Art and Music May 21, 2010

Art and Music May 21, 2010

Wishing You Joy, Peace and Love . . . Now and Always!

Dear One –

I hope this finds you and yours well and happy. How are things?

I decided to post some videos from Moscow and Vladivostok on YouTube. You can find them through my YouTube ID -- Peace777ofChrist. The first video of Komsomolskiy Prospekt is at this web site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPSt8vNOBfU

And the first one of driving downtown in Vladivostok is at this website: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G7744gPp9A

God is so good and so faithful!

Last night I had a wonderful time at a very special concert. The musicians were a very special group called “The Crystal Trio.” They were joined by two very wonderful opera singers for some of the pieces they played. The reason the concert was so wonderful was the instruments that these talented musicians used. One of them played on 36 crystal goblets filled with various amounts of water using his fingers wetted with water. Each of the thirty-six goblets was tuned to one note each of three full octaves (not just eight notes each, but if you can imagine a piano, by “eight full octaves”, I mean all the notes of the white keys AND the black keys for each octave) .If you saw the Sandra Bullock comedy “Miss Congeniality,” you saw an example of this kind of music, although she played popular songs and the Crystal Trio shared classical compositions.

The second member of the trio also played with wetted fingers, but this time there were glass crystal tubes of various lengths set in a wooden frame. Both musicians quickly kept dipping their fingers into a receptacle of water between them and their crystal instruments.

The third member of the trio played a kind of pan flute of an ancient design, but not made of wooden pipes – made of crystal tubes of various lengths and sizes. He played them by blowing into the pipes, just as anyone would who played a flute.

The result of the three musicians playing together was absolutely magical and mystical. And when the opera singers sang with them, it was completely lovely.

Before the concert it just so happened that my friend and I saw a young college aged young man and his little brother who we had met the evening before when we went to visit their art dealer father and their mother, who is a professional dancer. We had gone over to their apartment to visit with them and to see some water colors painted by a friend of theirs.

It was fun to see the young men again, and during the intermission and after the concert we had a snack with them. While we were in the café next to the Philharmonic Theater, the manager came over to talk to my friend and asked if we wanted to meet the musicians! It was a delight to go back stage and talk with them. They let us play the instrument with the crystal tubes in the wooden frame and we heard that they will be coming to perform in the U.S., too.

So if you see an advertisement for “The Crystal Trio” – go see them!! I promise, you will really enjoy it.

Backing up for a minute, I also want to go back to the evening we spent with the art dealer and his family. The water colors were painted by an amazing artist who had donated prints of some of his work to be screen printed on t-shirts that were sold at an auction to benefit babies and small children who have been born with HIV in this far east part of Russia called “The Primoriye Krai” or Ocean Coast Region.

Last week I went with my friend to the auction which was organized by a physician, some businesses and both various parts of the Russian government and the U.S. State Department. It was very well organized and held in a kind of student center at one of the universities in Vladivostok. The student center is called “The Underground”.

The way the auction worked was that some very talented artists donated prints of their art work to be screen printed onto t-shirts. Then student volunteers displayed the t-shirts while standing on lines that made the shape of the red ribbon that is familiar as the one used to remember victims of HIV/AIDS. There were two groups of these students, and they also had clipboards with a sheet on them so that people could bid on the t-shirts in the silent auction style.

As we came into room in “The Underground” where the fund-raiser took place, some other student volunteers pinned a red AIDS ribbon onto the clothes of each person who came into the room. Then we were ushered over to a counter where we signed in and received a piece of paper with a number that was to be our bidding number.

When I went to look at all of the t-shirts, it was really difficult to decide on which one to bid on. My favorite was a watercolor of a young woman holding a lamb close to her chest and nuzzling its head. Unfortunately I was out-bid on it, but at the last minute found another t-shirt that I liked that had not been bid on, and I was able to make my donation for that one. Strangely enough, I saw the original of the young woman with the lamb when we went to visit my friend’s friend, the art dealer and his family! I wish I could have afforded the original.

God is so good and so faithful!

During the time I have been here in Vladivostok, for some reason, it has been difficult to get connected with the pastors of the United Methodist Church I was hoping to see. Because my friend is going out of town for almost a month, I came to the conclusion that it didn’t make sense to try to stay here while she was gone. So I am heading back to the U.S. next Tuesday, May 25th, God willing.

Nevertheless, the day after I changed my airline ticket, I finally got in touch with the United Methodist pastor here. So I will get a chance to meet her and to worship with the congregation on Sunday, God willing. Sometimes it is difficult to understand why things happen the way they do, but I always trust that God has good plans for me and praise the Lord for His mercy and loving kindness.

May the Lord continue to bless and keep you and yours.

In His Love – Kathy

His Mercy Endures Forever
Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Psalm 100


Kathleen Ware Harris  © 2012
kwharris777@gmail.com