Stormy Saturday in Albany

When I left my house this afternoon heading towards Albany the sun was shining, despite the rather strong winds outside. However, things got ugly when I got there and most of the people at the Tulip Festival were already bailing out. By the time I swam upstream the rivers of people heading for downtown, the first drops started already. In the next half an hour the skies were pouring and I started to question my plan. Found a tent for cover but the Police kicked everybody out so I migrated to another one. Thankfully, after only 15 minutes the rain almost stopped and I took my camera and started shooting some nice rain drops on the tulips. It was nice that the rain cleared the park of all the people and I could take some clear and nice shots. Moreover, after 15 more minutes the storm passed and the sun came back to life. The result: some wonderful shots of extravagant tulips.
Afterwards, I headed to the Palace Theatre where the Albany Symphony Orchestra was giving their final concert of the season. From the program: Daron Hagen’s Choral Symphony No. 4: River Music, an excellent piece that, as he putted it, could be easily imagined while taking the Amtrak from New York City to Albany. With an excellent performance of David Alan Miller the director of the Albany Symphony Orchestra complemented with the voices of Albany Pro Musica, I was really surprised by the melodicity of the three components of this concerto, as most of the audience. Very good! After an intermission spiced with wine, the second part flew by. Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 started langsam, schleppend and then became feierlich und gemessen so that the storming end left the audience again in a standing ovation. All in all, a very good performance and a concert that was way better than it looked on paper.