Nepper's Landing: Symphony Fun

We had the great privilege this weekend to attend the ESO Kids Symphony (Edmonton Symphony Orchestra). We got tickets through the Children's Heart Society here in Edmonton. They often are giving out tickets to various things going on in the city, but I often have a hard time justifying an Oiler's game...for my two year old...er...but a symphony catered specifically for kids definitely fit the bill.

So we grabbed them up (to quote Forrest Gump), and found out we were also given a third ticket. The lady asked if Abbi had any friends she could bring. Um, she's two? How big was your social circle at two years old? We did find a great little friend to bring with us, Mataya. A few months older than Abbi she is quite witty, smart and an absolute fashionista! I mean within a two hour visit she has done at least two "costume changes." Its amazing!

So the girls and I headed downtown to the Winspear on Saturday afternoon. I believe its one of the best concert halls in North America. Its incredible inside. Rob and I have been lucky enough to go twice before to various events. So its quite funny to see all these kids pouring into to this grand location. The last time we went to the Winspear it was a ball of sorts (a charity fundraiser), so it was a bit of a change of scenery.

The performance was quite good. It was called The Listener. The idea was that two mimes kept on coming in throughout the performance and disrupting the orchestra. So they were quite comical. Mataya called one of them, "The man with the funny face." They tap danced, they took pictures of the audience, they conducted the orchestra, they sang (well, as best as a mime can "sing").. All sorts of fun things. The orchestra played music ranging from Mozart to songs from Beauty and The Beast.

Now you must remember my companions are both nearing 3 years old. So symphony etiquette might not be exactly their thing yet. The girls started out quite interested in the surroundings. All the lights, all the people, the instruments. Well, lets just say they got comfortable quite quickly. Mataya had her sandals off within minutes, Abbi was sitting not so ladylike...

Once the lights had dimmed, Mataya got even more comfortable. You can see she took her jacket and made a little pillow for herself. She said, "Its too loud, how can I sleep when its so loud?"

Apparently Mataya is absolutely in love with the color pink. So for the most part of the performance she seemed fairly uninterested. The stage lights would change color (which Abbi found quite fun). But when they changed to pink...hoo boy! Mataya sits up straight and says "PINK!!!" She sat up for the entire pink part of the performance just kind of muttering, "Pink, pink."

This is the one picure I got from the performance, and was quickly told like by an usher that cameras were not allowed...eek!

I think at about the 45 minute mark they were both done. Started getting more and more distracted. Started getting out of their seats and walking up and down in our aisle. "Can I have a popsicle now?" Oy. Thankfully we made it to the end. After a quick potty break we were off to find some popsicles. And I think really, that was the highlight of the entire performance. I mean, in my day we definitely didn't have popsicles that cool!