Classical Concert

On Wednesday evening, I got to go to a violin concert. One of the boss men at the office had a bunch of extra tickets and shared them with the ALTs. From what I understood, the performer was from Kochi and had studied in France. I went with Jamie, Nelson and Matt. I was pretty excited to go to a concert, especially classical music.

Of course, one thing I didn't bargain on was the fact that I had a cold and a nagging cough. The cough had been getting better so I hadn't been thinking about it, but I think some secondhand smoke before the concert triggered it. I don't even remember the first piece the violinist played because I spent the whole time struggling not to cough. At one point one of my eyes teared up from trying to choke back the coughing. It wasn't pretty.

However, a few cough drops later, I was able to enjoy the rest of the concert with minimal coughing. I also bought a bottle of water during the intermission. Overall, I thought the violinist was pretty good, but not quite as talented as some of the violinists I knew in high school. One of the pieces she played as an encore was in fact something that a lot of people learned in high school. I'm not saying it wasn't difficult; I never managed to get it right. But for a professional violinist (at least, I assume she was) she wasn't entirely what I expected. Even Jamie noticed it, and he doesn't play the violin.

Another odd thing was the demeanor of the two performers. The violinist didn't seem all that enthusiastic, and the pianist accompanying her almost looked grumpy. The violinist got a bit more animated toward the end, but the pianist never seemed terribly happy to be there. There was some talk among the ALTs that perhaps this was because he was French, haha. Still, I enjoyed getting to listen to some live music again. Maybe I should look into whether Kochi University has an orchestra. Hearing a full orchestra in concert would be even better than a solo violinist.

All in all, I wasn't super impressed with the performance, but did enjoy the music. I was very lucky to have gotten a free ticket. I hope that I'll find some more music in Kochi in the near future.