Mark & I just got back from Cirque Eloize at Hancher. I loved it! This is the second time I’ve seen Cirque Eloize perform. The first time I saw Nomade and this time they did Rain. I love their performances because it’s just so fun. There is no profound message buried in the plot, just fun. Mark & I both laughed so much. It’s basically circus acts on a theatre stage. As I keep telling everyone, this is one of the best groups I have ever seen at Hancher and I’ve been going there since I was a little girl.

They’re headed to GBPAC in Cedar Falls this week. If you can go, I highly recommend it!

Mark got a post card this past weekend that said the UI Symphony was performing Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Mahler’s Symphony No. 5. I immediately called Kirsten and told her we should go. So, last night, we dragged the boys over to Hancher. Ok, I’ll give them credit, they “wanted” to go. I think they honestly enjoy the music, they just weren’t prepared for how long Mahler’s portion took.
Personally, I love Mahler’s composing. He keeps it so lively and comes up with these gorgeous melodies. The performance was pretty good. They were some blips in the sound coming from stray trumpets, but not everyone notices these things. The one complaint from all of us was the french horn soloist who stood right in front so everyone could see him. He played wonderfully and I can say that because I used to play french horn as well. He had some issues with water in the pipes though and he continuously attempted to fix this, over and over again. Tipping the horn upside down, pulling out pipes, rolling the horn to try to find it. It was excessive and distracting. I understand the issue of sound quality when you have water in the pipes, but good heavens! If you don’t solve it the first 10 times, it is not going to get solved.
None the less, the end of Mahler’s 5th was so beautiful that I almost cried.
All of this and we only paid $6 because I am still a student.