The Amman Symphony Orchestra

The Amman Symphony Orchestra had a concert on Wednesday at the Al-Hussein Cultural Center. A friend introduced us to a couple Americans who had submitted applications to play in the orchestra. They told us about the concert which would be celebrating Chopin's Bicentennial. Once I heard that Chopin would be program I knew I had to go. There were a group of 4 other girls who were also interested and so we all went together. Wednesday after class, we grabbed a quick bite to eat at (I'm ashamed to say it) McDonald's. I had French fries that were so fried and filled with oil and salt I could feel my arteries clogging. I loved every second of it. After our rushed meal, we hopped in a cab. Mistakenly, the driver took us first to the ROYAL Cultural Center instead of the AL-HUSSAIN Cultural Center. It is unclear to me whether or not this was done intentionally. At any rate, we arrived about 15 minutes before the start of the performance and found seats with a pretty good view of the stage. The ticket options were for either a 10JD ticket or a 20JD ticket. The difference was distinguished by a velvet rope. Only the 20JD ticket holders had access to the front 10 rows. It wouldn't have made too much of a difference. There are classrooms on Miami's campus that are as large as the Amman Symphony's music hall. 

The performance was wonderful. I enjoyed simply listening to live classical music. Aside from Chopin, the symphony also played a selection by Eduard Lalo, Arturo Marquez (perhaps my favorite of the night's selections) and Zequinha De Abreu. Aside from Marquez's Danzon No.2, my favorite part of the evening was the encore. My experience with encores for symphonies in the United States is as follows: The last selection finishes. The audience applauds (gives a standing ovation, perhaps). The conductor bows and exits. The applause continues. The conductor reappears, bows again and exits again. The applause continues and the conductor comes back on stage to give an encore. Here's how it went at the concert: The last selection finished. The audience applauded. The conductor bowed and exited for perhaps 3 seconds before reappearing. Encore! Not just ANY encore. The encore selection was the final piece replayed. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I was entertained by the man playing the percussion instruments during the encore (Tico Tico )- he was really getting into the music.

The ASO is having another concert at the beginning of November featuring selections by Tachikovsky, Liszt, and Dvorak. I think I'm going to have to go to this concert too.