A date with my boys

Last night I went on a date with my four handsome little men!  We continued the tradition we started in December when we went to see The Nutcracker, stopping first for dinner at IHOP. (Please excuse the blurry photos and silly Joe face...we don't do selfies very often!)

Then we went to enjoy a little chamber music!  The Maxwell String Quartet from Scotland was finishing its first tour in America and we were the last stop!

The boys LOVED it!  We enjoyed music by Joseph Haydn, the father of string quartet music, a collection of Scottish folk tunes and jigs (my favorite), a modern composition by Dutch composer Joey Roukens called "Visions at Sea" that painted a vivid picture of the era of Dutch sea voyages - complete with the cello sounding like a rocking ship, bits of Dutch sailors tunes in the background and muted, eerie sounds that put us all right at sea (the boys' favorite!), and finishing with Tchaikovsky's String Quartet in D Major which included Ukrainian folk tunes (Toby's favorite).  It was all so beautiful!

Perhaps the best part, however, was getting to meet and talk with the musicians afterward.  Jack was very engaging, shaking hands, asking questions, getting autographs and telling them all how much he loves Great Britain and Scotland!  :-)  The other boys were a little more timid, but George loved meeting the violinist George Smith, who told him what a great name he had! All of the boys were in awe as if they were meeting true celebrities.  And I hope these musicians do become celebrities - they are wonderful!  They each encouraged my boys to pursue music and even introduced us to the local Suzuki strings teacher in our area!  The boys are ready to jump in!  George wants to play the cello and the other boys want to learn violin.  Maybe they will form their own quartet of sorts one day! 

The Maxwell String Quartet will be releasing their debut album soon and will be back on tour in America next year.  If they come to your area, please go see them!  You will not be disappointed! 

So grateful that our fairly small city in the mountains of southern Utah has offered so many opportunities for us to see wonderful performances from around the world!  And I am grateful for my little men, who are so enthusiastic and soak up all of these things we get to share together!