Brava, Ladies!Mother McAuley Spring Instrumental Concert

My beautiful red-headed baby Clare and the String Ensemble of Mother McAuley!

Gershwin, Chopin, Severn, Handel, and Oskielunas were all terated royally by the musicians of Mother McAuley High School. Oskielunas? That's Mother McAuley Senior Sarah Oskielunas; who presented Opus One for piano and string. It was wonderful and it followed the most heroic young woman who coaxed the audience into Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" with what might be one of the most difficult clarinet introductions in any composition - Senior Mighty Mac Mary Claire Reynolds.

My daughter Clare and her pals bowed through three compositions with the beginning strings ensemble.

Mother McAuley is doing it right!

Here is by far one of this low-brow's favorite pieces. I met Leonard Bernstein three times ( 1970,'71, & '73) and each time he acted like a bigger doofus than the year before, but that lad could conduct. I think this version is almost as good as the Chicago Symphony's under Henry Mazer.