Missouri Youth Orchestra - Part 3

One of the musicians I met at the MYO was a lot of fun. He was a bass player named Keenyn. Upbeat and personable, he has more personality than most. He was a bit of a character, which is intentional, but it's unusual to see someone so young have such a terrific and confident outlook. I liked his hat:



As I got to know Keenyn a little bit over the weekend, I was impressed by how comfortable he was in his own skin. When I make images, many teens are often pretty uneasy in front of my lens. Not so Keenyn: he took it in stride, and even enjoyed it quite a bit. He was a real pleasure to work with, and he's put quite a few nice comments in the photo gallery for the Festival.

Music Festival with Mark O'Connor Part II

Previously I mentioned the music festival; now we talk about the Master Classes. It was wonderful listening to these extremely talented young musicians tackle Mark O'Connor's music. The music was challenging, but beautiful, and the students showed both skill and bravery tackling the pieces. One musician, Justin, tackled a piece that required a different-than-normal tuning of his violin. As Mark commented on Justin's performance, he borrowed the violin took a few seconds to get used to the tuning, and immediately demonstrated some of his ideas. I think Justin was tickled both by the demonstration, and by Mark borrowing Justin's instrument:



Mark also worked with a quartet that had done an excellent job on one of his pieces:



Next, I want to tell you about one of the kids I met at the festival, who was a lot of fun: Keenyn. More soon.

Music Festival with Mark O'Connor

I admit it: I'm totally impressed. This past weekend, the Missouri Youth Orchestra, led by the extraordinarily talented Carrie Turner, sponsored a music festival featuring two-time grammy award-winning violinist Mark O'Connor.

Normally, when you put 100 teenagers and pre-teens in a room, you expect the rough equivalent of herding 100 Jack Russel Terriers mixing with 100 caffeine-enhanced cats. Nothing could have been further from the truth.

The young musicians were from the Missouri Youth Orchestra and the St. Charles County Youth Orchestra. They were from varied backgrounds and had different personal styles, habits, and personalities, but they were all committed, serious-minded musicians who cared a great deal about their music. Yes, they were kids, which means they know how to have fun, but they were committed musicians. Here's an example:



I've known Carrie for a few years and have never failed to been impressed by her motivation, drive, and passion for the kids. She was high-energy, upbeat, excited - in short, a force of nature. Shane Williams, from St. Charles, was terrific as well, connecting with the musicians and effectively sharing ideas and goals. A really terrific guy.

Finally, there was Mark O'Connor himself. An enormous talent, enormously humble, he was an inspiration, an example, and a challenge for the kids. he opened the time Saturday afternoon with a demonstration/performance:



After this, he did master classes. I'll write more about them in another blog, as I post more photos. The photos are going up at www.RichardBerryPhotography.com - there's a link on the home page.

Bravo, everyone!

New Media for Display

I'm very intrigued by some newer forms of display. I'm submitting work for consideration by a local gallery. Traditionally, I've had works matted and mounted in a frame behind glass. I've always found it slightly frustrating, especially with low-key images: the glass cuts the contrast and the "pop" of the image.

So, I've started looking at some different ways of displaying; I'm thinking about using canvas wraps: they are created with coating to guard against UV rays. I'm also looking at some other non-glassed displays, and I like some of what I see. I'm going to do some testing. I'm thinking that this particular shot would be gorgeous on canvas:



More as I find out.