Russian National Orchestra at Villa Montalvo, August 1, 2004

I thought Russian National Orchestra would be a very old organization, looking at its name, but it turns out it's been in existence for slight more than a decade.

Although I knew that the music would be somewhat lighter, being summer and at an outdoor venue, I thought it would be nice for my parents and us to attend together.

The orchestra was led by Carlos Ponti, Jr. (he was an associate conductor for them). The orchestra was wonderful and all three encores (Mr. Ponti quickly went through them) was quite amazing although the outdoor setting tended to make the overall sound a bit muted.

The only gripe about the concert was that they had a soloist for "Carmen Fantasy", but his name was neither mentioned in the program nor announced during the concert. I mean he wasn't that great (good, but maybe not being able handle the number fully), but we all thought at least his name should have been mentioned.

Another thing unrelated to the concert... We opted to have dinner there before the concert (catered by PSRT and served by volunteers) because it was only $10 more on top of the ticket. They said it was $30/$35 if purchased separately. We thought it definitely wasn't worth $30, but not a bad deal for $10 more.

Emanuel Ax and Kronos Quartet are coming later this year, so those should be nice to attend.