Rachel's Final OYO Spring Concert

This past Sunday was the OYO's Spring concert, the last one of the season, and, yes, the last one for Rachel. She won't be auditioning for next year - she's burned out, she says, and thinks two years is quite enough. We disagree, of course, but this is her choice to make, and goodness knows she's made a good run of it.

The performance was wonderful, of course. They all are and it's easy to get complacent about the excellence of these kids but I can't say it enough: the talent level shown in these shows is immeasurable. I can detect no difference between them and a professional orchestra. That says a lot about the kids but it also says a lot about the conductors, too.

I have video but can't post the format here and I didn't take pictures because I was taking video. I do have the program, though, and here's what they played:

Romanian Rhapsody No 2 George Enesco

Clarinet Concerto No. 2, Opus 74 Carl Maria von Weber (

Overture from Die Fledermaus Johann Strauss II

Beautiful music but, admittedly, a little high brow. If it were up to me, I'd toss in a movie theme, today's classical music, just to notch things up a bit. But no complaints. Each piece had its sublime moments and it was a blessing to hear it.

So that ends that. Rachel did well for herself and she should be proud but no one is as proud of her as we are.