The weekend after we got home from Florida, the Boise Chapter of the BYU Alumni association sponsored the BYU Young Ambassadors at the Nampa Civic Center. They put on two shows on that Friday evening and we attended the 8:00 pm show. It was great. Afterwards, we hosted a couple of the female performers in our home. Shannon and Alicia were delightful and it was fun hosting them although it was only for about 5 hours because we had to have them back to Nampa at 5:45 am so they could get on their bus and drive to Richland, Washington for their next performance. It always amazes that everything BYU does is top notch.
I had a really neat experience last week. Our neighbor, Becky, plays principal viola in the Meridian
Symphony (not a member of the church). The Meridian Symphony invited a
guest concert pianist from the University of Utah, Ran Duan,
to come play
Rachmaninoff's 2nd concerto for their concert last weekend. Becky hosted
Ran at her home. Ran flew in a week ago and Becky knew she would want
to practice the piano each day while she was in Boise but Becky only has a
keyboard, so she asked me if I would mind having Ran come over every day
last week for a couple of hours to practice the piano. Of course I said, YES! So last Monday, Becky brought Ran over at 9:30
am.Ran is in her mid to late twenties and is originally from China. She
is a gifted pianist and won many competitions in China and was able to
come to the USA for her graduate degree and she went to the Cleveland
Music Institute where she studied and got her masters degree. Come to
find out, while there, she went to the LDS Institute with some of her
friends so she could learn to speak better English and she ended up joining the church. She now is studying for her
doctorate degree at the University of Utah. Ran says there are many members in China but they can not
proselyte. They and their family can go to church but they can't bring
their friends. She says there are 3 wards in Beijing, who knew? It was so
interesting and inspiring talking to Ran. She came over each morning to
practice for a couple of hours. It was such a treat for me to listen to
her play. She really is amazing. She was able to go to the temple on
Wednesday which was a treat for her. On Friday, she and Becky brought me a bouquet of flowers and a thank you note and a ticket to the
performance on Saturday night.I was able to go to the concert and is was
so good. Ran did a fantastic job. It was a thrill. She asked me if I
could take her to church last Sunday so I took her to our Sacrament meeting
and then I drove her back to Becky's afterward and she flew back to Salt
Lake later that afternoon. It was such a treat to meet her and I felt like we
were kindred spirits. I hope she is able to come back to Boise to play
again. The Boise Philharmonic is interested in having her as a guest
pianist so that would be awesome. It strengthened my testimony to meet her and see how the gospel has changed her life
and how it is rolling forward throughout the world. It was a treasured
experience.
It was also the Boise Tuesday Musicale piano festival last Saturday and I spent many hours getting my piano students ready to play their two memorized pieces and be adjudicated on each. I also volunteered at the festival for 3 hours on Saturday morning, so once the piano festival was over, it truly was a wonderful week of music.
to come play
Rachmaninoff's 2nd concerto for their concert last weekend. Becky hosted
Ran at her home. Ran flew in a week ago and Becky knew she would want
to practice the piano each day while she was in Boise but Becky only has a
keyboard, so she asked me if I would mind having Ran come over every day
last week for a couple of hours to practice the piano. Of course I said, YES! So last Monday, Becky brought Ran over at 9:30
am.Ran is in her mid to late twenties and is originally from China. She
is a gifted pianist and won many competitions in China and was able to
come to the USA for her graduate degree and she went to the Cleveland
Music Institute where she studied and got her masters degree. Come to
find out, while there, she went to the LDS Institute with some of her
friends so she could learn to speak better English and she ended up joining the church. She now is studying for her
doctorate degree at the University of Utah. Ran says there are many members in China but they can not
proselyte. They and their family can go to church but they can't bring
their friends. She says there are 3 wards in Beijing, who knew? It was so
interesting and inspiring talking to Ran. She came over each morning to
practice for a couple of hours. It was such a treat for me to listen to
her play. She really is amazing. She was able to go to the temple on
Wednesday which was a treat for her. On Friday, she and Becky brought me a bouquet of flowers and a thank you note and a ticket to the
performance on Saturday night.I was able to go to the concert and is was
so good. Ran did a fantastic job. It was a thrill. She asked me if I
could take her to church last Sunday so I took her to our Sacrament meeting
and then I drove her back to Becky's afterward and she flew back to Salt
Lake later that afternoon. It was such a treat to meet her and I felt like we
were kindred spirits. I hope she is able to come back to Boise to play
again. The Boise Philharmonic is interested in having her as a guest
pianist so that would be awesome. It strengthened my testimony to meet her and see how the gospel has changed her life
and how it is rolling forward throughout the world. It was a treasured
experience.
4 comments:
What a week of pure heaven! I was fascinated reading about your sweet piano visitor from China. What a beautiful story and how enlightening to hear about the Church in China. We can all learn so much from each other. And the best part of it all for you is that you have a new, special friend!
You certainly did have a wonderful, musical and inspirational week! I loved hearing about the church in China. Ran sounds like a delightful person with incredible talent and a great story to tell! You do work hard with your piano students - I am so proud of you!
Wow! What a cool experience! Your piano is famous now.
What a neat story. I had no idea there were wards in China. And what an opportunity to have her come practice in your home. Glad you found a kindred spirit. Those are hard to come by.
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