Some nights when I’m bored I will pick an ensemble I know nothing about and stalk them all over the internet to learn as much as I can. The other night I ran across Charm City Bronze from Baltimore, Maryland. Two things caught my eye about this group. First, they performed a joint concert with the Arsis Youth, which made me supremely jealous. Second, they performed a concert at the Palm House of HP Rawlings Conservatory.
Since I live in Nevada where we don’t have places like this, a quick note about the HP Rawlings Conservatory. Â Built in 1888, the Palm House is one of the original buildings on the conservatory property. Â Â According to their website:
“Victorians intensely pursued engineering, exploring and collecting. These fascinations culminated in the construction of great iron, glass, and wooden buildings to showcase plants collected from worldwide expeditions. Though most Victorian parlors included plants, most homes could not accommodate the larger species, thus the popularity of the public conservatories for exhibiting palms and other large plants that require a tropical environment.”
The image of a bell choir performing in the Palm House is a strange juxtaposition of old and new. Â Ancient bells are being performed in a modern way surrounded by an antique greenhouse. Â A young conductor is leading classical Stravinski while being broadcast live over the internet. Â Past, present, and future converged for this one performance.
Where is the strangest place you have performed a bell concert? Let us know in the comments below, or tweet at us @Handbellbros.
2 Comments
susan
What a nice arrangement! Bell Appeal has played on a yacht in the middle of the San Francisco Bay and at a winery in Napa. Our conductor and a friend of his played duets in a jazz club along with a visiting college jazz quartet (at a time when they weren’t even old enough to go in!)
Keep in mind (all ye who read this blog): Bell Appeal’s next concert is June 19th in the evening (in Berkeley) and June 20th in the afternoon (in San Francisco). Friday night we serve wine and cheese. There’ll be details on our website (Bellappeal.org – details not up but will be soon). We’re playing music by Meghan Trainor, One Republic, Sara Bareilles, Colbie Callait, Bruno Mars, a few show tunes, and even a hymn and a classical piece (on these last two we thought we’d try to stretch ourselves): all including our instrumentalists and vocalists.. The title is “Brave: Be Yourself”.
(Sorry, Derek for the naked plug — although I am wearing clothes while writing this.)
Always love your blog!
Amber
I like this arrangement! You’re right-that would be very calming to play in a conservatory surrounded by so many lush plants towering overhead!
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