Not much time to dash off blog entries right now, what with coming home to find we urgently need a new hot water heating tank and so on, but did want to give you the heads up on two concerts not to be missed this weekend at
the USC School of Music Recital Hall. Friday the 18th at 7:30 PM, the incandescent
Marina Lomazov will be giving a recital, and if you want a seat, you had better get there early, and I mean at least by 7 PM. This woman sells out Koger Center when she plays with SC Philharmonic, and the Recital Hall only seats about 200 and change. If you are in Columbia and love music and don't know about Marina, well, it's just not possible. Her playing is virtuosic, mesmerizing, charismatic, and thrilling. Don't know what the program is, but it doesn't matter. Worth a drive if you're reading this elsewhere in the state. Of all the reasons to like living in Columbia, the chance to hear her several times a year has to rank up there in importance. Have I done enough to convince you?
One of the other good reasons to live in our town is on display the very next evening, this Saturday the 19th. The Southern Exposure concert series, curated by USC composer John Fitz Rogers, has its first concert of the season at 7:30 on that evening, also at the Recital Hall.
Sitar virtuoso Kardik Seshardri accompanied by Arup Chattopadhyay on tabla will be featured. One of the things I do miss from New York days are the World Music Institute concerts I used to attend regularly, and I hope that more world music concerts will take place in this city.
This Saturday night concert is an unusual opportunity to hear a kind of music that you rarely have the chance to hear live in this area, so I strongly encourage you to avail yourself of this chance.
