Verbier Festival

nmyra — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 02:48:45 +0000

The Verbier Festival may not be as well known as ACL Fest or Bonnaroo but that is well expected. Switzerland’s annual Verbier Festival is an international musical celebration, attracting an A-list of world-renowned artists for more than two weeks of classical music performances. A few years ago, in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the festival, a group of the world’s greatest pianists gathered to play an arrangement of classical favorites for four to sixteen hands on one to eight pianos. It is truly the most incredible thing you have ever witnessed in the world of classical music in some time now. I was in awe and was only catching it live on a PBS broadcast with my friend Nick on an uneventful New Years Eve. People tend to criticize that pianists never play with other pianists. If they do, in the form of a duet, they are limited to the space and the number of keys on a piano. This coming together of artists proves that theory irrelevant. How they can get eight of the world’s greatest pianists on stage to play simultaneously in a compatible way is extraordinary. Also, it is refreshing in the world of classical music to see the lack of egos and diva behavior. It is really inspiring for someone classically trained on the piano since age five. I need to convince my mom to hand over the piano to me!

Flight of the Bumblebee

Stars and Stripes Forever

Side note: It is an amazing feat just to fit eight grand pianos on a stage!

Longhorns in the Olympics

nmyra — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:32:06 +0000

I am burnt orange with pride seeing all of the amazing swimmers at the Bejing Olympic games — especially those with a Texas Longhorn connection. UT is dominant in a lot of sports such as football, basketball and baseball but few recognize how the school is an overall powerhouse when it comes to athletes in every other sport as well. Take swimming for example, UT has an amazing swim center and produces some of the most talented swimmers in the U.S. — Aaron Piersol, Brendan Hansen, and Ian Crocker to name a few. Kudos to Aaron Piersol for winning the gold in the men’s 100 m backstroke. That was an amazing race and Piersol just maintains this this laid back chill factor that is very refreshing in a sport that can occasionally be consumed with individual ego.

Here’s a pretty impressive list of Longhorns in the Olympics this year. Longhorns everywhere should be proud!

The University of Texas at Austin Olympians

Baseball (1): Taylor Teagarden

Men’s Diving (1): Troy Dumais (3-meter springboard)

Women’s Diving (1): Laura Wilkinson (platform)

Softball (1): Cat Osterman

Men’s Swimming (7): Ricky Berens (800-meter relay pool), Ian Crocker (100-meter butterfly), Brendan Hansen (100-meter breaststroke), Dave Walters (800-meter relay pool), Scott Spann (200-meter breaststroke), Aaron Peirsol (100- and 200-meter backstroke), Garrett Weber-Gale (50- and 100-meter freestyle)

Women’s Swimming (3): Hee-Jin Chang (50- and 100-meter freestyle, South Korea), Susana Escobar (400-meter freestyle and 400-meter individual medley, Mexico), Kathleen Hersey (200-meter butterfly)

Men’s Track and Field (4): Brendan Christian (200 meters, Antigua), Trey Hardee (decathlon), Andra Manson (high jump), Leo Manzano (1,500 meters)

Women’s Track and Field (4): Michelle Carter (shot put), Marshevet Hooker (200 meters), Sanya Richards (400 meters), Melaine Walker (400-meter hurdles, Jamaica)

Coaches (5): Kim Brackin (head coach, swimming, Zimbabwe), Gail Goestenkors (assistant coach, women’s basketball), Eddie Reese (head coach, men’s swimming), Bubba Thornton (head coach, men’s track and field), Matt Scoggin (assistant coach, men’s and women’s diving)

Basically Myra » performance

Verbier Festival

Longhorns in the Olympics