Gershwin Extravaganzas with the Boston Pops!

Whew! It's hard to believe that the 2015/2016 Season is over, but what better way to end the season that with Gershwin Extravaganzas with the One-and-Only Boston Pops?!?

The last few weeks have been quite a tour-de-force for me, at one point performing 5 concerts with 3 different programs in 7 days. Whew! But boy, were they fun!

On Tuesday, I took the Acela train up to Boston, where I met my mom (who flew out from Seattle) and my sister. My former piano teacher, Mrs. Adsit, was also able to come out the day after from Michigan to see the concerts.

The conductor was the amazing David Charles Abell, who is a brilliant musician. The all-Gershwin concerts on Wednesday and Thursday also had the phenomenal singers Nicole Cabell and Nmon Ford.

The concerts were like huge parties, with changing lights, audiences going wild, and smiles on everyone's faces. How fun!

Boston Musical Intelligencer:

"A very accomplished improviser, he (Charlie Albright) first appeared with a successful solo fantasy on the songs just performed by Cabell and Ford, before the joining the orchestra for the charming "Promenade" from Shall We Dance, the number also known as "Walking the Dog." Returning at the end of the second half, he closed the official part of the concert with a vigorous, flexible, shapely and, shall we say, improvisatory take on Rhapsody in Blue. The whole evening rang with brilliance, energy, occasional poignancy, and frequent high spirits that characterize Gershwin and his work. All around, a well-planned survey and a splendid tribute."

Edge Media Network:

"In one of the concert's more delightful diversions, Albright -- a rising piano soloist -- displayed his improvisational skills with a short interlude in which he mashed those two songs together. The boyish Albright later ended the evening with his distinctive and highly lyrical take on the "Rhapsody in Blue."

Here are some pictures!

-Charlie