PEKING ACROBATS

Acrobatics, Gymnastics, Tumbling, Juggling, Contortion, Flexibility, Balance and Control

The Peking Acrobats performed in Walla Walla last week as part of the 2017-2018 season of the Walla Walla Symphony. 

Founded in 1986, they have been featured on numerous television shows and TV specials in addition to traveling around the world 

where they have dazzled audiences with their amazing artistry and agility.

The Peking Acrobats are part of a time-honored Chinese tradition, rooted in centuries of Chinese history and folk art. 

Tradition demands that each generation of acrobats add its own improvements and embellishments bringing it to new technical heights.

The Peking Acrobats were accompanied by live musicians who played traditional Chinese instruments 

against the backdrop of high-tech special effects and awe-inspiring acrobatics.

Doug and I were especially pleased to see The Peking Acrobats in Walla Walla 

since we had to cancel our trip to China last September which included a performance. 

Since we couldn't go there, they serendipitously came to us!

MARK AND MAGGIE O'CONNOR: AMERICAN CLASSICS

Welcome to the 110th Season of the Walla Walla Symphony

What do you do with 130 orchestra students from Walla Walla's two middle schools and the high school? You invite them to perform in the Walla Walla Symphony's season-opening concert "American Classics" with guest string musicians Mark and Maggie O'Connor. 

Here the young cellists can be seen with their shiny red-brown instruments seated across the front of the Cordiner Hall stage with the violinists standing on both sides along the ramps and continuing in front of the stage. Under the direction of Julie Woods and Caleb Contie, the orchestra teachers at Pioneer and Garrison middle schools, the students performed along with the Walla Walla Symphony a rousing opening number entitled "Fiddler's Dream," an original piece composed by Mark O'Connor. 

O'Connor and his wife Maggie also played along on stage, and from my seat I could see a smile of sheer joy and pride in their faces as they heard the music come alive with these young Walla Walla string musicians.

This photo is by Greg Lehman for the Walla Walla Symphony

The audience was enraptured as well and expressed their approval with a thunderous applause at the end during which time the students exited the stage, instruments and sheet music in hand. After tonight's concert and yesterday's Master Class with Mark and Maggie O'Connor, these string students have had what could be considered a transformational experience.

According to the Program Notes, Mark O'Connor is a multiple Grammy winning musician as well as a six-time winner of the CMA Musician Of The Year award. He was also the youngest person ever to win national fiddling competitions, competing against all ages, amateur and professional, and still is the only person ever to win national titles (open to all ages) on fiddle, guitar, and mandolin. 

Along with his wife Maggie, they are co-directors of of the O'Connor Method Camp NYC. "The O'Connor Method was released in 2009 as 'an American-grown rival to the Suzuki method.' It takes an American Classical approach to modern violin playing, offering a technical foundation using American classics. The groundbreaking method is the first string methid to feature all American music, including violin duos, found in the advanced level of Books IV and V of the series." 

To this concert-goer, tonight's "American Classics" concert, including the students' first piece "Fiddler's Dream" followed by "Appalachia Waltz," "Strings and Threads Suite," and "Double Concerto, Movement 1 'Swing,' was a lively, toe-tapping performance by Mark and Maggie O'Connor and the Walla Walla Symphony. Kudos to all involved!