Orchestre Nationale de Lyon

We attended a concert from the Orchestre National de Lyon last night, directed by Jun Märkl. The music was by Haydn, Sains-Saëns, and Bartók. The first violinist was a girl named Julia Fischer, (only 21) who has been playing in Europe, Japan, and the US. She started playing at only four years old! She was playing on a Stradivarius from 1716 called "le Booth". It was absolutely beautiful! Unfortunantly, we missed the first part because we had gotten stuck in traffic, but we were there for the next two parts, which I think were the best anyway.

Concert!

We went to the symphonic orchestra of Lyon today (Orchestre national de Lyon). It was called a "Concert expresso" (expresso concert) and instead of being in the evening, it was during the lunch hours, and only lasted about 45 minutes. The theme was the year 1862. Pieces from several composers of that year were played, such as Berlioz, Debussy, Wagner, and Johann Strauss. The music was beautiful and restful. The auditorium was packed! My guess is about 3,000 people!