At last night’s dress rehearsal I played twenty-two notes. Granted, I don’t have a ton of notes, as I only play the English horn solo in Dvorak’s New World Symphony, but in this case I played four measures out of twenty-one. This happens sometimes, when another work simply requires more time, and I’m not complaining. Just pointing out that a dress rehearsal doesn’t always mean we run a program.

Getting back on stage (we began Wednesday night) wasn’t the emotional event I thought it would be. It really was merely “back to work”. I’m wondering if tonight’s concert will be the emotional moment. I won’t be surprised if it is. Since it’s opening weekend we play the National Anthem to begin. Normally I don’t do that if I’m not on the next work, but I want to be there for the start of our season, so I’m going to play that, and then go sit for over an hour as the orchestra plays the first half of the concert. Last night I didn’t bother to rehearse it (I don’t exactly need to, having done it so many times!), so I was in the audience and took some photos. I won’t post anything until after tonight’s opening, but we have a few changes coming … stay tuned!