The cat is alive and well!*

When I arrived at Interlochen last Thursday afternoon, I saw Annabelle briefly before the final recital. We agreed that she would save most of her stories for the long drive home the next day, but she did tell me that she thought the week would go down as one of the best experiences of her high school career. So yay for that!

First the group divided up into quartets, with each quartet playing something different. I wish I had had sufficient disk space to record all the quartets, because each was amazing in its own way. I also wish I had remembered to take my monopod to the recital, as my video is a little bit shaky, but oh well. Here is Annabelle's quartet:



After the quartets, all the players assembled into one enormous bassoon band and played several more selections. Star Wars fans will recognize this one:



Here is the second selection (I don't have my notes with me and can't remember what this is):



They played "Somewhere" from West Side Story. It's a beautiful piece, but this video cracks me up. Watch the woman right in front of me and see if she doesn't sprout Yoda ears at the end:



Here is their fourth piece, and once again the name escapes me:



Here's the whole gang right before the recital:



And Annabelle saying goodbye to her cabin:



She's already talking about maybe returning next summer. This week though, the bassoon has been put away, and she is doing a daily jazz camp at UMKC on the bari sax. It's a very musical summer!

*If this doesn't make sense to you, go back and read my previous post.