TOPPING THE TOPS

Until 18 December 2009 my top performances were:

The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow
Swan Lake - Mariinski Theatre in St Petersberg

Both of these were organised by Tony.

THEN, by sheer chance, I organised tickets for a concert at the Hanoi Opera House. The only reason I purchased tickets to this was because the opera had finished the night before and there was nothing else of interest coming up during my visit.

It was called the Yamaha Jazz Christmas Night but was an opportunity to see the Opera House and have a little light entertainment.

How wrong can one be!

We walked in, received our free program, took our seats within one minute of the orchestra appearing on stage, and settled in for what looked like a surprisingly good performance, as the 85 musicians on stage were The Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra. The conductor, Tetsuji Honna, was world famous so the evening became quite exciting at this point.

The program commenced with some light pieces by composer, Leroy Anderson, followed by Gershwin's American in Paris and was enthusiastically received by the audience.

We were then treated to some Duke Ellington jazz by an excellent group which included a pianist by the name of Yamashita. He is the most talented pianist I have ever seen and to be so close was perfect. Our seats did not allow us to see his hands so Tony walked around to the other side, whilst I stayed and enjoyed watching his facial expressions of total involvement in the music.

Loved it.

The highlight of the night was his rendition of Rhapsody in Blue. It was so good that we decided to sneak into the sold-out Saturday night second half to watch it again. This was possible because there were columns where we could stand and not be in anyone's way but still with an excellent view of the stage. As luck had it there were two box seats vacant which rendered a great view of the entire orchestra.

Amazing hardly described this experience.