Plans

On Sunday, Joshua and I plan to hear in concert the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic under Yuri Temirkanov. The program: music of Rimsky-Korsakov, Shostakovich and Brahms (Temirkanov is a wonderful Brahms conductor, one of the finest Brahms conductors alive).

So far as we know, Temirkanov has not cancelled. The last two times Josh and I planned to hear Temirkanov, he cancelled, leaving us disappointed (and a little bit miffed). Needless to say, we hope he does not cancel on Sunday afternoon.

When I was in law school, I would often drive up to Baltimore to hear Temirkanov lead the Baltimore Symphony. Temirkanov’s Baltimore concerts invariably were excellent. It was during this period that I found out that Temirkanov was much more than a specialist in Russian repertory. I learned firsthand that Temirkanov was especially fine with Brahms and Mahler—as well as Elgar and Britten, something I found surprising at the time.

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The following weekend, Josh and I may attend a performance of George Balanchine’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, to be presented by Boston Ballet. The run of performances begins tonight.

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Otherwise, we are hunkered down, wrapping things up (and dealing with taxes).

We are still in the midst of making graduation arrangements with everyone from out of town. It has taken us longer than we expected, primarily because everyone is having trouble making final decisions. We hope to have everything completed within another ten days.

Because everyone is coming for Josh’s graduation, we will not attempt to go home for Easter this year.