I am so excited to tell you that I've been asked to be part of The Temple Square Concert Series this fall in a concert with my extraordinary mother, Elizabeth Palmer, at the Assembly Hall in SLC!

You're all warmly invited to attend!

When: Friday, September 25th, 2009
Time: 7:30 pm
Where: Assembly Hall, Temple Square, Downtown Salt Lake City, UT

Program: Oh, well, there'll be a little Russian music, a Beethoven sonata played by mi madre, some art songs by a female French composer, Chaminade, a nod to Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, an aria "Steal Me, Sweet Thief" from Menotti's The Old Maid and the Thief and wait! I'm not going to give away ALL our surprises! You'll have to come and hear it yourself!

The great thing is that this is the same weekend as our church's annual Women's Conference, which I love because we are a mother-daughter combo with an amazing female pianist. Go Girls! :)

Click here to see us on the schedule for the month: Schedule This is exciting to me - there's something so cool about seeing your name in print!

Hope all our Utah friends can come! :)

London Tower:

• The Crown Jewels (sorry, no pictures - the reflection of the bling could very well blind you)
• Yeoman Warder (beefeater) tour guide
• Eli's famous quote of the day: The guide was explaining that "since it is Monday, we will only be executing children...girls, actually...from Belgium...who are about ...nine?... years old...??" The little girl in question exhaled a sigh of relief and said, "I'm eight!" At which point, Eli piped up, pointed right at Lizzie and said loud enough for the crowd of about a hundred to hear, "SHE'S NINE!"

(This is the White Tower where Royalty lived for 500 years) (Tudor-style)



Paying Homage to Harry Potter: The impromptu hail storm!

St. Paul's Cathedral:

• "Feed the birds, tuppins a bag..."
• The Whispering Gallery
• Lisa, you'll be proud that even though I missed our Monday morning gym class, I got a workout climbing almost 400 stairs to the top of the cathedral! :)

Fish & Chips:

• Pass the tartar sauce
• Don't think about the $45 spent on this lunch -it ruins the appetite-
• Or that the children are throwing the "chips" to the pigeons...
  
  

"Paul" - a French Patissere that hires only French chefs. Ooh, la, la!



What's that you say? You say I have posted more pictures of my pastries than of St. Paul's? Hey, if you'd had the lemon tart, you'd post 4 pictures of it too! It's possible I felt something divine in that pastry. What an experience!

Globe Theater:

• "Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo!"
• The juxtaposition of Shakespeare's Globe Theater next to the Tate Modern Museum of Art is so typical in London
• In our family re-enactment, Eli looks more like he's putting a hex on Lizzie. Those Montagues!

The British Library:
(This picture is from just outside)

Truly, the highlight of the day for me was the Treasures section of the British Library. You can keep your jewels and sceptres, Tower of London - the British Library is where the real treasures are.

• Handel's original Messiah Score in his own writing, opened to the page of "The Trumpet Shall Sound"
• Schubert's "An Die Musik" also in his own hand
• The First Gutenberg Bible printed in 1457
• An excerpt from Jane Austen's Persuasion in her own hand, with her writing table
• Leonardo da Vinci's original sketches
  
  Again, we weren't allowed to take any photography inside. Ah, but it was awe-inspiring. The mood was almost reverent in this section. These were treasures indeed.