Teton Chamber Orchestra

Last February, my sister Jill and i recieved a phone call from Eric Wenstrom, conductor of the Teton Chamber Orchestra in Idaho Falls. He was desperate for viola's, and since we played for him both in high school and with the Idaho Falls Youth Symphony, he asked if we were interested. I hadn't played in 10 years but jumped at the chance. We usually only reherse 1-2 times before a performance, so it's expected that we do our part before the rehersals. We played for Jim Brickman in February, Sara Hickman in October, and this week we are playing for Kurt Bestor. It's so awesome! Last night was our first Bestor concert and it was down in Pocatello. Considering how unprepared I felt and how lousy our sound check rehersal went in the afternoon, the concert went amazingly well. I only got completely lost a few times, but I'm really good at faking it and pretending i know exactly what I'm doing. My only minor catastrophe was that my black shirt fell off the hanger in our apartment, and i ended up in Idaho Falls with just an empty hanger. Luckily Jill had an extra black shirt that she let me use for the concert....it saved william from having to go shop for one in Pocatello while I was in rehersal. My favorite part is playing with Jill again. We were both in youth Symphony together for 1 or 2 years before she went off to college, so it makes me feel young again. I still idolize her and wish i could play as well as she does. We have two more christmas concerts this week - tonight and tomorrow night in Idaho Falls. I have to give great big kudos to William for last night. He took off from work early so that he could drive us to Pocatello (we had to be there by 4pm). He then hung around Pocatello and the performing arts center until after the concert (which ended a little after 10pm) so that he could drive us home. What a saint to do that for his wife who HATES to drive on winter roads. He was just sitting out in the lobby during the conert, and Wenstrom saw him during the intermission. Wenstrom took him over to the usher and said, "This is a friend of mine. Do you think there's an empty seat he could sit in and enjoy the show?" So William got in free to the concert and was able to enjoy it from inside.