Beethoven's Emperor Concerto

I am so excited to play Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, Op. 73, in Eb major, known as the “Emperor”, tonight, November 14, with Symphony 847! I was delighted and honored to be asked to play this joyful music with them, and frankly, even though it was a little crazy preparing this music during the months leading up to and including Ear Taxi Festival, this has been the perfect project to focus on and keep my wheels turning (and fingers moving!) post-ETF.

The concert is doubling down on Beethoven and also includes his Symphony No. 4, alongside a piece by living composer Michael Torke. It’s going to be an evening of expressive, brilliant music, and I hope to share it with YOU!

Symphony 847

Friday, November 14, 7:30 pm

Libertyville High School

708 W. Park Ave.

Libertyville, IL 60048

tickets

About the dress (for those who want a deep dive). . .

Yes, I did in fact get a new dress for this performance. I knew I needed something special but didn’t have much time to go shopping. I was a little concerned about having the time to find just the right thing. Then one Sunday afternoon, I was driving my daughter to ballet practice, which I believed started at 1 pm, but as we were driving there she pointed out that we were going to be super early because it didn’t start until 1:30 pm. I was so disappointed that I had cut my practicing short by 30 minutes for no need.  I started to ask her, “Why didn’t you tell me we were leaving too early?”  

Then all of a sudden I had an idea.  I knew of a place that had dresses which was not far from the ballet school.  I told my daughter the plan. . .”IF we can find a parking spot” (this was downtown, so a big ‘if’), “and IF we can get into the store by 12:50, we are going to look for a dress for Beethoven’s Emperor.” She gave me a very skeptical side eye.  

We arrived downtown about 45 minutes before the dance class was supposed to start, which had now become “right on time”.  We found the store in question (which shall remain unnamed—I’m not giving away all my secrets!), and had to circle around the block for a bit.  But then, after a few circles, there it was, the magic parking spot.  I put 30 minutes on the meter and we speedwalked our way to the store.  The fun part was that I was dressed to stay in the car—I had not been planning on doing anything more than pull up, let her out, and drive home again.  I was in full-on housecleaning mode, hair pulled back in a messy-messy bun (not the stylish kind), my most obnoxious sweats, and, let’s just call them, “house shoes.”  

Regardless, we walk in, and on the escalator up, I set my timer for 15 minutes, and tell my daughter “If we are not at the checkout line by the time this timer rings, we’ll just leave and go straight to ballet.”  We find the first rack of dresses, and, nothing.  Then I see a salesperson wheeling past with a rack of clothes and ask her “Where can I find the fancy dresses?”  She points us to the back corner of the store.  I can’t say if she gave me a funny look due to my very non-fancy ensemble or not, because we were already running towards the fancy dresses.  

As we neared the back corner, I saw it.  Glittering. Golden. Silver? Hanging nonchalantly on the very back rack. I make a beeline for it and—what?  It’s my size?! Awesome!  We find 3-4 other dresses that look like other likely candidates, but the glitter is already winking at me.  We run/walk to the dressing room, and I rip off my fuddy-duddy clothes and put on the gown.  It is perfect.  Comfortable.  Great fit. Easy to sit in.  The slit is on the correct side (NOT the side facing the audience, lol!). And. . .whoa!  Not very expensive!  I tell my daughter, “I think this is the one.”  I go through the motions, try on the other four dresses, but nothing even comes close.  We run up to the cashier , pay, and are back out on the street before my timer is even close to ringing.  We make our way back to the car laughing and smiling and she is successfully delivered to her class a decent 10 minutes early, I drive home and continue practicing, and the dress has been solved.  Win-win-win!

And one more fun fact. . .

The venue does not have an adjustable bench for the piano.  So, I will be bringing my own bench from home.  The bench in question was directly imported from Germany by ME in a cardboard box as I moved from Köln to Chicago in 2008.  The two boxes I brought with me were broken into somewhere en route, and I lost a lot of things, but for some reason, they left me my piano bench!  Happy to have a bit of Germany with me onstage for Beethoven!