Tan Dun's Martial Arts Trilogy at the Sydney Opera House

Saturday, February 23, 2013

The Queen Victoria cruise ship is in the background.

A view of the bridge from the balcony of the Opera House

We had a fun, busy day.  Sydney had volleyball practice this morning at the Olympic Park.  Dagan went back to the skate park.  Then we went into Sydney.  We spent the afternoon in The Rocks.  It was a rainy day, but we found enough to keep us entertained.

View of the tiles on the Opera House

Sydney

Inside the Concert Hall

In the lobby at intermission

In the evening, we went to see Tan Dun's Martial Arts Trilogy at the Sydney Opera House.  The symphony played three concertos from three different martial arts movies.  Scenes from the movies were shown on the big screen as they were playing.  The music was from Hero, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and the Banquet.  For the Hero concerto, there was a violin soloist that played on the 1715 Stradivarius know as the "Ex-Pierre Rode" and the "Duke of Cambridge."  Also, a guqin was played during this piece.  It is a traditional Chinese instrument that is a seven-stringed unfretted zither.  It has a very interesting sound.  We liked this piece the best.  At one point, the brass instruments surprised both kids because they were really loud after the violin playing very softly.

During intermission with the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background.

After the intermission, the symphony played a piece from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.  The soloist for this piece played a erhu which is a two-stringed bowed fiddle.  It sat on the soloist's lap.  It also had a very interesting sound.  The last piece was from The Banquet and the soloist played the piano.  His hands moved really fast over the keys.  It was fun to watch.

The inside of the Concert Hall is really amazing.  I am glad we were able to hear a concert here.