The day Pam and I arrived in Chicago for the Chicago International REEL Shorts Film Festival, we decided to head downtown immediately to go to a Chicago Symphony Orchestra concert early in the afternoon. We had a Lift ride to our B&B which was an adventure in itself. Our driver who was originally from Central Florida loved Chicago because of the ethnic and cultural diversity. She wore bright blue sunglasses and the car was decked out in glittery blue highlights everywhere. Thinking back I really should have sketched that car ride but I knew I would be sketching at the concert.
We got seats in the highest balcony. It turns out that meant we had to climb six flights of stairs. I was massively winded by the time we got up to the stratosphere. I am clearly spending too much time behind an animation desk and not enough time exercising. The seating up there is at an amazing incline with metal bars between each row to keep patrons from falling forward. With sigh a steep incline there is no chance of a tall person seated in front from blocking a view. I wonder if that inverted glass dome above the performers offers a unique way to disseminate the sound. I doubt it is just decorative.
The woman seated next to us always likes sitting in this section. She explained to Pam that she used to come up here as a child and for that reason loves seeing concerts from this high vantage point. The seating in these heights was half full, so we had some social distancing from other audience members. Pam and I stayed masked for the concert. About 5% of the Orchestra performers were masked.
Pam’s mom claimed Chicago is walking distance to where Pam grew up in Iowa. When Pam wanted to go to a big city, she went to Chicago. She therefor knew how amazing the Chicago Philharmonic was since she had been there many times before. She was a trombone player in her past and she loves to hear a rock solid horn section live.
The concert featured Rachmaninov’s poignant Third Symphony which evokes the Russia that he loved. In my sketch is Violinist Karen Gomyo, who joined the CSO for Philip Glass’ Violin Concerto No. 1. The third performance was of Sibelius’ atmospheric Pohjola’s Daughter.