Tag Archives: music

Events

Schaffhausen Music School’s Youth Choir at Margarethenkirche, Medias

On October 11, the Youth Choir from the Canto department of the Schaffhausen Music School, Switzerland, gave a concert at Margarethenkirche (Church of St. Margaret) in Medias, the same church where organ concerts were held this summer. Medias is a medieval city in the province of Transilvania, Romania.

The choir sang a wide selection of classical, traditional and modern pieces. Some interpretations even included coreography. Here are some of the titles: “L’amur es ĂĽna dĂĽra chassa”, “Stets i Truue”, “Mir Senne heis luschtig, “Schau auf die Welt”, “Leise zieht durch mein GemĂĽt” and more. I have to admit the experience was more entertaining than the organ concerts, and perhaps some of the more lively pieces had something to do with it.

You can watch the video on Vimeo and YouTube.

My wife thought the conductor was very good. His name was Hans-Jörg Ganz. The other instructors were Marei Bollinger (Co-Leader), Mirjam Berli (Rehearsals) and Remo Weishaupt (Voice Instruction). Claudia Hold played the piano.

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Events

Organ concert at Biserica Sf. Margareta

All summer long, the city of Medias sponsored weekly organ concerts at the oldest church in town, Biserica Sf. Margareta (Margarethenkirche). Medias is a medieval city in the province of Transilvania, Romania.

The concerts were held every Monday night at 7 pm. We attended one of them on September 7, 2009. A wide selection of music was played for 1 ½ hours, from medieval pieces to Bach, and all the way to a modern piece written in the 1940s. I lost the program note, so I can’t go into the details, but overall, the concert was good, and some pieces were great. I’m definitely looking forward to attending more of these recitals next summer.

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Events

Florin Sasarman at Schuller House

Florin Sasarman, the Romanian folk singer, gave a wonderful performance at Schuller House in Medias, on October 8, 2009. He was invited to sing there for the book launch party of Laurentiu Oprea, a local artist, writer and publisher. Medias is a medieval city in the province of Transilvania, Romania.

You can also watch the video on YouTube.

If you’re not familiar with Florin Sasarman, you will be after you watch the video. Born near the city of Bistrita, he’s been singing on stage since 1984, all over the country of Romania.

The second song in the video clip was dedicated to Daniel Thellmann, the mayor of the city of Medias, who had died just a few days before the performance. Sasarman, along with all in the audience, had known the mayor well, and the song brought tears to many eyes.

I apologize for the quality of the video, the lighting wasn’t ideal, and there was quite a bit of lens flare. The limitations of my N95’s video camera are readily apparent here, but it’s better than not having filmed anything at all.

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Thoughts

Vivaldi's Four Seasons on the accordeon

A teen plays a segment of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons so masterfully on his accordeon, that his video, uploaded to YouTube, is bound to go viral. Unfortunately no credit is given to him in the video or in the video’s description. Does anyone know who he is? He plays incredibly well for his age.

And now, for something completely random and very weird…

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Thoughts

Why can't I use AirTunes from my iPod or iPhone?

For those of us with an AirPort Express, this question comes up at some point: why can’t I play directly to it from my iPod touch or iPhone, using the same AirTunes technology that is available through iTunes?

apple-air-tunes

After all, an iPod touch or iPhone has WiFi, and AirTunes works through WiFi. If I can do it from my Mac, it stands to reason that I should be able to do it from my iPhone, doesn’t it?

Apple iPhone 3G

Instead, we get a hamstrung app like Remote, which is neat, but somewhat pointless. Think about it: you’re using a device which already has your music library stored on it (iPod touch) to play and control the same music, stored on your computer. Why the middleman? Why not go direct?

apple-remote-app

Sure, the Remote app is useful in the living room, if you also have a music library stored on your Apple TV. You can then control the playback of that music or videos without using the Apple Remote, which has a much longer battery life, is smaller, and much easier to use… eh, wait a minute, that doesn’t sound like it’s better, does it?

Given Apple’s commitment to the environment, I have to wonder why they insist on using the laptop or desktop machine when it’s not necessary.

apple-environment

I realize using AirTunes to play music directly from the iPod touch or iPhone will drain the battery much faster than playing the music through headphones or through a dock connected to a speaker, but hey, we should at least have that choice, right?

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